For the last month of the prep basketball season, Missouri-St. Louis coach Chris Pilz was a regular at games and practices for the Edwardsville Tigers.
Pilz is shopping for a point guard and he made Tigers senior Brandon Hogg a priority. But with the signing date looming Wednesday, April 16, for prospects that did not sign during the early signing period Nov. 14-21, UMSL has heavy competition for Hogg’s signature.
Division II national power Southern Indiana is also after Hogg and the Screaming Eagles made a positive impression when Hogg visited campus in Evansville, Mo. UMSL remains a possibility, but and Pilz’s diligence may be factor. But competing with USI will be tough for UMSL.
Hogg, a first-team All-SWC pick, averaged 14.0 points per game for a 26-3 Tigers team that won the Southwestern Conference championship wiht a 12-2 league record.
EHS head coach Mike Waldo said there is also interest in Hogg by some Division I programs, including Eastern Kentucky of the Ohio Valley Conference.
The SWC has two players signed or committed to play D-I next year. Edwardsville’s Anthony Campbell has signed with Austin Peay and Alton’s Ruben Cotto has committed to Saint Louis.
O’Fallon standouts Kenny Leverette (SWIC) and Jared Woolfolk (Wabash Valley) are taking the JUCO route.

– Greg Shashack

Tuesday, April 8
By STEVE PORTER

If you followed area boys basketball the past season, you understood how rough it was to navigate through the choppy Southwestern Conference waters.
Edwardsville, O’Fallon and Alton — the top three teams — posted a composite 79-14 record and 12 of those defeats were to conference teams.
Now it’s spring and SWC guys track seems equally formidable. And when you throw in two-time defending state champ Cahokia of the nearby South Seven, you may see the Comanches and Flyers slugging it out for another IHSA title. East St. Louis was state runner-up in 2006-07.
In last Saturday’s Belleville West Invitational, which didn’t include Cahokia, the top FIVE teams came from the SWC.
East St. Louis won it with 130 points. Belleville East (90 points), Belleville West (86 points), O’Fallon (80.5 points) and Granite City (73 points) made solid showings.
In other words, you could have a pretty good team in SWC track and still finish fifth or sixth.
Edwardsville, Alton and Collinsville have some work to do. It’s a challenging task.
“The conference just keeps getting stronger,” East St. Louis coach Roscoe Whitfield said.
In Class A boys, defending sectional champ Carlinville is putting together another quality team. As for Class AA girls, East St. Louis is making plans to win its first state championship.
All figured, come mid-May and we’ll see some individual champions and perhaps another team champ or two.
Hang at the curve and stay in the fast lane. We’ll keep track of what’s going on around the bend.

Thursday, April 3, 2008
By STEVE PORTER
I’ve been told the spring high school sports season officially came bounding down the runaway on March 21, the first day that winter left us.
Somebody forgot to tell Mother Nature.
We’ve seen rain, sleet, hail and chilly temperatures off and on since then. It seems as if the weather changes dramatically every day, affecting sports such as baseball, softball, track and field, soccer and tennis.
You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.
Local athletics directors are revising the schedules of their teams like Grandma rearranging dominos or junior juggling the pieces of a puzzle. Games get moved to other venues or mostly switched to different days.
It’s work, though not necessarily in progress.
Part of the problem is that teams are scheduling games way too early. One local school had its spring opener set for March 10, or 10 days before winter ended and five days before the end of the state finals for Class 3A-4A basketball.
The overlap is becoming more evident. It’s no wonder athletes playing mutiple sports are going the way of dinosaurs. There’s no time to take a deep breath and relax between seasons.
I know. Everybody wants to play as many games as possible. Yet how convenient is it to schedule a flock of games in mid-March, when many of them won’t get played until mid-April or later?
You can play some soccer matches or hold track meets in reasonably inclement weather, but softball and baseball are different animals. Tennis is sort of the X factor in all of this.
Frankly, nobody should be playing baseball or softball until the last week of March, if that soon. April 1 was once the date to start spring sports.
Things do change, but not always for the better. If one team gets to start early, then everybody seeks to do it. Pretty soon, the IHSA might OK spring games the first week of March.
And then they’ll be snowed out.

