New Tip-Off schedule means another night of hoops

 The late addition of two Illinois basketball powers - Chicago Bogan and Winnebago - to this year's 205 Tip-Off Classic means the hoops extravaganza will stretch out to four days at East and Jefferson high schools.

The updated schedule has several intriguing matchups.

The first night features Elgin Larkin against the rising program at Guilford. The second night starts off with Bogan playing Machesney Park Harlem.

Friday's full day of hoops action ends with Winnebago and Bogan squaring off at Jefferson at 5 p.m. and East, the defending NIC-10 champions, playing East St. Louis at 8:30 p.m. at East.

The complete schedule:

205 Tip-Off Classic Schedule
Monday, November 22 at Jefferson
6 p.m.	Elgin Larkin vs. Rockford Guilford
7:30 p.m.	Rockford Jefferson vs. DRW College Prep
Tuesday, November 23 at East
6 p.m.	Chicago Bogan vs. Machesney Park Harlem
7:30	Elgin Larkin vs. Rockford Auburn
Friday, November 26 at East
10 a.m.	Rockford Auburn vs. Chicago Perspectives
11:45 a.m.	North Chicago vs. Rockford East
1:30 p.m.	Chicago Perspectives vs. Machesney Park Harlem
3:15 p.m.	East St. Louis vs. Rockford Auburn
5 p.m.	Rockford Guilford vs. Chicago Clark
6:45 p.m.	Machesney Park Harlem vs. Elgin Larkin
8:30 p.m.	Rockford East vs. East St. Louis
Friday, November 26 at Jefferson
2 p.m.	Elgin Larkin vs. Chicago Bogan
3:30 p.m.	Rockford Jefferson vs. North Chicago
5 p.m.	Chicago Bogan vs. Winnebago
Saturday, November 27 at Jefferson
10 a.m.	Rockford Auburn vs. North Chicago
11:30 a.m.	Machesney Park Harlem vs. East St. Louis
1:30 p.m.	Chicago Clark  vs. Rockford Jefferson
3:30 p.m.	East St. Louis vs. Rockford Guilford
5 p.m.	Rockford Jefferson vs. Chicago Perspectives
Saturday, November 27 at East
12 p.m.	Rockford Guilford vs. DRW College Prep
1:30 p.m.	Chicago Perspectives vs. Rockford East
3 p.m.	North Chicago vs. Machesney Park Harlem
4:30 p.m.	DRW College Prep vs. Chicago Bogan
6 p.m.	Rockford East vs. Elgin Larkin

Two more coming to Tip-Off Classic

Chicago Bogan and Winnebago were added to the 205 Tip-Off Classic Field. A new schedule will be coming.

Bogan played in the Tip-Off Classic, going 5-0 to win the tournament championship. The Bengals are a state power, having won seven straight regional championships until last season when the state playoffs were canceled. Bogan finished in Class 3A in 2018-2019.

Winnebago, which has a storied basketball history with five trips to the IHSA state tournament, will be playing in the Tip-Off Classic for the first time. The Indians also had won seven straight regional titles before last year. Winnebago has finished second in the IHSA tournament three times under coach Joe Murphy, the closest a Winnebago County school has come to winning a boys basketball state title since the 1950s.

The Tip-Off Classic starts Monday, November 22, and wraps up Saturday, November 27.

Tip-Off Classic back for 2021!

After a one-year, coronavirus-caused hiatus, the 205 Tip-Off Class returns in November, featuring 10 teams from Chicago to St. Louis.

Play runs from November 22 to November 27 with games at East and Jefferson high schools.

The tournament features the four Rockford Public Schools teams and fellow NIC-10 school Harlem. Elgin Larkin, which has played in every 205 Tip-Off Classic, is back as well. Chicago Perspectives will be back to play in its fourth Tip-Off Classic. North Chicago is coming for the third time.

The new schools making the trip are DRW College Prep out of Chicago, Chicago Clark and East St. Louis.

