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SECTION 2 - PAGE 18 • PLAlNDEALKR HER ALl), FRIDAY, MARCH 15,1985 Sports The writers' team: Class AA choice Slimko takes high honor By Joe Kusek PMBdaatar-HeraM NwiShiIu ALGONQUIN -- The numbers speak for themselves. And for Mark Slimko of Jacobs, they speak rather loudly. . When the 1984-85 season was over, the Golden Eagles senior led the Fox Valley in scoring, and set single game, single season and career scoring records for Jacobs while averaging 24.7 points a game for his club. And all those numbers added up to Slimko being named the Shaw Free Press Media Group All-Area Class AA Player of the Year. Slimko, a 6-5 center/for­ ward/guard, burst on the scene last year as a junior and led Jacobs to a regional title. But this year, Slimko came into the season a marked man. The word also went out, "to beat Jacobs, stop Slimko." Not many teams did. Despite seeing double-teams, triple-teams and triangle-and-two defenses, Slimko scored in all 27 of the Golden Eagles' games. His low was a 12-point effort against Hampshire in the second game of the season and his high game was a 43-point barrage against Wauconda in the Jacobs Class AA Regional. Along the way, he had 16 20- point games and five 30-points plus outbursts. "The season went pretty much the way I expected it," said Slimko. "I think we surprised some people, a lot of people didn't think we'd win more than 10 games this year (the Golden Eagles were 12-15), and we could easily have been 15-12. "I knew I would have to carry most of the load scoring-wise this year. Last year, people knew I was there, but didn't pay that much attention to me. This year, I knew there would be a crowd every time." To make sure make that he wouldn't get claustrophobic in "crowds," Slimko practiced shooting at least two hours a day, attended two camps (Northern Il­ linois and a Blue-Chip in Louisville) and played in the in­ itial Prairie State games. "I needed to work on my quickness, strength and outside shot," he explained about his sum­ mer work. "Shooting for two hours a day really helped a lot. "And at the camps, playing against good players every day, I learned you can't ever be lackadaisical, that you had to con­ centrate all the time. That you couldn't get sloppy because one of the better players would just slap the ball away. "I couldn't wait to play. I wanted to see how much the sum­ mer had helped, I was anxious to see what happened." What happened was Slimko join­ ed some very elite company. Every scoring record he broke had previously belonged to former Golden Eagle all-state forward Tom Schafer. Slimko, who also led Jacobs in rebounding, is now the Golden Eagles' all-time leading scorer with 1,123 points, besting Schafer's total of 1,050. He also owns 13 other offensive records. Which is somewhat ironic, since it has been Schafer who Slimko has been spending his summers playing against and who Slimko has been compared to, "He's quicker than I was," Slimko said, who is still in the pro­ cess of selecting a college to play for. "And his body strength is a lot better. "He was more of a forward-type player, while I'm more of a guard/forward as playing in col­ lege goes. Playing against him showed you can't stop everyone all the time ... with him, hardly ever." It was also the attention Schafer received his senior year that pi­ qued Slimko's interest. "Seeing all those coaches around, I thought I'd like to go some place ,too," he remembered from his junior year. "I came into the season, wanting to work hard so I could play after my senior year. "I'll be anxious (to play in col­ lege) but scared too. I won't be at Jacobs anymore, where I spent my career. But I'm not backing down from anybody." And just let the numbers do the talking. mM Hinkle is top coach Platndealer-Herald News Service photo by Steve Metach Is'H *'• i Mark Slimko, iftoi of 52HAW WW OO ' class aa mm - . r ; Woodstock Jacobs Secott* Team: CRAIG H&L PAT DUNNE mmm , > , • CU Central CiBg^Grove Player of the Year: Coach of the Yean Jim Team chosen by This team 'picture-perfect' Craig Hill J ieff Nichols Bv Chris Juzwik Plalndealer-fJerald (porta editor Picture it. Dundee-Crown's Mike Harris brings the ball upcourt. His options are numerous. He sees teammate Dan Schultz, a lanky frfoot-6 center, open in the middle. But that looks too risky. Then Harris sees Woodstock's 6-5 Scott Rizzo posting up down low. But Rizzo is double-teamed. His backcourt mate is Crystal Lake Central's Rich Stempinski, whose left-handed shot is as sure as anyone's. But Stempinski isn't open. So then Harris seeks his final option. It's Jacobs' Mark Slimko waiting along the baseline. The 6-6 s senior takes the pass, and goes in for a dunk ana an easy two points. Talk about making a coach's job easy. But what if one or all of those players are having off-nights? Then what? Simple. In off the bench you take Central's Bill Heppner and Cary-Grove's Troy Lewis, both sophomores, but with good size at 6-6. Joininj them would be Woodstock's Ri Mecklenburg, a hustling, do-it- all player, or Jacobs' Todd Suma, a fine complementary athlete. A little local flavor, you say? By Joe Kusek CARPENTERSVILLE - Based on Jim Hinkle's past coaching ex­ periences, the 1984-85 season for Dundee-Crown