Tuesday, March 25
By STEVE PORTER

When Ruben Cotto moved to the Alton area from Miami this fall, he wasn’t sure how long he would remain here.
Now, it looks like he could become a longtime resident. That’s the magic of athletics at work.
Cotto, a 6-foot senior guard who starred at Alton High the past season, recently gave a verbal commitment to attend nearby Saint Louis University, a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference.
It seems like a snug fit.
SLU, 16-15 the past season, is rebuilding under new coach Rick Majerus, who has hit the recruiting trail hard. Cotto could be one of his prized prospects.
The Class 4A All-Stater (second team) averaged 22.3 points per game for the 24-7 Redbirds and was also tops on the team in steals and assists.
With the possibility of him surrounded by the likes of East St. Louis’ Tommie Liddell and Belleville’s Kevin Lisch at SLU, you’d guess that Cotto could become the perfect playmaker.
Even though he’s a talented scorer, his best attribute may be distributing the basketball. Think Deron Williams at Illinois.
Cotto reminds you a bit of Edwardsville High grad Dickie Brown, a standout at Pepperdine and good enough to get drafted by the Houston Rockets of the NBA. His smooth moves on the court evoke memories of the dynamic James Brown.
What’s gratfying about the Cotto-SLU engagement is that its doubtful it wouldn’t have happened had the stylish backliner remained in Florida. It’s more likely that the Puerto Rico native would have wound up playing for La Salle or perhaps Virginia Commonwealth.
Yet the move to Alton initiated a Midwest opportunity for him and now area fans should get an opportunity to see him play close to his new home.
That’s intriguing.
It has been said that when one door closes on you, another one opens. In Cotto’s case, there’s an entrance to Saint Louis University and the new 10,000-seat Chaifetz Arena awaiting him.

Wednesday, March 12
By Steve Porter

Just like that, the boys prep basketball is over for Southwestern Illinois teams. And none of them get to play in Peoria this season.
Lockport’s 50-47 win over O’Fallon on Tuesday night in the 4A Normal Super-Sectional eliminted the last area team. The Panthers were trying to duplicate or exceed their second-place finish during last year’s state finals, but they couldn’t make it to Carver Arena.
Southwestern Conference champion Edwardsvlle lost to O’Fallon in the Bloomington Sectional and 24-game winner Alton fell to Edwardsville in the Redbirds Regional.
The Redbirds enjoyed their fourth straight 20-win season, thanks mainly to the exploits of 6-foot senior guard Ruben Cotto.
The transfer from La Salle High in Miami averaged 22.3 points per game and established himself as one of the state’s top players.
What’s next for Cotto?
College basketball. Perhaps it will be with punchless Saint Louis University, which could quickly insert him into the starting lineup at point guard. We’ll see what develops.
Cotto proved to be a whirlwind on the local scene, scoring as many as 37 points (in the first game with Belleville East) and leading the Redbirds in assists (92) and steals (119). He was also third in rebounds (144).
It’s true that Cotto scored just nine points (on 4-for-11 shooting) in his final game, a 53-45 loss to Edwardsville in the regional final. The Tigers’ defense had something to do with that but Cotto was also playing with a slight concussion he sustained in a regional semifinal win two nights earlier.
Cotto didn’t think that much about the injury until the day after the Edwardsville loss. Bothered by dizzyness and headaches, Cotto knew something was amiss. Doctors told him he had post-concussion syndrome.
Presumably, the only headache he will be involved with next season is the one Cotto gives to opposing defenses. La Salle, Virginia Commonwealth, Iowa State and Southern Illinois University Carbondale are also on his radar screen, but SLU appears to be the front runner as this point.
Stay tuned.

Thursday, Feb. 14
By STEVE PORTER

The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) this week decided to go to more classes in track, wrestling and soccer. Each sport will have three classes beginning in the 2008-09 school year.
It’s something that seems puzzling, but shouldn’t be considering the IHSA has gone to four-class baskeball, volleyball, softball and baseball.
We’ll see how four-class girls and boys basketball play out later this month in Normal (girls) and next month in Peoria (boys). You’re going to have four teams in each class at the state finals instead of two and one good thing to come of that is that every team reaching the Final Four will get to play two games. It’s no longer an Elite Eight loss and you home.
Having said that, I’m not wild about playing 1A and 3A state championship games on Saturday afternoon and 2A and 4A ones at night. They should all be in the evening and the third-place games earmarked for the afternoons.
Now, three-class track means three days of competition at Charleston instead of two and that’s going to be hectic. As for soccer and particularly wrestling, it was difficult to get ample Class A competition in the two-class setup.
What makes anyone think three-class competition will be any different? I’m hoping that the classes will be divided equally, which they aren’t now. They are top-heavy for Class 2A.
In Class A wrestling, for example, the Roxana Regional featured just 62 wrestlers in 14 weight classes. And 42 of those 62 were eligible to qualify for the sectional. Hmnnn.
One class had only two competitors, so there was ONE match in it.
Surely, there has to be a better way.
Oh well, it’s more trophies, more honors and more ribbons. Pretty soon, you’ll get a pat on the back when all you do is show up.
Call me old-fashioned, but at least I do have some semblance of fashion, substance and style.
I’m wondering if the IHSA is lacking in all three. Then again, it’s fashionable to hand out awards like Halloween candy.

