Jan. 20--Road trips are recruiting tools. And they are good experiences, at least most of the time.
They also provide financial benefits to the schools, either directly, indirectly through shoe-company sponsorships or both.
But some have been unkind to Chicago basketball this season.
Morgan Park, Kenwood, Bogan and Marshall had to forfeit games in Detroit for playing in an unsanctioned event (each team lost anyway) and Curie's forfeits now outnumber its on-court losses 2-1 after encountering trouble in Michigan City on Saturday.
Curie is all too familiar with forfeits, giving up an impressive victory in early December after the star-studded Canadian team it beat proved to be unsanctioned. The Condors, in 2014, also forfeited 24 wins along with the city championship for use of seven academically ineligible players.
This is why Condors coach Mike Oliver ultimately saw taking another forfeit loss as the lesser of two evils on Saturday, though he disputes reports that his team left for the locker room while he delayed the game with the Condors trailing 21-18 in the second quarter to express concern that physical play was getting out of hand.
Oliver said that while he was pleading with his friend, Michigan City athletic director and former DePaul basketball assistant Craig Shaman, to help get the game under control, the referees declared it a forfeit.
"We can't afford an incident," Oliver said. "I told the coach, 'Listen, we've been having a lot of problems with suspensions and forfeits in Chicago and we didn't come all the way here to fight. If the refs aren't going to call a close or fair game, we don't need to continue. We can't afford suspensions.
"We were caught in a catch-22. If a brawl happens they blame you for the brawl. Or they blame you for bad sportsmanship."
Though the game was not the type of showcase event area teams leave Illinois for seemingly every weekend, Curie would have been better off commemorating Martin Luther King Jr. Day against a non-traditional opponent somewhere in the Chicago area.
What Chicago basketball needs is more games like No. 3 Simeon at No. 4 Fenwick -- a doozy of an MLK Day matinee won by Fenwick in Simeon's first nonconference, non-showcase game in the Chicago area since Derrick Rose wore a Wolverines' uniform.
Fenwick coach Rick Malnati broke down the situation well.
"When you talk about every 8th grader that wants to come to your school, if you play a national schedule, you're going to travel," Malnati said. "Hats off to Rob (Simeon coach Robert Smith) for being willing to have a game like this and come to an environment like we had.
"I'd like to see more games like this instead of shootouts. We get together, our school is making money or his school is making money. We'd be happy to return the favor next year if he wants us to come there. You can't go out of state to have an event like this, and for Rob Smith to be willing to do that, and we he did for Morgan Park (agreed to postpone a game so the Morgan Park parents and principal can agree to a location), he's a class guy."
Mike Helfgot is a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
