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Flames celebrate their best season
BANKS, WILLIAMS WIN TWO AWARDS EACH
(5/4/04)
The team celebrated a school-record 24-win season and its third consecutive postseason appearance and an NCAA tournament game against Kansas. It also said farewell to six seniors.
“There was some negative talk,” said head coach Jimmy Collins, about his team’s state at mid-season. “We could have turned around and gone the other way. We didn’t. We got up. One of the most fun parts of the year was that we persevered.
“We didn’t get down, because of tremendous leadership from our seniors. Those guys came to work everyday in a positive manner.”
Those seniors included center Joe Scott, forwards Jabari Harris, Richard Lesko, Kevin Mitchem, swingman Aaron Carr and guard Rickey Dominguez.
The team wrapped up the regular season with 12 straight wins, including the Horizon League championship victory at Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Andrew Haring, the team’s director of basketball operations, said “I looked at my calendar and that in the middle of the winter, there were 56 days of the sun shining brightly. That’s how long we went without losing.”
Athletic director Jim Schmidt announced that UIC’s attendance ranked second in the Horizon League behind just Wright State.
Eight different Flames received awards for various accomplishments. Guard Cedrick Banks and forward Armond Williams each went home with two trophies.
Banks, the 6-foot-2-inch superstar, was named by his peers as the team’s MVP. He also won the Hustle Award.
Banks was First-Team All-Horizon League as he led the team with 18.4 points per game. He made a single-season record 90 three-point baskets. Banks needs just 467 points next year to surpass Kenny Williams as the school’s all-time leading scorer.
Williams earned the Rebounding Award for leading the team with 5.8 rebounds per contest. He also received the Purple Heart Award for displaying the “most courage and toughness” on the team.
Carr won the team’s Free-Throw Award for converting 81 percent of his shots from the line. He was the equivalent of the closer in baseball with his late-game free-throw accuracy.
The Most-Improved Award had co-winners as sophomore small forward Justin Bowen and sophomore power forward Elliott Poole earned trophies.
Bowen was inserted into the starting line-up by coach Jimmy Collins midway through the season. UIC went 13-2 in games started by Bowen.
Poole was a key figure for the Flames late in the season, providing toughness and inside scoring for the team down the stretch. He hit the game-winning basket in the Horizon League championship and was named to the Horizon League All-Tournament team.
The Citizenship Award also had co-winners: Scott and Lesko. Collins inaugurated the award last year by honoring Jonathan Schneiderman.
Each member of the team also received NCAA tournament watches and will eventually get rings as a keepsake.
RECRUITING UPDATE: The Flames are officially done signing players for the 2004-05 season with the arrival of Luther Boyd’s Letter of Intent this spring. Omaha (Neb.) Central guard Karl White signed in the fall.
“We’re done,” assistant coach Mark Coomes said. “We have no more scholarships to offer.”
Three of the scholarships will go to Banks, Bailey and Williams upon successful completion of the final exams this week.
SCHEDULE UPDATE: The process of putting together a balanced schedule has gotten more difficult over the past few years. Only four road non-conference games have been confirmed so far.
The Flames will play at Illinois State on Nov. 30, while traveling to Northwestern, UNC-Wilmington and Bowling Green in games that will likely occur in December. UIC is still in search of some home non-conference contests.
According to various sources with the team, the schedule won’t be completed until at least July and could go well beyond then. Last year’s schedule was not officially released until September.
The exhibition slate will also be different than in year’s past with the NCAA passing a ban on scheduling contests with AAU teams and foreign teams.
Robert Morris, based in downtown Chicago, has been confirmed as one of the two preseason opponents. The other will likely be a Division II or Division III school.
“He was the one that recruited Karl White,” Collins said. “Karl’s going to be one of the better players we’ve had at UIC. Dave’s been a great recruiter.”
Donnelly (pictured) was named an assistant coach after Gene Cross departed for DePaul two years ago.
SING, SING: Collins sang the “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” at Wrigley Field April 17 during the Cubs game with the Cincinnati Reds. After his rendition, Collins attempted to play the part of master motivator, yelling out, “All right, Cubs! Let’s get some runs! Let’s get it going, baby!”
He also appeared on WGN-Ch. 9 with Chip Caray and Steve Stone and spoke about the team. The radio announcers on WGN-AM 720 also spoke about Collins.
“I remember Jimmy when he was at New Mexico State,” said Pat Hughes, the Cubs’ radio play-by-play man. “Good player.”
“You didn’t play against him?,” asked Ron Santo, the Cubs analyst.
“Oh, no,” Hughes said. “I wasn’t that good, Ronnie.”
QUOTABLE: There were numerous memorable quips at Monday night’s banquet.
* “That’s not always a strong aspect of our team,” – Haring as he presented Carr with the Free-Throw Award, drawing laughter from the crowd.
* “It would take me a long time to list all of his accomplishments. Coach [Collins] has me on the clock,” – Haring as he presented Banks with the MVP Award.
* “It made my job easy when a coaching staff like this puts on its working boots and gets it done on a daily basis,” – Schmidt on the Flames’ coaches.
* “It was gratifying to win in tough environments at Milwaukee and at Butler, and to [beat] Bruce Pearl,” – Schmidt on UIC’s accomplishments.
* “Lord knows how much I hate to lose to Milwaukee. I stopped drinking beer. I stopped watching Laverne & Shirley.” – Collins on playing Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
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A crowd of about 250 friends, family and supporters of UIC men’s basketball convened for the annual postseason awards banquet at the Holiday Inn Mart Plaza downtown Monday night.
“I thank all the people that made my stay at UIC memorable,” said Scott (pictured), who also said the invocation before dinner. “I’m going to miss working and sweating with these guys everyday. I’m an only child. I feel like I gained a few little brothers.”
Point guard Martell Bailey, obviously, won the Assists Award. Bailey (pictured with Collins in 2002) finished second in the nation with 7.8 assists per game after leading the nation the year before.
Lesko (pictured) also received an award at last week’s UIC academic banquet as he carried a team-high 4.7 grade-point average. Scott was the recipient of the Don Nash Scholarship Award.
HIGH REGARD: Collins praised his coaching staff, especially his youngest assistant Dave Donnelly, who has made significant contributions to the program over the past few years in various roles.