Yesterday the IHSA announced that boys and girls basketball and the lower-risk winter sports officially can start, effective immediately for the regions that have moved to phase four which includes LaSalle, Grundy, Kendall, Bureau and Putnam Counties.
Boys and girls basketball, classified as a higher-risk sport, and lower-risk winter sports, which includes boys swimming, cheerleading, dance and bowling will run through March 13 without any state tournament series.
The IHSA board is only considering a state series for traditional spring sports. Dance and cheerleading will be allowed to conduct virtual sectional and state final meets.
The remaining sports’ schedules for the 2020 21 school year finalized by the IHSA board of directors are as follows:
- Boys soccer: March 1 through April 17
- Football: March 3 through April 24
- Girls volleyball: March 8 through April 24
- Baseball, softball, boys tennis, and track :April 5 through June 19
- And wrestling: April 19 to June 12
IHSA also announced that seven days of practice are required before any contests can begin, outside of football, which has a March 19 start date for games. For all the details you can visit the Illinois High School Association website at www.ihsa.org.
In college basketball
Notre Dame lost at home to the 20th ranked Virginia Tech Hokies 62-51.. The 5-9 Fighting Irish are 12th in the ACC and will travel to face PITT on Saturday.
The Northwestern Wildcats football program has signed head coach Pat Fitzgerald to a new deal that runs through the 2030 season. Fitzgerald is the winningest coach in Northwestern history after being hired in 2006. Before starting his coaching career, Fitzgerald was one of the best players in wildcats history.
Last night The Blackhawks fell to the Predators 2-1 in a shootout in Nashville. Ryan Carpenter scored the lone goal for Chicago and Kevin Lankinen made 41 saves in the defeat. The Hawks return home for a four-game homestand beginning tomorrow night with a two-game set against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Bears are losing another coach to the Falcons. Ted Monachino left the team after two seasons as outside linebackers coach to fill the same position with Atlanta. The Falcons have now hired four former Bears assistants in less than a week. Chicago is also reportedly losing inside linebackers coach Mark De Leonek, who was hired as the linebackers coach with the Detroit Lions.
Longtime NFL tight end Jason Witten is ready to call it a career again. The 38-year-old plans to sign a one-day contract with Dallas and retire as a Cowboy. Witten played for the Raiders last season after 16 years in the “Big D.”
NBA All-Star voting begins today at noon and runs through midnight on February 16th. Voting can be done through the NBA app, NBA.com, or Twitter.