should have been no surprise. The Chargers, who finished 5-17 a year ago, turned things aroun<J this year, basically with the same team, and posted a, sparkling 19-7 record which included the Fox Valley Conference championship. For the effort, Hinkle has been named the Shaw-Free Press Newspaper Group All-Area Class AA Coach ot the Year. The Chargers, who reached a low point with a 65-57 loss to McHenry in December, rebound­ ed with a vengeance and won their next eight FVC games to win the league title with a 10-2 record. D-C did it in the best fashion possible, beating Woodstock at home in the final regular-season game to break a tie for the con­ ference lead, and claim the title. "It was a neat season," Hinkle said. "I took pride in this team's accomplishment. It was neat to see them come together. They completely sacrificed individual goals for the success of the team." After the McHenry game, it didn't appear FVC success would be there for D-C. The loss put the Chargers at 6-5 overall ana 2-2 in the league. "That was a key game," Hinkle recalled. "We had played so poor­ ly. We were looking for a con­ ference championship at the third game of the season. "We learned a valuable lesson -- to take it one game at a time. And we had to realize it the hard way." Dundee-Crown placed second at the Elgin Holiday Tournament, then went on a tear, reeling off 10 straight wins, capped off with the second triumph over Woodstock. But Hinkle saw the first game against Woodstock (Jan. 18) as the year's most important. "That was our single most im­ portant win," he said. "We were 3- 2 in the conference and we had to go to Woodstock. If we didn't win, there went our season as far as our own personal goals were con­ cerned. * "That game ( a 76-69 overtime win) shifted gears for us. That propelled us for the rest of the year." Dundee-Crown shifted gears all season on offense. The Chargers employed an up-tempo offense which saw them lead the league in scoring. But it was a statistic earned at the other end of the court that Hinkle was most pleas­ ed with "We were No. 1 in offense, but what made me croud was were No. 1 ii* defense," said Hinkle, who is in his 21st year of coaching basketball "We allowed the fewest total points. That's an aspect I think a lot of people overlooked. "Of course, when you run a fast- break offense, you'll score a lot of points, but we showed that we played both ends of the court." Hinkle, who has won three FVC titles in seven years of the league's existence, didn't always employ the fast-break methods. "When I first started coaching, it was 'walk it up the floor,'" he reminisced, '"play it close to the vest.' A turnover was a mortal sin. But in my fifth year, I decided we were going to run, win or lose, but we were going to have fun doing it. * "They weren't going to mind do­ ing wind springts, because the end of the spring is the pay-off -- a shot. "Everyone gets involved in the offense. Everyone gets a chance to let their talents snow. You still have to play aggressive defense, that's just to get the ball to get the shot. "You work it to fit every kid's special talents. It might look a lit­ tle helter-skelter out there, but everyone is in a place for a specific purpose." Which looks simple, according to Hinkle, but isn't, and takes time to learn. Examples: the 1983-84 season compared to 1984-85 for Dundee-Crown. But Hinkle's coaching past -- up to the merging of Dundee and Crown -- followed the exact same pattern. "My first year at Chester, we won five games," said Hinkle. "The following year we won 18 games and a regional title. That's the only regional title the school has had and it's over 100 years old. "When I came to Crown, we went 2-23 my first year. The se­ cond year we went 18-8 and had the highest finish ever for Crown High School in the Northwest Suburban Conference. "And it was the same type of situation here. First year, we only won five games, and this year we go 19-7. "The kids are tremendous. These kids gave up personal suc­ cess for the success of the team. And that's difficult to do. But they became believers in that." Because their coach set a good example. McHenry's Pat Dunne and Craig Hill are also on your bench, as is Johnsburg's Jeff Nichols. All in all, a pretty awesome team. At the reins of this potential state championship team is Jim Hinkle, the Dundee-Crown coach and Dick Vitale look- alike, who coached the Chargers to a Fox Valley championship in only their second year of existence. You put all those ingredients together, and you have picked the 1984-85 Shav-Free Press Media All-Area Class AA Boys' Basketball Team, as chosen by Shaw-Free Press sportswriters. Schultz, Rizzo, Slimko, Harris and Stempinski make up the first team, while the other seven comprise the second squad. It's 12 players any coach would be lucky to have. Slimko was picked as the player of the year, and Hinkle the coach of the year (see ac­ companying stories). It's a team worthy of superlatives most people couldn't think of, much less apply. The quickness, the defense, the size, the hustle, all of it - is very visible in this squad. Schultz and Rizzo manned the middle for their respective ALL-AREA--Page 15 Scott Rizzo Rob Mecklenburg Rich Stempinski Todd Suma Troy Lewis Dan Schultz