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Sports Editor Matt Daniels with a look at what’s going on around the area:
Parkland athletics
Champaign native Chris Bush gets an assist in helping advance the Parkland men’s basketball team through the NJCAA Division II national tournament bracket after a second-round win late Monday night at Mary Miller Gym in Danville.
Three reasons we love sports today
➜ 1. The Parkland men’s basketball team relied on 20 points apiece from Champaign Central graduate Chris Bush and Kodhi McStraw, along with 16 points from Jaiden Martin and 15 points from Grant Chamberlain, to defeat Johnson County (Kan.) 86-78 late Monday night to win a second-round NJCAA Division II national tournament game in Danville.
➜ 2. The 11th-seeded Cobras (27-7) will now get ready to play No. 3 seed Milwaukee Area (31-3) at 7 p.m. on Thursday in a quarterfinal game at Mary Miller Gym.
➜ 3. If Parkland can pull off a second straight upset this week in Danville on Thursday night against the Stormers, it will advance the Cobras to a semifinal game at 8 p.m. on Friday.
After a prolific playing career with the Murray State women’s basketball team, Oakwood graduate Katelyn Young is now in her first season as an assistant coach with the Racers.
Numbers game: 31
wins the Murray State women’s basketball team has this season. Oakwood native Katelyn Young is in her first season as an assistant coach with the Racers after she scored a school-record 3,029 points while playing at Murray State from 2020-25. The Racers (31-3) are a No. 12 seed in the NCAA tournament and will face No. 5 seed Maryland (23-8) at 2 p.m. Friday in a first-round game at Carmichael Arena in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Fran McCaffery, left, and Brad Underwood are shown here talking before last year’s late Februry game at State Farm Center in Champaign. Underwood’s Illinois team won 81-61 against McCaffery and Iowa. The two will meet again, but this time at the NCAA tournament with McCaffery now the coach at Pennsylvania after he was fired by the Hawkeyes last offseason. The 14th-seeded Quakers will face the third-seeded Illini on Thursday night at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C.
Crowd control
Three events I’m paying attention to
➜ 1. Illinois vs. Penn men’s basketball. Brad Underwood went 9-6 against first-year Penn coach Fran McCaffery when McCaffery coached at Iowa. The two will renew their series history on Thursday night in Greenville, S.C.
➜ 2. Illinois vs. Colorado women’s basketball. Colorado junior guard Desiree Wooten averages a team-high 13.3 points and is one of six Buffaloes averaging at least eight points entering Saturday night’s NCAA tournament first-round game.
➜ 3. Missouri at Illinois softball. The Illini (8-18) will try to snap a six-game losing skid when the Tigers (12-16) visit Eichelberger Field in Urbana for a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Wednesday.
Tyler Hess is a two-sport athlete at St. Joseph-Ogden.
Ask an athlete
Three questions with St. Joseph-Ogden junior Tyler Hess, who plays soccer and basketball for the Spartans:
➜ 1. Three athletes I’d like to have dinner with are … Anthony Edwards, Tiger Woods and Caleb Williams.
➜ 2. The TV show I most like to binge-watch is … “Outer Banks.”
➜ 3. My biggest pet peeve is … when people over-explain.
