Chicago team
 

Today I worked at a tournament here in Oregon with a team from "the Chicago area" from Neuqua Valley HS. Any of y'all know of them?

Were they any good? Just wondering what made you ask??

Nequa Valley HS
 

Neuqua Valley HS is in the Chicago far west suburb of Naperville, with enrollment from Aurora, Naperville, and Bolingbrook, Illinois. It opened in fall 1997, and has an enrollment of just over 4,200 students.

They are in the Upstate Eight Athletic Conference. Their [boys] basketball record has been better than average over the last several years.

Why do you ask about Neuqua Valley HS?

Because she worked them in a summer camp and was curious if anyone was familiar with them. In fact, I think she already told you guys that. Geesh!

I know. Geesh! Haha. I was just seeing if any thing interesting happened in the game for them to stick in her mind and make her ask about them.

Yes. The team is from Naperville which is right around the corner from where I live.

Peace

Rut - you must live right around the corner from where I used to live. Although I grew up in Chicago Heights, I lived in Aurora for about a year before I moved to Vegas, then Portland. That was long before that school was built, however.

I asked because I had them once on Friday, and now I had them again on Saturday. I just wondered how they usually do, and if you know how they're expected to do in the upcoming season. I had girls, btw. I thought it might give me a chance to compare the style and level of play from our area to Chicago. I've contended here on this board that we have a pretty high level here, and I'm just curious how we stack up against this team in terms of capability and skill.

Juulie - I'm certainly qualified to fill you in on comparing the style of play between Portland and Chicago, having lived in both places for over 20 years.

Oh wait - you're talking about basketball. Never mind. :rolleyes:

The style of play of Nequa Valley is not going to be a good comparison of overall style. Nequa Valley is not even one of the better teams if I remember. After all this is just one team.

Peace

I ended up having them three times this weekend! They are almost great. I'd say about a half-inch away. Every shot is off by about a half-inch, every block would be clean if it were another half-inch away. About a half-inch from getting the rebound, and so on.

They've got one player who really needs to knuckle under and work on the fundamentals, but she's clearly got a lot of talent. Unfortunately, she's also got an attitude, and I don't think it's gonna get her where she wants to go.

If they could play at their best consistently, they'd be right up there near the top, but they just need to get the very large and ugly wrinkles ironed out.

It was really fun to see them, and get a chance to think about y'all folks. If their coach asks if you know me, which I told him to, be sure to tell him I said hi.

Umm No, not at all...

We meaning officials?

The Nequa Valley team wasn't that good - they ended up in the "4-game guarantee" bracket, so they must have lost all their games. I know they had at least 2 teams in the Varsity brackets - one was a JV team that got absolutely creamed in every game they played. I don't see how that is a good experience for a team to travel 1000 miles to get the crap beat out of them.

The team I reffed was in the JV bracket but they didn't get creamed in every game they played. They only lost the first by about 15, they won the second, won their third, and then lost in the consolation round (CREAMED!! in that round!). I agree that's not a very good reason to travel that far (more like 2000 miles). I certainly wouldn't have.

But I thought they were well on their way toward doing very well. If they can get some basics a little more established, I think they could develop into a very good varsity team.

Also, do they spell their school name "N-E-Q-U-A" or "N-E-U-Q-U-A"? I thought I saw a t-shirt with that extra U in the name, and I'm rather partial to extra U's.

Neuqua is the proper spelling. It is pronounce "NEEQUWA" and is often spelled incorrectly as a result.

Peace