A three-point play:
– Well I guess we can postpone the engraving order for the Class AA state basketball championship trophy.
Simeon still figures to retain that title, but Farragut sent a helpful reminder Friday that the race is up for grabs, making the previously undefeated Wolverines look surprisingly mortal in a 62-54 stunner in the quarterfinals of the Chicago Public Schools Post Holiday Invitational at Chicago State.
Standout Simeon guard Derrick Rose managed just seven points in front of his future college coach, Memphis’ John Calipari. And it was unranked Farragut that was the more poised of the teams down the stretch, hitting eight straight free throws as part of a 25-10 run to end the game and topple the Tribune’s No. 1-ranked team.
Other teams have let what Farragut coach William Nelson called the Simeon “mystique” beat them. Farragut, which fell to Crane 64-52 in Saturday’s semifinals, refused to be intimidated Friday against Simeon and played with a growing swagger as the game progressed.
“We had nothing to lose and a lot to gain,” said guard Sean Scott, who scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half.
Simeon coach Robert Smith has maintained all along that another state title, not a perfect season, is his goal. No coach likes to lose, but this may be a useful wake-up call for his players.
Rose is a spectacular talent with admirable unselfishness, but he still needs to play more aggressively throughout a game. He waited until the fourth quarter Friday to get assertive, and that turned out to be too late.
– Farragut over Simeon was the biggest upset of the CPS tournament, but Englewood’s 72-69 victory over No. 20 Young on Thursday was close.
It was Englewood’s biggest victory in years, and there isn’t much time to top it. The school, which is being phased out, has no freshmen or sophomores and will be seniors-only next season.
After that, as coach Louis Adams put it after his team’s 56-37 loss to Crane on Friday, “I’ve got to find a job.”
Good news is rare at Englewood, which has ranked among the city’s worst-performing schools. News usually involves neighborhood violence, too much of it claiming the lives of children.
“But there’s a lot of good in the school,” Adams said. “If there’s a shooting at 63rd and Racine, that’s Englewood, but not Englewood the school. “We’ve got a good group of kids. We’re together all the time, trying to build something.”
Adams’ players have tried to turn their school’s negative reputation into a basketball positive by using it to fuel their non-stop intensity.
More Top Picks Best Quilting Sewing Machines For Jeans
“We have a big chip on our shoulders because people look at Englewood as being nothing,” said guard/forward Rockie McCray.
He is one of 10 juniors on the team and looks at his and his school’s final season in 2007-08 optimistically.
“I kind of feel excited about it,” he said. “You’ve got to look at it as an opportunity.”
– Losing is supposed to stink, but not at Lincoln Park, where ultra-superstitious coach Tom Livatino won’t change–or wash–what he wears to a game until his team loses.
Lincoln Park’s 54-40 Big Dipper championship game victory Dec. 29 over Leo was its seventh straight triumph, which means Livatino will be wearing the same blue shirt and yellow pants when Lincoln Park resumes play Wednesday at Phillips, not to mention the same belt, tie, shoes and socks.
“The socks are ripe,” he said.
Livatino had seven pennies in his left pants pocket against Leo. He’ll add an eighth one for Phillips and so on, pitching them all, of course, if his team loses.
“If we win you keep them,” he said, “and . . . you’re going to make me look like an idiot, aren’t you?”
Actually, the 37-year-old Livatino is one of the sharper coaches in the area, superstitions and a manic sideline demeanor notwithstanding. His 11-3 team, which includes Northwestern-bound guard Michael Thompson, has a chance to work its way through a supersectional that includes Loyola Academy, Marshall, Von Steuben and Crane.
Livatino’s basketball-related rituals started about a half-dozen years ago with “an absolutely atrocious” maroon sweater he wore during a winning streak when he was an assistant coach at Loyola and continued when he was an assistant at Evanston, where he ate the same brand of candy before games.
“It gets worse as it goes on,” he said.
The sweater, at least, is gone, but his team gets a chuckle out of his current wardrobe.
“Those yellow pants are really funny,” said Thompson, adding that the team uses Livatino’s superstitious attire as motivation.
“We want to keep that outfit.”
No. 7 Lincoln Park, which last lost Dec. 16, has a decent chance to win at least its next 10 games, so the players may get their wish.
———-