Game 52: Riverdale vs. Davenport North (Boy's Basketball)

Game 52
Riverdale vs. Davenport North, IA (Boy's Basketball)
Iowa/Illinois Shootout
(12/18/10)

A quick turn around from broadcasting the United Township/Galesburg on Friday night, getting home at midnight, and waking up at 5:00 a.m. to head back to the office for some weekend work. That's why I invested in some 5-hour energy, when that 3:00 drain would hit me at the Carver Center at Augustana College later in the day.



Arriving at the gym an hour before the first game tipped off, Bill Horrell was manning the front gate. He informed me of the Famous Dave's in the hospitality room, which is surely on the top of my list of weaknesses!

The gyms at shootouts can, at times, resemble the emptiness of a high school gym during practice. Not at the Iowa/Illinois Shootout. Two weeks ago, the 1450 Shootout in Springfield brought in some of the top teams in the state, and Whitney Young, a nationally touted team. The crowd...decent, but minimal. Pretty depressing for a hoops junkie, seeing some of the top players statewide playing in front of so many empty seats. Shootouts tend to do that. In covering various shootouts over the years, their life span reminds me of an NFL running back. Three great years, followed by a few disappointing years, then a downright embarrasing year, before disappearing altogether. Why is that?

First off, it is extremely tough to bring in the top teams on a yearly basis. While tournaments are run on multi-year contracts (for the most part), doing so in a shootout could be an immediate killer, with some teams having those one or two seasons of a lifetime, then falling back to mediocrity. Shootout organizers must be on top of it years in advance, knowing what teams will be good two to three years down the road, then trying to schedule those teams for the future.

Even with some of the best teams (ala the Springfield shootout), the crowd can be sparse. There's no hook. The Chicago teams may be the best of the best, but many of their fans aren't going to travel 5-6 hours on a Saturday to watch them play a downstate team.

In my estimation, the Iowa/Illinois Shootout is a success because there is a hook. Three reasons for this...

1) Local. All of the teams are local, within miles from the Quad Cities. This brings in fan bases from all teams because of the limited travel. Being so close to Christmas, many wives and girlfriends can do their shopping, while the men take in some basketball on a Saturday afternoon.

2) Christmas in Iowa. There are no holiday tournaments in Iowa, so for that side of the river, this is their Christmas tournament, and in some cases their final tuneup before the first of January. One of many reasons I am glad to call Illinois home.

3) The Hook (bragging rights). There is something on the line, the teams are playing for state bragging rights. No team from the Land of Lincoln wants to lose to a team from the Hawkeye state!

On top of that, it's a finely-tuned machine when it comes to organization and timeliness. Many tournaments and shootouts try to cram as many games as possible within a day, seperating each contest by 90 minutes, which never happens. The shootout, from morning to night was ahead of schedule or on time. In fact, according to my clock, the final game tipped off at 8:31, only a mere 60 seconds past the scheduled tip time. Kudos to the myriad of workers that put on the Genesis/PSP Shootout!

On to the first game of the day, the Riverdale Rams against the Davenport North Wildcats. After getting things set up and the scorebook filled out, I spoke with Doug Green and Aaron Brenner of the Quad City Times, who were perched with me in on press row in the upper balcony on one baseline at Augustana.

In talking with Brenner, he filled me in on some of the Iowa teams, which is his main beat for the newspaper. I told him I know more about 3-win Chicago Public League team than I do about the Iowa teams a mere half hour from my house, so he gave me some tidbits of information throughout the day about Illinois' opposition.

After jumping out to a 13-10 first quarter lead, the Riverdale Rams relinquished their lead midway through the 2nd quarter, and did not recover until late in the game. It was just a one-point lead for the Wildcats at halftime, but they outscored the Rams 11-3 in the 3rd quarter, and led 37-28 heading into the final eight minutes.

That's when Riverdale roared back, outscoring Davenport North 21-9 in the 4th quarter, and gave Illinois a win in the first game, 51-46. Aaron Brenner told me that Davenport North went 0-3 this week when leading at halftime.

Wes DeClerq scored a game-high 20 points for Riverdale, while the Wildcats were paced by Virshaun Grant's 14 points. Davenport North was just 9-17 from the free throw line, but Riverdale finished just 13-28.

Game 52 Miles: 84