Boys Basketball

March 14, 2007

Post-Season Red-North Basketball Conference Thoughts

• Seniors Lalo Bellamy and Shelton Jackson make all-conference team Red-North for Lane Tech.

• Lakeview finished last in the conference and will be replaced next year  by Blue-North champion Mather.

Final Red-North Standings:

Chicago Red North 2006-2007 Standings

Final Red-North Playoff Results:

Von Steuben- Sectional semi-final loss to Evanston in 2 OT's/ Red Conference Consolation Champions.

Lane Tech- Regional final loss to Loyola Academy; Blue/Red Consolation Runner ups

Senn- Regional Final loss to New Trier

Foreman- Regional semi-final loss to Lane

Lakeview- Regional semi-final loss to Lakeview

Taft- Regional quarter-final loss to South Elgin

Next year

Von Steuben graduates star guard Michael Horton but return their star guard Michael Dinunno; who has signed to play with NIU. Plus they will be boosted by a great freshman and soph class. Von will be the favorite to win the Red-North in 2007.

Foreman- returns most of it's varsity team which had at least 6 freshman or sophomores on it's roster including this year's freshman star Lavonte Dorrity. They will probably be pre-season team to finish in second.

Senn- graduates it's entire starting 5 including star center Byron Pickens who will probably end up playing a low DI school. It's sophomore this year was just average. Senn lost a nail biter to Von Steuben in the last conference game of the year to determine the conference championship. But with so much of a loss to graduation, Senn will be a middle of the pack team at best next year in the Red-North.

Lane- also graduated it's entire starting line-up including one of Lane's best players in years in Shelton Jackson. Their sophs finished with an average overall record. Key for Lane will be whether sophomore 6'5" Cameron Hill and freshman Ezekiel Hernandez come back to play for Lane after experiencing academic problems in 2006-07. Coach Jarka, in his second year as head coach at Lane, showed that he could improve the team and won a giant game in upsetting Foreman in the Loyola Regional semi-finals. Jarka will need to develop his players in the off-season if they hope to compete with Foreman who has more raw talent.

Taft- team was affected by the death of reserve player Darius Field but they did manage to finish out of the Red-North cellar and stay out of the Blue North

Lakeview- Lakeview finishes last in the Red-North and will be replaced by Mather next year who won the Blue-North.

It was a fun year in the Red-North. It was battle for Senn and Von a the top and with Lane, and Lakeview at the bottom. Of course it is still very early but it appears that next year everyone will be chasing Von Steuben again next year for the conference crown. Newcomer, Mather graduated it's top scorer last year so don't expect them to challenge. But every year is a new year and the every team has an opportunity to work on conditioning, fundamentals, and team spirit.

Congratulations to the efforts of the Lane Tech Basketball team on a successful season that saw great improvement over the year. Lane graduates it's entire starting five (Left to Right) Lalo Bellamy, Brian Hill, Chris Harris, John Holzman, and Shelton Jackson. www.LaneTechFan.com photo.