Thursday Dec. 6, 2007
By Steve Porter

Ruben Cotto is the newest sensation in Southwestern Illinois boys high school basketball. And the 6-foot Alton High senior may be gaining a reputation as one of the best players in the state.
He’s sure showing he belongs among the elite guards.
Cotto had scored 173 points in six games (or 28.8) thus far for the 4-2 Redbirds and has broken the 30-point mark three times. He tallied 36 points Tuesday in Alton’s 74-69 loss to unbetean O’Fallon, 8-0 and the No. 4-rated team in the Class 4A state poll. The Panthers were large-school runners-up last year.
Cotto, a long-distance shooter and smooth passer, reminds of a young Deron Williams (from U of I fame), or former Edwardsville High standout Dickie “Ricardo” Brown. He’s also a mix of Alton’s John and Larry Smith, plus Leroy Stampley.
In other words, Cotto is in pretty fast company.
The Redbirds will have him for only one year, but that’s all right. He’ll help a rebuilding team that needs somebody to lean on for the bulk of its scoring. And I’m sure he will make the other guys around him improve.
It’s still iffy how good the Redbirds will be this season, but one thing’s certain — they definitely will be entertaining.

The wheels of progress keep rolling. Unfortunately for area high school basketball fans, those wheels have run over one of their sport’s premier events, the St. Louis Shootout.
The Shootout was one of the first events of its type in the nation. It started at the old Kiel auditorium back in 1981. The one-day hoops extravaganza has attracted some of the top teams and players from across the nation. Shootout alum include the likes of Patrick Ewing, Kevin Garnett, Vince Carter and Stephon Marbury.
Since that first Shootout some 26 years ago, many similar events have popped up all over the nation. But the St. Louis Shootout was the granddaddy of ‘em all. The event has gone through several name changes – the KMOX Shootout, the 7Up Shootout, et al. But through it all, basketball fans, college coaches and scouts have flocked to Downtown St. Louis for the multi-game event.
Not this year, though.
Health problems encountered by longtime organizer Keith Picket were cited as part of the reason for the cancellation of this year’s Shootout. Many of the teams that had previously committed to play in this year’s event, which was originally scheduled to be played Dec. 6 at Scotttrade Center, eventually decided to back out.
As late as last month, Scottrade Center officials were trying to salvage this year’s Shootout with a skeleton offering of local teams. But those plans were scrapped – not enough teams with game openings and not enough time.
There are plans to revive the Shootout next year, again with a national flavor.
Here’s hoping those plans are successful. The Shootout is one holiday tradition too good to let go by the wayside.

-By Pete Hayes

By PETE HAYES
The folks that brought you the original March Madness may soon be responsible for a different kind of madness.
Call it Fish Folly. Or maybe Angler Aggravation.
The Illinois High School Association is exploring the possibility of adding a state bass-fishing tournament to its list of activities. I kid you not. Bass fishing.
Now, don’t misunderstand - I like fishin’ as much as the next guy. Used to sit with my dad, cane pole in hand, for many an hour as a kid. Some of my fondest memories are of waiting for the bob-bob-bobbin to bob-bob-bob. But a state tournament?
Yep. Says so right on the IHSA’s website.
IHSA head honcho Marty Hickman thinks his organization should provide more avenues for student participation. Kids who used to play hooky may soon earn a varsity letter for doing so.
Again, I have nothing against more things for kids to do. In recent years, the IHSA has added state series in cheerleading, dance, pom pons and - yes - even journalism. (I can see the headlines now: “Last-second typo dooms Alton in loss to Granite.”)
Of course, kids would be able to go fishing even without an IHSA state championship. Of course, kids can still play baseball, basketball, soccer and all those other sports without a state tourney as well. But adults need to structure kids’ activities.
The Bass-Fishing Tourney is most likely on its way. I hope that doesnt mean those quiet Sunday afternooons down at the pond will be replaced with cheering fans, halftime pep talks and crooked referees.