Chatman returns to coaching
Everything fell into place for David Chatman in August.
The former Proviso East head coach, who led the Pirates to a 159-68 record from 2004 to 2011, replaced the retired Scott Ritter as head coach at Rich South.
A short period later, he got a teaching position at the school.
“I missed it so much,” Chatman said of being a head coach. “I missed that opportunity of leading a group of kids.”
Chatman won four regional titles and two sectional championships in his eight years as head coach at Proviso East. And the team he was waiting and aching to coach — a group that included Keith Carter, Paris Lee, Jevon Carter and Sterling Brown, among others — went on to go a combined 62-6 with two trips to Peoria in the two years after Chatman’s removal.
“I’m blessed with this opportunity,” Chatman said. “I’m really excited how the kids have already welcomed me here. They have been really open with me. I think that will only help when the first job is to get them to buy in.”
Verge headed to Arizona State
Alonzo Verge, who took the state by storm as a sophomore at Willowbrook and finished his eye-popping career at Thornton, recently committed to Arizona State.
The 2017 Sun-Times Player of the Year will finish his second season of junior-college basketball at Moberly Area Community College in Missouri this winter before heading to play for coach Bobby Hurley.
After putting up prolific scoring numbers in high school, Verge continued to produce at a high level in junior college. He averaged over 20 points per game as a freshman, including a dazzling day in December last year when he had 36 points and 16 assists in the first game and a school-record 51 points in Game 2.
Verge, who averaged 20.8 points, 6.1 assists and 4.1 rebounds last season, was named to the NJCAA Division I All-American team.
Locals part of USA tryouts
Illinois was well-represented last weekend at the USA Basketball tryouts in Colorado, where 88 players from four classes competed to determine the roster for the FIBA World Championships.
Morgan Park junior Adam Miller, Rolling Meadows sophomore Max Christie and the Simeon freshman tandem of A.J. Casey and Jaylen Drane were part of the tryouts.
Young loads up schedule — again
The always-loaded Young schedule will include trips to Nevada, Kentucky, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., this winter.
Coach Tyrone Slaughter wouldn’t have it any other way.
The Dolphins were invited to the prestigious Hoop-Hall Classic in Boston in January and will play in two national tournaments — the Jerry Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas in December and the ARS Hoopfest in Kentucky in early January.
Locally, Young will play in the Chicago Elite Classic, the Proviso West Holiday Tournament and the O’Fallon Shootout. It will open the season in the Jordan Brand’s Concord Invitational, which will be held at the XS Tennis Village on the city’s South Side.
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