Local flavor to HS Hoops Showdown

Here's hoping the 13th annual High School Hoops Showdown will bring better luck to Bob Rylko and David Kaplan than they've had recently with their annual events, which have been hit by injuries, teams that haven't performed up to expectations or star players that have defected. They announced the three matchups at the annual event at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates for Saturday, Jan. 23, 2010. The date should help since it's not Martin Luther King weekend, when there is usually a glut of shootouts and other events.

All three matchups are pretty localized which should help...

The 4:30 p.m. opener has Glenbard East (20-7) vs. Jacobs (24-4), the winningest 4A program the last four years at 94-19. Glenbard East has a young and talented team led by sophomore PG Zach Miller and Jacobs has three starters back including sophomore PG Mike Peterson.

The 6:30 p.m. rivalry game should be a good one between nearby Suburban Catholic Conference rivals Aurora Central Catholic (24-4) and Marmion (13-14).

And the 8:30 p.m finale should be another good with teams that figure to be highly ranked in Neuqua Valley (31-2) and West Aurora (20-8). Dwayne Evans is back from back-to-back sectional champion Neuqua and West Aurora will have Juwan Starks coming off an excellent freshman year.

Teams for the 15th annual City-Suburban Showdown are expected to be announced within the next week.