Recap of Simeon vs. Farragut

By far the most exciting high school team that I have seen this year is Simeon, hands down. The supreme talent on their roster is rivaled only by Whitney Young, but I will make the argument that due to their youth, Simeon is much more exciting. The main reason for this is So SF/PF Jabari Parker (6-7, 225 lbs, offers from Duke, Illinois, DePaul, Kansas, Kentucky, Texas, and many more). With third row seats, I got an up close view of both teams; much different from my report the last time I saw Simeon play which were about thirty rows up in the UIC Pavilion. As Simeon came out onto the floor for the pregame warm-ups, one thing stood out, glaring like a fat girl wearing tight leggings, and that was Parker’s size. He is easily the biggest player on the Wolverines, both in height and in weight. Most of all, he’s a sophomore, 16 years old! The future is extremely bright for Parker and it is a treat anytime you can see him live. There were some other pleasant surprises from Simeon and some great play by two Farragut players that made the quarterfinal game somewhat enjoyable.

What I watched for- Simeon- Instead of spending more time talking about how good Jabari Parker is and how excited I am to see his development the next two years (Parker finished with 11 points and 7 rebounds, and was very disruptive on the defensive end), so I will focus on other players that made an impact on the game. The MVP of the game was Jr PF Steve Taylor (6-6, 200 lbs, considering Dayton, DePaul, Xavier). Taylor (left) finished the game with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Out of any player, Taylor was the most consistent with his inside-out game. Taylor was able to take his defender off the dribble but did most of his damage on the glass. A lot of his production came from rebounding and putting the ball back in the hoop or kicking it out for a better shot. Taylor also featured a decent jump shot and does have the ability to hit the high school three pointer, though not consistent enough to be a serious threat. With the ability to keep possessions alive for Simeon and to make Farragut one and done, Taylor and the rest of Simeon was able to control the tempo of the game. The highlight of the night for me, because the game turned into a yawn fest in the fourth quarter, was when Taylor and a Farragut player went for a ball on the Farragut side of the court in the fourth quarter and as the two went for the ball going out of bounds, the Farragut player got to the ball, jumped, and threw the ball off of Taylor hoping it would then go out of bounds to keep the procession in Farragut’s favor. While this was going on right in front of me, like 5 feet away, the ball left the Farragut player’s hand and slammed right into Taylor’s frank n’ beans, the pocket rocket, the strokin’ pole, ole one eyed Willie. Taylor let out a grunt and the crowd around me seemed to enjoy it. Hunched over like he was about to puke, Taylor had a smirk on his face as I’m sure he realized the only thing on Simeon to get beat that night were his genitals.

An Equally electrifying performance came from team captain Sr SG/SF Darrien Walker (6-3, 165 lbs, no official offers).  Walker finished with 14 points, but a majority of those came in the second quarter. The actual highlight of the night (not including Taylor and his privates) came on a steal and a good outlet pass to Walker and as Walker took about five dribbles before he left his feet to dunk the ball, a Farragut defender tried to block his dunk on the way up. Instead, he was posterized and Walker received the and-one as the crowd inside the Hinsdale Central High School Gym erupted. After that, Simeon seemed to ride that energy into halftime before they blew the game open in the third. Sr. PF/C Rashawn McElrath (6-6, 160 lbs, no offers) also had a dunk over a Farragut defender early in the game that got fans on their feet going crazy. The lean McElrath finished with 6 points and 4 rebounds. Due to Farragut spending the whole fourth quarter fowling and sending Simeon to the line; a couple players’ stats were inflated. For example, Sr SG Terrel Green (6-2, 165 lbs, no offers) finished with 14 points, 10 of those coming off of free throws. Overall, it was a complete team effort from Simeon to send them down state to defend their state title.

What I watched for- Farragut- I knew nothing about this team coming into Tuesday night’s game. I heard that the #11 team in the state beat the likes of Whitney Young, twice, on their road to the quarterfinals matchup. The Admirals had a couple other marquee wins on their schedule to lead them to this point. With this in mind, I was expecting quite a game. The only player I heard of was Sr SF Demetrius Tolliver (6-6, 175 lbs, no official offers). Outside of Tolliver’s long, dreaded hair,  nothing about him stood out in the first half. Tolliver (right) showed spurts of athleticism defending wing players and going up for rebounds, but Tolliver showed nothing that would make even a junior college coach become jubilant of his game. Then, with his team down by nearly 20 points, Tolliver stepped up his game scoring 17 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter. At his size, Tolliver showed the ability to hit the three pointer with consistency, and at one point hit three in a row.  What impressed me most about Tolliver was his ball handling. Farragut did not have a true point guard so a couple players took turns taking the ball up the court. Tolliver showed signs of running the offense and making plays for himself off screens at the top of the arc. Tolliver seemed to be a better perimeter player than an interior player, which in the end, was a reason why Simeon outrebounded Farragut and why Farragut took close to 25 three point attempts. I would say Tolliver reminds me of a less athletic and less strong version  of Kelsey Barlow of Purdue. I would be surprised if Tolliver ends up on a division 1 roster next year.

The other player for Farragut that made this game interesting was Sr G Gabriel Williams (5-10, 160 lbs, no offers) By far the best player of the game for Farragut was Williams. He was the most consistent and featured a deadly three point shot. In the third and fourth quarter, Williams was showing that he could hit the three from anywhere around the arc.  15 of Williams’ game high 29 points came from downtown. Williams was not much of a ball handler throwing erratic passes that teammates had to lung for, but he split time with Tolliver bringing the ball up the court as the “point guard”. Williams did show aggressiveness going to the hoop in traffic, which is needed from a senior in his last game. Williams oooooed and ahhhhhed the crowd with this sharp shooting from three point land, but that was pretty much the only thing that got the crowd excited for Farragut. In the end, Tolliver and Williams combined for 55 points in the 74-61 loss.

Final Ponderings- This was not much of a game. It was like showing up to a blind date only to find out you've been stood up. I really wonder how Farragut beat the likes of Whitney Young (twice), Crane (twice), and Marshall. Farragut was predominately a three point shooting team Tuesday night and only played 7 players the whole night. Compared to Simeon that played 11 players, and could have played more, the lack of depth seemed to be a nonfactor in the game. The Admirals were sloppy with the ball and did not seem to have an answer for a couple Simeon runs. In the end, the better team won and moved onto the 4A semifinals against Glenbard East. No performance stood out that was jaw dropping, but Taylor had the best game overall earning this high school basketball guru’s MVP of the game. I’ll give credit to Farragut for the season they had, but I would like to see video evidence of them beating some of these teams they beat over the course of the season. My only conclusion is that they were on fire shooting three pointers during those games lead by Tolliver and Williams. Looking forward, Simeon is the clear favorite to will the class 4A trophy in Peoria this year. Parker has been nothing short of amazing this year but he did not have to be in this game as others picked up the slack. I expect to report a week from now how Simeon is the cream of the 4A crop. (Note: Simeon beat Glenbard East Friday night in the semis to make it to the state finals)

Next post- Class championship wrap ups and Ronald McDonald and his All-Americans make their way to the United Center March 30^th.