The schedule:

Monday, November 22 at Jefferson:
6 p.m. - Elgin Larkin vs. Guilford
7:30 p.m. - Jefferson vs. DRW College Prep

Friday, November 26 at East
10 a.m. - Auburn vs. Chicago Perspectives
11:30 a.m. - North Chicago vs. East
1 p.m. - Chicago Perspectives vs. Machesney Park Harlem
2:30 p.m. - Jefferson vs. North Chicago
4 p.m. - East St. Louis vs. Rockford Auburn
5:30 p.m. - Guilford vs. Chicago Clark
7 p.m. - Machesney Park Harlem vs. Elgin Larkin
8:30 p.m. - East vs. East St. Louis

Saturday, November 27 at Jefferson
10 a.m. - Auburn vs. North Chicago
11:30 a.m. - Machesney Park Harlem vs. East St. Louis
1 p.m. - Elgin Larkin vs. Auburn
2:30 p.m. - Chicago Clark vs. Jefferson
4 p.m. - East St. Louis vs. Guilford
5:30 p.m. - Jefferson vs. Chicago Perspectives

Saturday, November 27 at East
12 p.m. - Guilford vs. DRW College Prep
1:30 p.m. - Chicago Perspectives vs. Rockford East
3 p.m. - North Chicago vs. Machesney Park Harlem
4:30 p.m. - Rockford East vs. Elgin Larkin

Where are Tip-Off stars now?

The recent news that three different drug makers have developed vaccines that are more than 90 percent effective against the novel coronavirus means the world should be closer to back to normal in 2021.

That should mean the return of the 205 Tip-Off Class for next year's Thanksgiving week.

Even though it feels like much of the world has stood still in 2020, the world of basketball spins on with students advancing in grades and levels.

Here's a look at some of the stars of Tip-Off Classics past and where they will be playing when play finally starts this season:

• Jakob Alamudun was on the Huntington Beach (California) Marina team that visited Rockford in 2018. Jakob will be playing his sophomore year at LeHigh. He averaged 4 points and 2.4 rebounds in 26 games as a freshman.
• Davion Bailey, a 2019 All-Tip-Off first team star for Indianapolis Pike, will be playing at Eastern Arizona Community Collge.

• 

  Yahmir Muhammad
  

  
  Ralph Bissainthe, Hollywood McArthur, is entering his redshirt junior season with Florida Southwest State. Ralph averaged 7.7 points and 3.0 rebounds as a sophomore.
• East's Chris Burnell will be back at Kirkwood Community College. Burnell averaged 5.9 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game as a freshman.
• Xavier Castaneda of Chicago Whitney Young will be a junior for Division 1 South Florida. Castaneda averaged 5.1 points and 1.7 assists as a sophomore.
• East's Sha'den Clanton will be joining Burnell at Kirkwood for his freshman season.
• Tremear Fraley, the 6-8 Chicago Bogan star who second team All-Tip-Off in 2019, will be playing for Missouri State University-West Plans.
• Javon Freeman-Liberty, the star guard of the Chicago Whitney Young team that won the Tip-Off Classic in 2017, is entering his third year as a starter at Valparaiso of the Missouri Valley Conference. Freeman averaged 19 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 2019-2020.
• Ahmoni Jones of Indianapolis Pike will be back at Wabash College for his sophomore year. Jones averaged 7.1 points and 4.9 points for the Division III school.
• Anthony Lynch of Elgin Larkin will be a junior at Lewis University. Lynch scored 7 points for Lewis last season.

