Sergio McClain
Sergio McClain (born November 2, 1978) is a former professional basketball player and NJCAA coach. He was the 1997 winner of the Illinois Mr. Basketball award. High school career McClain attended Peoria Manual High School, and helped lead his basketball team to a record four consecutive state titles. He was a three time all-state selection, Conference Player of the Year in 1997, and was named 1997 Illinois Mr. Basketball. McClain was the only high school basketball player in Illinois state history to start on four straight state championship teams until Jabari Parker helped lead Simeon Career Academy in Chicago to four straight state titles. College career McClain later played for Lon Kruger and Bill Self at the University of Illinois, along with his high school teammates Marcus Griffin and Frank Williams. "The Peoria 3" anchored one of the Big Ten's top teams during their time there and the Illini ultimately earned a number one seed in the 2001 NCAA Tournament, advancin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Shooting Guard
The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's main objective is to score points for their team and steal the ball on defense. Some teams ask their shooting guards to bring up the ball as well; these players are known colloquially as combo guards. A player who can switch between playing shooting guard and small forward is known as a swingman. In the NBA, shooting guards usually range from to while in the WNBA, shooting guards tend to be between and . Characteristics and styles of play ''The Basketball Handbook'' by Lee Rose describes a shooting guard as a player whose primary role is to score points. As the name suggests, most shooting guards are good long-range shooters, typically averaging 35–40 percent from three-point range. Many shooting guards are also strong and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The State Journal Register
''The State Journal-Register'' is the only local daily newspaper for Springfield, Illinois, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1831 as the ''Sangamo Journal'' by William Bailhache and Edward Baker, and describes itself as "the oldest newspaper in Illinois". As such, it and its editor, Edward L. Baker, supported the political career of the Springfield-based Abraham Lincoln in the years before the American Civil War; in fact, it was in the ''Journal''s office that Lincoln and his friends waited for the telegraphic news from Chicago to find out who would be the Republican presidential nominee in 1860. Later in publication, the name was changed to ''Illinois State Journal''. The cover-price is $2 daily, $4.50 on Sunday. Copley Press bought the ''State Journal'' in 1927. In 1942, it bought Springfield's afternoon paper, the ''Illinois State Register''. For years, the two papers maintained separate editorial stances, with the ''State Journal'' tilting Republican and the ''Sta ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Safety (American Football Position)
Safety is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free safety and the strong safety. Their duties depend on the defensive scheme. The defensive responsibilities of the safety and cornerback usually involve pass coverage towards the middle and sidelines of the field. While American (11-player) formations generally use two safeties, Canadian (12-player) formations generally have one safety and two defensive halfbacks, a position not used in the American game. As professional and college football have become more focused on the passing game, safeties have become more involved in covering the eligible pass receivers. Safeties are the last line of defense; they are expected to be reliable tacklers, and many safeties rank among the hardest hitters in football. Safety positions can also be converted cornerbacks, either by design ( Byro ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Linebacker
Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, playing closer to the line of scrimmage than the defensive backs (secondary), but farther back than the defensive linemen. As such, linebackers play a hybrid role and are often the most versatile players on the defensive side of the ball; they can be asked to play roles similar to either a defensive lineman (such as stopping the runner on a running play) or a defensive back (such as dropping back into pass coverage). How a linebacker plays their position depends on the defensive alignment, the philosophy of the coaching staff, and the particular play the offense may call. Linebackers are divided into middle linebackers, sometimes called inside linebackers, and outside linebackers. The middle linebacker, often called "Mike", is frequently ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ron Turner (American Football)
Ronald David Turner (born December 5, 1953) is an American football coach and former player. Turner was most recently an offensive consultant with the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL) in 2017. He was head coach of the Florida International University (FIU) FIU Panthers football, Panthers football team from 2013 to 2016.Tim ReynoldsFIU hires Ron Turner as football coach Associated Press, January 3, 2013. Turner served as the head football coach at San Jose State University in 1992, and the Illinois Fighting Illini football, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 1997 to 2004. He also had two separate stints as the offensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL), the first from 1993 to 1996, and most recently from 2005 to 2009. Playing career Turner played college football as a wide receiver for Diablo Valley College from 1973 to 1974, and the University of the Pacific (United States), University of the Pacific f ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Elite 8
