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Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Building A Team

Scott Pioli, the general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs was featured months ago in Sports Illustrated. He discussed from his background with the New England Patriots and friendship with Terry Francona of the Boston Red Sox, what he has come to believe are the essentials of building a team.

"In New England we just have a hypersensitivity to distractions. Character issues can be a distraction. Selfishness can be a distraction. There are thousands of them. And they can tear down what you're trying to do."

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Great Quote from Coach Rux


What Will Be Said About You?

At the 2011 Streaks Banquet, Coach Rux made a wonderful statement to the senior class.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

71 Three Attempts

Florida and BYU with Jimmer Fredette combined to attempt 71 three point shots. Wow! The announcers thought that was unbelievable.

It should be pointed out that Bloomington and Galesburg combined for 80 three point attempts! We didn't share divide the 80 evenly-- Bloomington (8) and Galesburg (72).

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Leadership

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at time of challenge and controversy."-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Nothing so conclusively proves a man's ability to lead others as what he does from day to day to lead himself." -- Thomas Watson


More Pictures from Regional & Sectional

Thanks to Norma Rodriguez for these great pictures from both Geneseo and Metamora!!

20th Anniversary

March 22, 1991, I had double by-pass heart surgery. At the time I had no idea what was involved. My question to the surgeon the night before, "Have you ever done one of these before?" His reply as he rolled his eyes, "Yes, several."  I am very happy he knew what he was doing!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Bryant's Veterans Day Garage Party

Beginning of the season!!!  (Send more pictures if you have any. Bryants sent some from banquet I have added to that section.)

Friday, March 18, 2011

Mike Brey- Hands Off Approach

From the Chicago Tribune----

When a Notre Dame teammate blew a routine layup midway through practice Thursday at the United Center, guard Ben Hansbrough barked as if the miss cost the Irish a trip to the Final Four.

Three feet away from the histrionics, coach Mike Brey didn't flinch.

By now Brey realizes Hansbrough is not a guy you want to cut off in the merge lane on the Edens. But instead of overreacting to every Hansbrough hissy fit the way many college basketball coaches with control issues might, Brey sees value in creative tension. Where some egomaniacs in his profession might dwell on a weakness such an outburst suggests, Brey finds strength.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Rainee Sibley- Quick on the Court/Slow with Blog

Last summer when we went to Tennessee to camp, we struggled. Jason Shay watched and had an observation,"If you are going to press all over, you need to be quicker." His thought was if you are going to play a tough, half-court style you needed to look for as much size and strength as possible, but if you are going to play full court, you need quickness.

A day later Jason wanted to watch Coach Rux's sophs play. Jason and Coach Rux were good friends when Jason was in Galesburg. So as we were watching them play, Jason pointed out to a player on the soph team. His comment,"That is a kid you might want to look at, she is quick and she plays hard." The player he was pointing out was Rainee Sibley. 

Picture of the Year

Picture is from Streaks vs. Richwoods Sectional game.
Obviously we just hit a three.
Quite a contrast between the Galesburg fans and the Richwoods fans in the bottom right.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Highest IHSA Attendance

Attendance records for IHSA girls basketball tournament.

Largest  Attendance, Tournament

STATE FINAL TOURNAMENT
CLASS A: 22,375, in 1996
CLASS AA: 25,957, in 1997

Largest Attendance, Session

SINGLE SESSION
CLASS A: 5,974, Friday night, 1996
CLASS AA: 7,480, Friday afternoon, 1997
TITLE SESSION
CLASS A: 5,974, in 1996
CLASS AA: 7,454, in 1997

I wonder if there were 7,480 fans for the entire tourney this past weekend?  Thanks you to the fans of Galesburg and Taylorville!!!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

RM Article on Season

As Galesburg High School girls basketball coach Evan Massey sat in Redbird Arena Saturday afternoon to watch senior Jessica Howard be introduced as a first-team all-state member of the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association, he couldn’t help but wish Howard was in her Silver Streaks uniform with the rest of her teammates.
With so many open seats, he couldn’t help but wonder how many of Galesburg’s faithful fans would have made the trip to Normal to pack the arena. And as Hillcrest — the team who beat Galesburg in the supersectional round 77-70 — took to the court to compete for the Class 3A championship, Massey couldn’t help but be a tad envious.
“The way you have to look at it as you only get one chance. We had our chance and we made a good run, it just didn’t turn out the way we wanted,” said Massey. “Every loss in the tournament is tough, but when you make it as far as we did, you would just like to have the opportunity to see how you would have stacked up and just experience how our community would have come out and supported us. You know Galesburg would have changed the whole atmosphere here.”

Nice Note

I received the following email from another coach--

Our kids loved watching you guys. My assistant took the team on Monday night and they were heartbroken you got beat.  The one thing they commented on was how nice your kids were and there wasn't any extra stuff that you get with some teams.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Galesburg Fans For All-State Presentation


IBCA All-State

The Illinois Basketball Coach's Association selected their all-state team on Friday. Congratulations to Jessica and to Jamie!

First Team
Ariel Massengale- Bolingbrook
Morgan Tuck- Bolingbrook
Jewell Loyd- Niles West
Mariah Smith- Richwoods
Emmonnie Henderson- Edwardsville
Linnae Harper- Young
Kat Yelle- Geneva
Katie Meador- Salem
Zahna Medley- Springfield
Whitney Holloway- Montini
Melissa Dixon- Johnsburg
Megan Rogowski- Hersey
Brooke Schulte- Breese
Chanise Jenkins- Young
Jessica Howard- Galesburg

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Advice From Some Experts-- Enjoy!!

