Shaun Livingston met the next Shaun Livingston on Saturday night at Carver Arena.
Oh, and Peoria Central met Homewood-Flossmoor for the Class AA state basketball title too.
You almost wondered which event deserved top billing. It’s the team matchup, of course, but increasingly the game within the game is grabbing more of the spotlight in a sport that demands stars the way a 5-year-old demands a cookie.
That’s why, “Who will win?” was not the only question drifting about the Peoria Civic Center. Inquiring minds also pondered whether the 6-foot-6-inch Livingston’s next meaningful game will be for Duke or in the NBA.
They also wanted to know when Homewood-Flossmoor’s 6-8 Julian Wright will live up to his reputation as Illinois’ top junior.
Livingston and Wright have much in common. Each has ample basketball gifts, particularly dazzling passing and ballhandling skills, along with the burden of iffy outside shooting and others’ outlandish expectations.
Their biggest difference Saturday was that Livingston was hoisting a state championship trophy amid a wild celebration, thanks to defending champion Central’s 53-47 victory.
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When the jubilation subsided, Wright should have asked Livingston what awaits him in his own senior year. Or he could just ask Peoria Central coach Chuck Buescher.
Ask, and Buescher will describe the “three-ring circus” that has surrounded Livingston, regarded as one of the top five seniors in the country by those who measure such things. He will tell you about the tables set up for Shaun after games so he could sign autographs, often for up to 20 minutes, and he will tell you about the mail that arrives seeking the same signature.
He will tell you about the dozen NBA teams that have requested game tapes and the dozens of pro scouts who have attended Central games. And, finally, he will tell you about the microscope under which Livingston operates, where his every turnover and missed jumper is dissected, and always with the question, “Will he go pro?” and “Is he ready?”
And all that after a nonstop summer of camp and club basketball competition that put him on more planes than a salesman.
“He’s exhausted,” Buescher said. “I think when the NBA talk kicked in … about the first of January … it takes its toll.
“He’s 18 years old. When it’s all you hear about, it’s hard.”
The point guard played like he was asleep in a 42-40 quarterfinal victory Friday over Farragut, scoring just seven points and failing to make a basket that wasn’t a layup or dunk.
Central’s 58-47 Saturday semifinal victory over Carbondale was a decidedly different story. Livingston scored 20 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, blocked four shots and handed out six assists with but one turnover.
In the title game, he had 27 points and nine rebounds to lead Central, including a soaring dunk to start the third quarter, when he scored eight points to help stretch Central’s lead from seven points to 11.
Wright, a point forward, entered the season awash in hype following an outstanding summer with his club team. He proceeded to average just 10 points a game, third on his team, and fail to be among the 41 nominees for the AP Class AA All-State team.
But with 15 points in a 41-34 quarterfinal victory over Moline and 11 more in a 58-46 semifinal triumph over West Aurora, Wright gave glimpses of what the commotion is about. In the third quarter of the latter game, he threw a luscious no-look pass to Excell Hardy for a layup and then added consecutive baskets on a turnaround jump shot, a 17-foot jumper and a nifty finger roll.
In the title game he scored 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting.
Peoria Central and Homewood-Flossmoor, though, reached the season’s final game because of the talent that surrounded their big-name players. H-F coach Roy Condotti stressed his team’s remarkable balance while explaining how the Vikings survived Wright’s semifinal foul trouble.
“All year long we’ve been five guys,” Condotti said. “Julian is a big part of what our team is and we love Julian, but we’ve played without him before.”
A key to both H-F’s and Central’s success has been its players’ ability to deal with both media expectations for team success and the hype that has surrounded Livingston and Wright.
“Our team has been great,” Buescher said. “Our guys understand Shaun’s value. He’s not selfish; he’s a great leader.
“How do you play like this when so much is going on around you? He has handled it beautifully. In some ways he has matured faster than he should have had to.”
To win a state title, you need not only talent but also players who mesh well and who deliver when the stars stumble. Livingston helped Central mesh by focusing on his current team instead of on next year’s.
“The whole season, the way I’ve dealt with it is to try to win a state championship,” he said of the constant speculation.
Wright, too, has tried to ignore others’ great expectations. Fitting in, rather than dominating, may have been his greatest gift to his team.
“I try to stay focused on the court,” he said. “I don’t let my ear out to all that other stuff.
“It’s about me and the coaches and the team now. I’ve dreamed of winning the state championship.”
Saturday night, however, that prize belonged to the current Shaun Livingston, who acknowledged that a season’s worth of others’ expectations and doubts made his second state title sweeter than his first.
“Defending champs … tops in the nation, tops in the state … everywhere we’d go we’d get everyone’s best game,” he said. “We turned it on at state, when it mattered.
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“It feels great.”
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