To subscribe, please click here
Want a copy of today’s edition? Here’s a map of single-copy locations
Sports Editor Matt Daniels with a look at what’s going on around the area:
Whitney Young five-star point guard and future Illini Destiny Jackson is The News-Gazette’s All-State girls’ basketball Player of the Year for the 2024-25 season.
Three reasons we love sports today
➜ 1. The News-Gazette’s 48th annual All-State girls’ basketball team comes out in Thursday’s paper, followed by The News-Gazette’s 93rd All-State boys’ basketball team in Saturday’s paper.
➜ 2. Spoiler alert: Here are the two winners. Destiny Jackson from Whitney Young is our All-State girls’ basketball Player of the Year, with the point guard set to play at Illinois next season. Jaxon Davis, a sophomore standout who sparked Warren to a Class 4A state runner-up finish last month at State Farm Center in Champaign, is our All-State boys’ basketball Player of the Year.
➜ 3. Both our Illini basketball beat writers, Joe Vozzelli and Scott Richey, will tell their stories, with 180 girls’ and 180 boys’ players recognized on our All-State teams.
Megan Heuser is 11-7 at No. 2 singles this season for the Illinois women’s tennis team.
Numbers game: 2,076
miles, roughly, from Atkins Tennis Center in Urbana to Libbey Park in Ojai, Calif. Libbey Park is the site of the Big Ten women’s tennis tournament, the first Big Ten championship held in California. Seventh-seeded Illinois (13-11) plays 10th-seeded Northwestern (13-12) at 5 p.m. Wednesday in a first-round match in southern California.
Davis Riley, left, and former Illini Nick Hardy hoist their trophy after winning the Zurich Classic in 2023 at TPC Louisiana in Avondale, La. It was the first PGA Tour win for Hardy, who is back in the field when this two-man team event tees off Thursday.
Crowd control
Three events I’m paying attention to
➜ 1. Big Ten men’s golf championships. Illinois isn’t in a familiar position this spring. Instead of trying to repeat with another Big Ten title — the Illini have won 14 since 2009 — Mike Small’s team will try to make up for last year’s runner-up finish to Northwestern when it tees off Friday at Baltimore Country Club.
➜ 2. NCAA women’s golf selection show. Renee Slone’s Illini team, fresh off a third-place finish at the Big Ten championships, will find out Wednesday if it has qualified for NCAA regional play in May.
➜ 3. Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Ex-Illini Nick Hardy won this PGA Tour event in 2023, and he’s in the field, along with ex-Illini Thomas Detry, on Thursday.
Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond athletic director Nathan Seal.
Ask an AD
Three questions with Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond athletic director Nathan Seal:
➜ 1. My favorite sports team is … all of our ALAH teams and the Chicago Bears.
➜ 2. Three coaches I’d like to have dinner with are … Nic DiFilippo, Geno Auriemma and Mike Krzyzewski.
➜ 3. My biggest pet peeve is … the sound of Styrofoam rubbing together.
发表回复