Once again, the top selected high school senior boys and girls players will invade the United Center this Wednesday, April 3. This will be the third straight year the contests will be held at the UC. The house that Michael Jordan built will host the games through at least 2015.
There are reasons, I think, why Chicago is the best location for the McDonald's All-American events. The city is the major transportation hub of the midwest. The UC attendance records the last two years were off the charts. Almost 37,000 people attended the games there the last two years.
In 2011, the United Center broke the all-time attendance record with 20,019, in part because Anthony Davis, a local product, Kentucky and NBA rookie, participated. It was also the first time the UC hosted the games.
It's important that if the McDonald's committee is going to have the games in the Windy City, they will have to consider a Chiacgo-area high school player, male and/or female. It would be considered an insult if the all-star games are in Chicago and no local players was selected to the boys and girls teams.
There was criticism from Chicago Public League officials because no boys player from that league was represented in last year's contest. They have representation this year in 6-foot-8 Jabari Parker of Chicago Simeon, who is headed to Duke. On the women's side, Whitney Young's Linnae Harper will showcase her skills before she's off to Kentucky. The way I see it, The CPL will be happy as long as they have someone in the league represented in the games.
At last summer's NY2LA Summer Jam in Mequon, I paid attention to two brothers who played on the Houston-area AAU team. Twin brothers Andrew and Aaron Harrison played well in that tournament, and I had the feeling at that time that either one or both of the brothers would get some McDonald's All-American consideration. My prediction was correct. Both of them got picked to the West team.
So what does that say about the consideration for Wisconsin high school senior basketball players? They have more of a basketball resume than some of the guys on the roster from the East and West teams. Luke Fischer led his Germantown team to back-to-back state championships and a 56-game winning streak. Bronson Koenig led his La Crosse Aquinas team to a state title. Matt Thomas had a great year for Onalaska. Deonte Burton was steady for Milwaukee Vincent. They were on the watch list, but they weren't picked to the team.
The player with a better chance to make the McDonald's All-American team in 2014 from Wisconsin is Milwaukee Hamilton's Kevon Looney. The 6-8 junior is one of the top 10 juniors in the country. If he doesn't make it, then it's a shame. The same would be said for sophomore sensation Arike Ogunbowale from DSHA if she's overlooked two years from now.
I'll be in attendance for both the boys and girls games, so look for an update from Chicago later in the week.
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