• 

  Jalen Shaw
  

  
  Jordan Mattews of Chicago St. Rita is entering his junior season with Loras College. Last season, he averaged 6.9 points and 3.7 rebounds.
• Auburn's Yahmir Muhammad will be entering his fourth season with Missouri S&T. Yahmire averaged 4.0 points per game as a sophomore.
• Christian Negron of Elgin Larkin is entering his senior year at Grand Valley State. The 6-7 forward spent his first two seasons at Loyola-Chicago, appearing in 45 games. His junior year, after transferring to GVSU, Negron averaged 11.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.
• East's Sincere Parker, who set single-game and single-season Tip-Off scoring records for the E-Rabs in 2018 will be playing at Moberly Area Community College this season. Parker left Rockford after his junior year to play at Arizona Compass Prep School where he averaged 15 points per game.
• Jalen Shaw, the 6-10 Elgin Larkin star, who is second in all time Tip-Off Classic scoring to Burnell, will be playing for St. Bonaventure as a junior. Shaw transferred to the Bonnies after two years at Triton Community College where he averaged 11.3 points and 6.8 rebounds as a sophomore and finished 11th among JUCO players in the nation with 65 blocked shots.

205 Tip-Off Classic All-Time Records

School	Years	W	L	PF	PA	Titles
Rockford Auburn	6	16	8	1,530	1,353	2014
Rockford Jefferson	4	11	5	1,015	936
Rockford East	6	11	13	1,538	1,531	2018
Elgin Larkin	6	11	15	1,678	1,712
Indianapolis Pike	5	10	2	843	599
Rockford Guilford	5	9	11	1,008	1,081
Chicago Hyde Park	4	8	2	603	538	2015
Hollywood McArthur	4	7	9	942	1,005
Proviso West	2	6	3	536	505	2016
Belvidere	4	6	10	794	887
Chicago Whitney Young	1	5	0	351	293	2017
Chicago Bogan	1	5	0	328	225	2019
Chicago St. Rita	1	4	1	315	249
Madison LaFollette	3	4	2	396	307
Chicago Perspectives	3	4	8	610	691
Machesney Park Harlem	1	3	1	255	226
Milwaukee Bay View	2	3	1	237	224
Chicago Farragut	1	3	1	225	181
Freeport	4	3	13	859	1,014
South Elgin	1	2	2	199	188
Huntington Beach Marina	1	2	2	216	227
Chicago Dunbar	1	1	3	180	185
Janesville Parker	3	1	5	295	361
Milwaukee Vincent	1	0	2	106	130
Madison West	1	0	2	101	140
Chicago Julian	1	0	4	198	300
Chicago Providence St. Mel	1	0	4	95	236
North Chicago	2	0	6	315	390

2019 All-205 Tip-Off Classic teams

FIRST TEAM
Davion Bailey	Indianapolis Pike
Austin Casteel	Machesney Park Harlem
Darrion Jones	Chicago Bogan
Tyler Knuth	Rockford Guilford
Brenden Moss	Rockford Jefferson
SECOND TEAM
Tremeary Fraley	Chicago Bogan
Haniefe Johnson	Rockford Auburn
Antonio Leavy	Rockford Jefferson
Caleb Miller	Chicago Perspectives
Trevor Ward	Hollywood McArthur

205 Tip-Off Classic Career Scoring Leaders

Total Career Points
Player	School	G	Points	Years
Chris Burnell	East	16	211	2015-18
Jalen Shaw	Elgin Larkin	13	200	2015-17
Terry Ford	Aub./Jeff.	12	179	2015-17
Sha'den Clanton	Guil./East	12	161	2016-18
Anthony Lynch	Elgin Larkin	9	156	2016-17
Scott Gowan	East	15	156	2014-17
Pierre Black	Elgin Larkin	13	141	2016-18
Christian Negron	Elgin Larkin	8	140	2014-15
Yahmir Muhammad	Auburn	12	133	2015-17
Tyler Knuth	Guilford	12	126	2017-19
My'Quion Garrett	Jefferson	8	120	2016-17
Sincere Parker	East	4	115	2018
Caleb Miller	Chi. Perspectives	8	112	2018-19
Quillin Dixon	Jefferson	8	111	2016-17
Latrell Graham	Jefferson	8	104	2018-19
Trevor Ward	Hollywood McArthur	11	102	2017-19
Austin Revolinski	Belvidere	12	102	2014-16