Our local paper like many local papers allows individuals to comment at the end of each story. I have chosen not to ever read any of the comments during the season. Just as the KKK hides behind a sheet so no one can identify them, the commenter hides behind anonymous nicknames. It allows them to express hate, hurt, and frustration without ever having to own their words.

A Galesburg story has it that in the 1960’s when legendary Coach John Thiel had a call in show, a particular father called in with a negative, attack filled question.  Evidently Coach Thiel recognized the voice so after fielding the question, Coach Thiel called the man by name and answered the question. Needless to say, after the man had his “sheet of anonymity” taken away, he didn’t call in to the show anymore.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Winning & Losing

Losing is only temporary and not all encompassing. You must simply study it, learn from it, and try hard not to lose the same way again. Then you must have the self-control to forget about it.
- John Wooden

Streaks Set National & State Records

The Streaks this year set National HS Records for 3's Attempted in a season (1476) and 3's Made in a season (397). These are not only girls national records but they also surpass the boys national records.

The Streaks also established Illinois Records for 3's Attempted in a season, 3's Made in a season, 3's attempted in a game (72), and 3's made in a game (22). The records for 3's attempted and made in a season are not only girls records but surpass the boys record as well.

Jessica Howard set a new state record for threes made in a season with 139. That total surpassed the 138 set by Cassie Drew of Anna-Jonesboro set in 2004. Jessica's 139 is the 7th highest total in all-time national ranking. Howard finished her career with 378 threes which ranks #4 in Illinois history.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

National High School Basketball Records

Check them out---

http://www.nfhs.org/content.aspx?id=3230

At bottom click on basketball.

A Good Start to the Day

I was sitting at my computer in my classroom this morning at 7:20am. I look up and who has bounced into my room and is sitting down in the front seat next to me-- Rainee Sibley. It would have been pretty easy for her to have stayed home, but there she was. She stayed and chatted for 20 minutes. And as fast as she talks, we really covered 40 minutes of conversation! We talked about how much it hurt to lose, and she talked about how much she was going to miss going to practice today. She asked how I was- pretty thoughtful for a teenager to ask an adult how they were handling things. She said she was here today because she needed to start today to get some of her grades up. Energy!!

Todd Rudolf's Story on Super

For the first five minutes of the Class 3A Pontiac Supersectional, the Galesburg High School girls basketball team did not look like it belonged with one of the state’s best. But by the final time horn sounded, there was little doubt that the Silver Streaks not only belonged, but could play with just about anyone.

Galesburg (28-7) gave Country Club Hills Hillcrest (28-2) everything it could handle in a wild, high scoring shootout. The Hawks emerged from with a 77-70 victory, advancing to the state semifinals at 2 p.m. Friday against Chicago Marshall.

RM Preview of Super

After Friday’s practice, Galesburg High School seniors Jessica Howard and Megan Young were all smiles, even giddy as they walked off the court. And why shouldn’t they be?

After all, the two have been a major part of this season’s turnaround and the improbable playoff run that now has the Silver Streaks (28-6) just one game away from reaching the state tournament for the first time since the 2002-2003 season.

The final team standing in their way is the 27-2 Hillcrest Hawks of Country Club Hills who won the Rich East Sectional in dramatic fashion, erasing a seven-point deficit in the final minutes to defeat Morgan Park 81-76.

RM Article on Season by Aaron Frey

It was only two years ago that Amy Massey looked at her husband and asked if it was time.

For most of his first three decades coaching the Galesburg High School girls basketball team, Evan Massey had known nothing but success.

RM Article on Sectional Championship

When you only score 20 points in the second half in a sectional championship game, usually you could be in big trouble.

But not if your team completely dominates the first half by scoring 54 points and building a 39-point lead, and that’s exactly what the Galesburg High School girls basketball team did Thursday night to beat Peoria Richwoods 74-46 in the Class 3A Metamora Sectional championship game.

Galesburg (28-6) will now take on Country Club Hills Hillcrest at 7:30 p.m. Monday in the Pontiac Supersectional with a trip to the state tournament on the line.

Journal Star Article on the Super

Jane Miller's article in the Journal Star----


If not for two bad four-minute stretches, Galesburg might be heading to the Class 3A girls basketball state semifinals this weekend.
But because of those eight minutes, Country Club Hillcrest is. The Hawks beat Galesburg 77-70 on Monday night to win the Pontiac Supersectional.
Hillcrest (28-2), which finished second in 3A a year ago, got off to a 14-2 start against the Silver Streaks (28-7). Galesburg, which has jumped on teams early throughout the postseason, didn’t score until the 5:15 mark, on a putback by Myra Diggins. The Streaks’ first 3-pointer didn’t come until 3:26 to play, but by that time, they were mounting a comeback.

Streaks Deserve to Stand Proud

Article by Aaron Frey in the Register-Mail----


They watched another team celebrate at the final buzzer, receive a supersectional plaque and cut down the nets.

They couldn’t help but cry, of course.

When your season ends all too abruptly and the reality of it all finally sets in, that’s just what teenage girls do.

Then Evan Massey huddled his Galesburg High School girls basketball team together after their 77-70 Class 3A Pontiac Supersectional loss to County Club Hills Hillcrest on Monday and directed them to the throng of Silver Streaks fans in the east bleachers at Crowley Gymnasium.