Duncan Reid, who coached the losing AA North team in Saturday`s Illinois Basketball Coaches Association all-star basketball games in Peoria, is not a man to mince words or hide his feelings. Part of his squad`s difficulty was in rebounding, although his team was taller.
”Some of these guys are going to schools like De Paul, Creighton, Northwestern and Iowa State. I don`t know how they can play if they can`t hang on to the ball,” said the Rock Island coach. ”We had players who shouldn`t have been on the team who I had to play a certain period of time. Some who played 12 to 15 minutes shouldn`t have played a minute.”
Reid didn`t mention any names but Elgin`s 6-foot-5-inch Mark Baugh, going to Iowa State, had nine points. Crystal Lake Central`s 6-8 Bill Heppner, going to De Paul, had five points. Oak Forest`s 6-8 Larry Gorman, going to Northwestern, had seven points and Rockford Boylan`s 6-9 Chad Gallagher, committed to Creighton, had seven points.
— Reid said King`s Marcus Liberty played well enough, considering his absence from practices until Thursday night. Liberty is in the ”bridge”
program at Illinois and was given a 36-hour break just to play in the game. He scored nine points. ”He`s not the same Marcus Liberty he was two months ago,” said Reid. ”He was missing shots he normally would make. But when you have so many players averaging 20 points a game (nine on the North squad), not everyone can get the ball every time he wants.”
Liberty is awaiting the results of his last ACT test, which he took two weeks ago. ”I feel confident,” he said. ”I think there`s a good chance I passed it,” he said. ”I had a lot of help preparing for the test.”
Illinois` bridge program is just that, giving students a boost from high school to college life. ”I`ve got to finish homework in both English and math,” said Liberty. ”That`s what I`ll do this weekend. Going to college scared me at first. Different things, different people, but now I think I`ve adjusted to it. But it sure is a change.”
Illinois coaches are crossing collective fingers. ”Marcus could be the missing piece in the puzzle,” said assistant coach Jimmy Collins. ”I can`t tell you what position he`ll play, but he will play someplace. He can do so many things with the basketball.”
”I never heard a poor student say he wasn`t confident about passing a test,` said a head coach in attendance Saturday night. ”And I`ve never heard of a good student who wasn`t worried about a test.”
— The South`s 97-87 victory ended a four-game string by the North, but the North still holds an 8-5 lead. the South holds a 9-4 lead in the Class A game, after a 93-82 decision.
Illya McGee, the Providence-St. Mel guard who is going to Akron with teammate Albert Jones, led the A North with 22 points, going 10 of 15 from the field and being named his team`s MVP. After the game, McGee said he was happiest that all 11 senior on the St. Mel team received college athletic scholarships ”of some sort.” McGee was the second St. Mel player to win an MVP award in the games. Renard Edwards took honors in 1983.
— Cairo`s Lucious Reese, a 6-5 banger going to Northwestern, impressed coaches with his inside game, making five of seven from the field and grabbing six rebounds in little more than 13 minutes of a 42-minute game for the A South. Reese, a solid B student at the school, has a 19 ACT score and said it was easy to select Northwestern. ”I had a chance to play in the Big 10, the toughest conference in the country. I couldn`t pass up a chance like that.”
Reese`s other offers were from Southern Illinois and Evansville. The seventh child in his family, he`s also the first to go to college. Reese averaged 20 points a game for the Pilots.
— With all the talent in the game, the three-point field goal wasn`t a factor. The Class AA South was three of 13 from that range; the AA North was one of 15; the A South was one of 18; and the A North one of 11.
MISCELLANEOUS
— St. Xavier College will conduct a basketball camp for boys ages 11-13 Monday-July 10 and one for girls 8-17 July 13-24. The school has scheduled volleyball camps for those in the 7th grade and younger July 11-15 and July 27-31 and one July 20-24 for 8th- through 12th-graders. For information, call 779-3300, ext. 297.
