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Sports Editor Matt Daniels with a look at what’s going on around the area:
Three reasons we love sports today
➜ 1. Many thanks to the 11 guest pickers we’ve used so far this high school football season for our weekly predictions on 10 games. Including this week’s guest: Brian Cardinal.
➜ 2. Cardinal, a 1995 Unity graduate who played four seasons of college basketball at Purdue and then 12 seasons in the NBA, is working for the NBA these days. The 47-year-old helps oversee the Academics and Player Pathway for the NBA Academy, traveling internationally to help out the program that includes academies across Australia, Mexico and Senegal.
➜ 3. When not traveling, Cardinal lives in Westfield, Ind., with his wife, Danielle, their three children — 18-year-old Bryson, 16-year-old Emery and 14-year-old Delanie — and the family German Shepard, Paxton.
Numbers game: 3
area high school volleyball teams who will try to win sectional titles on Thursday when all those matches start at 6 p.m. In Class 3A, Mahomet-Seymour (35-3) hosts Normal U-High (35-3), while St. Thomas More (34-4) tangles with Bloomington Central Catholic (32-4) in Monticello for a 2A title and Cissna Park (33-3) squares off against Lexington (29-7) in a 1A title match at Ottawa Marquette.
Crowd control
Three events I’m paying attention to
➜ 1. No. 19 Florida State at Illinois women’s basketball. The fact the Illini return 83 percent of their scoring from a 19-15 team that won the WBIT title last season is cause for optimism around C-U before Thursday night’s season opener.
➜ 2. Southern Illinois Edwardsville at Illinois men’s basketball. The Illini have never lost to the Cougars, going 3-0 and winning the three games in 1981, 2009 and 2011 by an average of 27.6 points before Friday night’s 7 p.m. tip.
➜ 3. Southern Cal at Illinois volleyball. The Illini are 0-2 against ranked teams at Huff Hall — and 0-4 against ranked teams on the season — before hosting the No. 20 Trojans at 5 p.m. Friday in Champaign.
Coach’s corner
Three questions with first-year Tuscola girls’ basketball coach Michael Rosenbaum. His Warriors open the season Nov. 18 at Marshall:
➜ 1. My favorite sports teams are … Illinois basketball, TCU football and the San Antonio Spurs.
➜ 2. Three coaches I’d like to have dinner with are … Dale Schuring, Gregg Popovich and Tim Kohlbecker. All the world’s problems would be solved.
➜ 3. My biggest pet peeve is … giving a direction and then repeating myself five seconds later.