2003 State Finals

2003 State Finals-
Press conference
with 6 year old Allen.

Tony Bennett's Core Values

Coach Tony Bennett at the University of Virginia doesn’t believe in having a lot of team rules.

Instead his teams are taught 5 core values that must be constantly demonstrated both on and off the court.

These same values were used by Coach Bennett’s father, Coach Dick Bennett at the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay for over 20 years.

1. Humility

Knowing who you are – not thinking too highly of yourself but not thinking too little of yourself either.

Purdue Pictures

Team Building- untie the knot.

Team Building- helping each other stand up.

Salem Trip

This is a picture taken after the last game vs. Salem at the Salem Tourney. This was the group who played in the varsity division.

Matt Wheaton- Galesburg Summer League

The following is Matt Wheaton's article on Galesburg Summer League. It is the second longest running summer basketball league in Illinois (behind Maine West). It is the largest downstate league in Illinois.

It’s not really hard for Galesburg High School girls basketball coach Evan Massey to figure out how long he’s been organizing the Galesburg Summer League. 



“This is the 27th year we’ve done it,” said Massey, who is entering his 36th season at the helm of the Silver Streaks. “The only reason I know is you put it at the top of the sheet and the next year you change it.”

Massey started the league for a simple reason.

Trip to Salem

Salem gym was a neat old gym with balconies around it.
Veteran Streaks fan, Steve Bryant said it reminded him
of old Steele Gym in downtown Galesburg.

This past weekend we went to Salem to play basketball. It was one of the best run tourneys/camps we have been to. Very good facilities, on time, good competition, and well officiated- it was very worthwhile.

It is always nice to go some place where you play people you don't see. I think this enables players to be more focused on their game and their team vs. being worried about other teams. The competition level in southern Illinois is outstanding.

Jason Shay Works w/ Teams

Jason Shay was back in Galesburg for "vacation." He spent about 10 hours in Thiel Gym working with the Streaks varsity boys and girls basketball teams.

William Allen- Teacher & Soldier

The following is a sermon which was given at First Presbyterian Church in Galesburg on Memorial Day 2013 in honor of William Allen who gave his life for his country in WW2.

Time To Remember

I did not attend theology school but I will have you know, I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express. Some probably expect me to give a sermon connected to sports. I did think about a sermon entitled “Jump Shots and Jesus”, but my wife vetoed that. I even thought about one entitled “Wisconsin and Heaven- The Same Area Code”, but Carl Strauch warned I might be excommunicated.

I really appreciate the opportunity to speak this morning. I am going to share a story involving the death of a soldier in war. This week we saw a tremendous tragedy take place in Oklahoma. The story of my soldier and of the Oklahoma tornado, beg the question, ”Why?”  In the book, “When Bad Things Happen to Good People,” Harold Kushner states, “It is not because God intended it or planned it. Bad things happen to good and bad people because we live on earth, and earth is not a perfect place.”

Mark Retiring

Brother Mark is retiring after 39 years of teaching in the Clinton, Ia schools. Mark is a 1967 grad of the prestigious Savanna High School. (It was really the Illinois Math & Science Academy first). He went on to be a political science major at Knox College. Upon graduating, he took a variety of jobs before deciding to get a teaching certificate. He chose to go to the University of Arizona at Tucson for his degree as at that time they did not have out of state tuition.

He applied in Arizona as well as in the Savanna area. He was hired to teach at Lyons Jr High in Clinton. Ironically it is where our mother got her first teaching job. After a few years, he transferred to Clinton HS, where he has been since.

Sunday, May 26

This is a picture of Bill Allen with his
12 year old brother outside the family
farm in Alta, IL before Bill left for Europe.
This would have been the last time Ben
saw his brother. 

Sunday, May 26, I have the privilege of delivering the sermon at 1st Presby at both the 9:00am and 11:00am services. With this being Memorial Day weekend, the theme of my message is going to be talking about Bill Allen. He was a Knox grad, who taught at Galesburg High School. He chose in 1943 to enlist in the Army to fight in WW2. His division fought in every major battle in northern Europe.

He was a prolific writer and wrote letters to his parents, his family, and to friends back in Galesburg. The Allen family kept all of the letters and shortly after the war, they published the letters in a book.

The letters describe life from boot camp in Georgia, staging in England, liberating France, and fighting to within miles of Berlin. Bill Allen was killed in April of 1945, just 19 days before V-E Day. His story is a story of courage, commitment and sacrifice. His letters give a first hand account of life as a soldier.

I would like to invite you to attend either service on May 26 as I share this story.

Peyton Manning's Lesson for Basketball

This is article compares the simplicity of the "Manning passing game" with the simplicity of the ball screen offense. The comparison could be made to a lot of styles in sports. The philosophy is the Bob Knight philosophy- do a few things really well vs. the Dean Smith philosophy try to do a lot to be able to surprise the opponent. This could be true also of the philosophy of Syracuse- we are only going to play 2-3 zone, but we are going to play it really well.

By Beckly Mason

Peyton Manning is often described as a wizard, and genius, and all that may be true. But as Grantland’s Chris Brown writes, he didn’t earn that reputation by mastering complex plays.

His story on Manning and the Bronco offense that No. 18 imported from his time with the Colts got me thinking about, what else, basketball, and specifically about the effecitiveness of the spread pick-and-roll offense.

Butler Use of Stats

Article from SI.com on Butler's use of the area of statistical analytics.....  by Pete Thamel.   VERY GOOD STUFF!!!!

The formal basketball career of Drew Cannon ended in eighth grade as the sixth man of his junior high team. In college at Duke, Cannon's only hoops experience came from an intramural team called the Norse Forse.
When Cannon graduated with a degree in statistics last spring, he had modest expectations of finding a job right away. "We were hoping he would not be living in the basement," said Jim Cannon, his father. "That was our goal. And his."
Instead of toiling in the basement, Cannon spent the season on the Butler bench and will be with the team when the Bulldogs play Bucknell in the NCAA tournament on Thursday. Cannon's experience interning with recruiting analyst Dave Telep and his advanced writing about basketball analytics gained the attention of Butler coach Brad Stevens, who offered him a job as a graduate manager this summer.

IBCA All-State

Jessica Lieber was selected to the 3rd team for the IBCA All-State team.

Some of the players we played against or from the area....

First Team
Sarah Livingston- Morton
Jaqui Grant- Maine South

Second Team
Olivia Elger- Richwoods
Ashton Williams- Springfield

Daniels Advances

Freshmen Lexi Daniels advanced in the 3 point shooting contest at Dunlap. Lexi sent home 8 three pointers to tie for first place in the Regional.

Haley Kelso, Jess Lieber, and Allison Mangieri each knocked down 5 threes to just miss advancing.

Lexi will next shoot at the Washington Sectional on next Thursday at 6:00pm. If she advances, she will be going to Redbird for the state finals!!

Right Voices

My mother was wonderful. I know I am biased, but my mother was wonderful. The thing my mother was so good at was to make me feel good about myself. Yes, she sometimes was critical of my choices but she never seemed to be critical of me. She had the ability to separate my behavior/choices from me as a person. Quite simply she was supportive, loving, and full of praise.

I remember when I got a D in French. It was the last term of my junior year. I figured summer vacation was not going to be good. While she was supportive of me, she was not supportive of not working and doing well in schoool. This was my only D in school. 

She was not home when I got home, so I just left the report card on the kitchen table before going out with my buddies. That evening the only thing my mother said was, "Evidently foreign languages aren't your thing." I was shocked, but I think she recognized that I knew I had screwed up.