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Basketball Sun Dec 09 2012
Curie's Just Not Scoring Enough
When you have one of the best players in the country, you have the chance to play in much-hyped early-season events against quality teams. Curie, led by 6-9 junior Cliff Alexander, started their season last weekend with consecutive shootout losses against national powerhouse Oak Hill (Va.) and a solid Benet team.
Though no one expected Curie to take down Oak Hill (72-39) or was too surprised by a one-point loss against Benet (37-36) less than 48 hours later, the team's offensive numbers don't inspire. Alexander is considered one of the top ten players in the 2014 -- locally overshadowed by dominant junior Jahlil Okafor, of course -- and boasts offers from Ohio State, Kentucky, Indiana, and a host of other basketball powers. So scoring more than 40 points a game shouldn't be such a challenge for Curie, one would think.
Since Illinois high school basketball doesn't require a shot clock -- which speaks to how antiquated the Illinois High School Association is, more than anything else -- scoring totals tend to be deflated. Derrick Rose's first state title at Simeon came in a 31-29 overtime (!) victory against Richwoods, who used a slowed-down game plan to keep it close and put the arena to sleep. Curie, armed with an all-everything big man in the post, is facing defenses who will gladly allow the other four Condors on the floor to do their thing on offense. High school guards have a hard enough time making solid, fundamentally sound entry passes from the perimeter, and much more so when defenses collapse those passing lanes.
But Curie and Alexander have plenty of time to get things going. They face a challenge tonight at 6pm against undefeated Homewood-Flosmoor -- another shootout, this one put on by the Team Rose Foundation at the new Kroc Center, 1250 W 119th St.
Photo by Patrick Gleason/Sun-Times Media