In the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship or the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship, the "Elite Eight" comprises the final eight teams, representing the regional finals, or national quarterfinals. In Division I and Division III, the Elite Eight consists of the two teams in each of the four regional championship games. The winners advance to the Final Four. Since 1997, when the NCAA trademarked the phrase, in Division II, the Elite Eight consists of the eight winners of the eight Division II regions. Like the Division I Final Four, the Division II Elite Eight games are all held in one predetermined location. In the men's Division I, the lowest-seeded team ever to reach this round in the modern 64 team tournament era is #15 seed Saint Peter's University in 2022. Two #12 seeds have advanced to the Elite Eight: Missouri in 2002, and the Oregon State Beavers in 2021. Nine #11 seeds have advanced to the Elite Eight: LSU (1986), Loyola Marymount (1990), ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Big Ten
The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1896, it predates the founding of its regulating organization, the NCAA. It is based in the Chicago area in Rosemont, Illinois. For many decades the conference consisted of 10 universities, and it has 14 members and 2 affiliate institutions. The conference competes in the NCAA Division I and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, the highest level of NCAA competition in that sport. Big Ten member institutions are major research universities with large financial endowments and strong academic reputations. Large student enrollment is a hallmark of its universities, as 12 of the 14 members enroll more than 30,000 students. They are largely state public universities; founding m ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Frank Williams (basketball)
Frank Lowell Williams (born February 25, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player. As a point guard, Williams was drafted out of the University of Illinois with the 25th overall pick in the 2002 NBA draft by the Denver Nuggets. In 2004, Williams was named to the University of Illinois All-Century Team. High school career Williams attended Manual High School in Peoria, Illinois, where he was a member of one of the most heralded teams in the nation. Williams led Peoria Manual to the final two of four consecutive IHSA class AA boys state basketball tournaments, in 1996 as a sophomore and again in 1997 as a junior. In both tournaments, Williams was named to the five-player All-Tournament team. As a senior, Williams was named the 1998 Illinois Mr. Basketball. College career After high school, Williams attended the University of Illinois, and played three seasons for the Fighting Illini under head coach Bill Self, leading the team to a string of NCAA Tournam ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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University Of Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University of Illinois system and was founded in 1867. Enrolling over 56,000 undergraduate and graduate students, the University of Illinois is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the country. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is a member of the Association of American Universities and is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". In fiscal year 2019, research expenditures at Illinois totaled $652 million. The campus library system possesses the second-largest university library in the United States by holdings after Harvard University. The university also hosts the National Center for Supercomputing Applications and is home to the fastest supercomputer on a university campus. The u ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bill Self
Billy Eugene Self Jr. (born December 27, 1962) is an American basketball coach. He is the head men's basketball coach at the University of Kansas, a position he has held since 2003. During his 19 seasons as head coach, he has led the Jayhawks to 16 Big 12 regular season championships, including an NCAA record 14 consecutive Big 12 regular season championships, some of which were shared (2005–2018). He has also led the Jayhawks to four NCAA Final Four appearances (2008, 2012, 2018, 2022), the 2008 NCAA championship and 2022 NCAA championship. Self was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017. At the end of the 2021–22 season, Self had the 18th most wins among Division I coaches in NCAA history and 4th among active head coaches. He is the second-winningest coach in Kansas history, behind only Hall of Famer Phog Allen and is the only coach in Kansas history to lead Kansas to multiple NCAA Tournament National Championships. As coach at Kansas, Self h ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lon Kruger
Lonnie Duane Kruger (born August 19, 1952) is a retired American college and professional basketball coach (sport), coach who was most recently the men's basketball head coach of the University of Oklahoma. Kruger played college basketball for Kansas State University. He has served as the head coach of the University of Texas–Pan American, Kansas State, the University of Florida, the University of Illinois, and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, as well as the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Kruger was one of only three coaches ever (the others being Rick Pitino and Tubby Smith) to lead five programs to the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, NCAA tournament. His teams have participated in 17 NCAA Tournaments, including two Final Fours (1994 with Florida; 2016 with Oklahoma). Early life Kruger was born and raised in Silver Lake, Kansas. As a point guard, Kruger led the Kansas State Wildcats men's basketball, Kansas State Wildcats to bac ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |