That should be a good one. Collinsville should be very solid this year with a senior Taylor and two solid bigs down low.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread (December 2019)
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Collinsville... there a name from the past, one of the most storied HS basketball programs in the entire nation. The great Virgil Fletcher was the coach there for decades
Had some great players there too. Illini Bogie Redmon was one
I do think it's a little weird that no names have really been talked about "must gets" for 2021. Last year Liddell and/or Okoro were the "must gets" and we were saying that extremely early on...maybe 2 years in advance? We also knew extremely early on that Nimari, Miller, or Steward were "must gets" for this year's class. Haven't really seen any '21 recruits talked up like those guys were the past 2 years.
Fred Riddle was better.
Terry Bethel was better.
UncleBob
- San Clemente, CA
It’s a different game now but Fletchers ball press was amazing. They could methodically befuddle their opponents into turnover after turnover and never foul or seem to work up a sweat. One of the greatest Illinois HS coaches ever.
Wasn't Richard Keene Collinsville?Terry Bethel was better.
IlliniSaluki
- IL metro east burbs of St. Louis
Yep.. not sure if it's still the case but for a long time the top 2 winningest teams in HS basketball were Centralia and Collinsville.. I am from O'Fallon so we have played both schools a lot over the years.
Tom Parker was a Kahok.
JJE
- North Port, Florida
Thanks for the info, I might try to make it tonight. I live about 15 minutes away from Edwardsville.
No, all of the, including Michael Stipe, are from Georgia; Stipe, for sure, was born there.
Are there any other programs in the state who dominated Illinois High School basketball for a decade or more other than Collinsville, Paris, and Centralia? Some have had runs with a particular class or group, but to do it for a decade requires building a great program, tremendous pride, and genius coaching. No question Virgil Fletcher and Ernie Eveland did just that at Collinsville and Paris, but Centralia did it with a bunch of orphans and several coaches. Of course, Collinsville and Centralia generally played in the same regional every year and had to battle each other while Paris did it with a bunch small town kids and farm boys with which Eveland simply worked magic in a small prairie town less than half the size of the other two. Both Collinsville and Paris produced two state champs in less than a decade. Paris also blew and 8 pt. fourth quarter lead as Dike Eddleman and Centralia burst their bubble in 42 before Paris won in 43 and 47. I vividly remember watching the 63 title game in the first tournament played at the Assembly Hall when a team of Orphans everyone thought was unbeatable got "Smedlied"at the buzzer. Then, in 65, I was there again as Fletcher's Kahok's methodically pressed their way to one of the most efficient team performances in history. I was not born when Paris won their second title in 47, but was in my Mom's womb getting ready to be born a couple of months later. I do remember watching a handful of guys from those days play in a local league when I was in grade school, and they all seemed to play like Bob Cousy or Bill Russel.
But since then, though there have been many great teams that had runs of three of four years, I am not aware of any that have been considered a competitor for a state title...and won a couple or more...every year for a decade.. Lawrenceville, a rival that Paris played every year, had great success during two periods, the second being at Class 2 after the split, But those successes were more predicated on a particular group and did not approach a decade IIRC. The Shidler boys and Mary Simmons were the pillars of their success and they also had an excellent coach.
Fill me in if can.
I read He graduated from collinsville. My dads been lying to me my whole life. Every time an REM song came on he said he went to collinsville
IlliniCyborg
- Edwardsville, IL
Your old man was correct. He graduated from CHS in the late 70's.
Chilliniwek
- Chicagoland
Stipe was born in Georgia, but graduated from Collinsville High School in 1978.
Joel Goodson
- it's all ball bearings, nowadays
Wow, didn't know that. And I thought I knew just about everything about REM. Go figure that I learned that on the Illini Hoops Recruiting thread.
Kudos to whoever alerted me to the 2021 French SG, Louis Lesmond. Looks intriguing.
Adam Miller had 32 points tonight with (6) threes. Dang
I was at the game and Adams shot is smooth as we all know but you wish he would attack a little more. He seemed to struggle getting all the way into the paint. He had a couple nice smooth pull ups as well.
Marcus Watson is Lightning quick.
If I didn’t know who weston was I would’ve thought he was just another guy.
Marcus Watson is Lightning quick.
If I didn’t know who weston was I would’ve thought he was just another guy.
At one time Centralia was one, Collinsville 2 and Mt Vernon was the 4th winningest programs in America.
Kevin Stallings was from Collinsville with Rick George his running mate at guard. There is a name from the past.
Fletcher was a friend of John Wooden and visited him in the summer of 1960. That fall he put in the ball press that UCLA used. Collinsville went 32-0 and beat Thornton of Harvey by about 35 in the championship game.
Kevin Stallings was from Collinsville with Rick George his running mate at guard. There is a name from the past.
Fletcher was a friend of John Wooden and visited him in the summer of 1960. That fall he put in the ball press that UCLA used. Collinsville went 32-0 and beat Thornton of Harvey by about 35 in the championship game.
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