Chicago Sports

Bulls rookie Ayo Dosunmu has had a consistent message for friend and -ex-Illinois teammate Kofi Cockburn over the last couple of months:

“You’re ready for this. Whenever you get to the NBA, you’re going to be so good. I’m just waiting on you.”

Dosunmu, whom the Bulls drafted 38th in July, has been the best surprise on a surging team, more than holding his own in starter’s minutes during the extended absences of veteran guards Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso. But he also knows a thing or two about being overlooked on draft day, a fate that could await Cockburn, as well. On the eve of the draft, prominent mocks had Dosunmu going as soon as the low 20s or as late as the early 30s.

“Just numbers,” he says now.

There are widespread concerns about Cockburn’s back-to-the-basket offensive style and whether he can venture beyond the lane and guard defensively, but Dosunmu is a believer.

“I see him coming in and making an impact,” he says. “The NBA is all about working on your game and getting better, and he has all the tools. He has touch, which you can see [on free throws]. He has a great feel around the rim. He’s 7 feet, 7-1, and he can run. He’s an animal.

“People ask how he’ll adjust to the NBA, but just look at his God-given strength. That big, with a 40-inch vertical? The NBA is going to have to adjust to him. No one coming out of college is perfect, but sometimes people just overthink it, look for certain stories, certain stigmas and try to take away what he does that’s really good. I don’t. He’ll be fine.”

Any pieces of advice for Cockburn or any other player whose draft stock might not be as high as it should be? Dosunmu offers three:

1. Don’t look at mock drafts: “They don’t mean anything. They’re nothing but someone’s opinion, and people have totally different opinions than the organization [that drafts you] has once you’re there. Just stay focused on your college season, and focus on getting yourself better as a player and person on and off the court. Forget about where they say you’re going to be and try to dominate.”

2. Check yourself: “I promise you, once you get to the NBA, no one will care about what you accomplished before the NBA or if you think you were drafted too low or any of that. Basically, your salary is the only thing [that separates] anybody. You’ve got vets coming at you each and every day and night. What separates you is the work you put in. As long as you work, keep chopping wood, keep getting better and better, then you’ll have success.”

3. Really lean in: “The whole coaching staff is there to help you get better. A lot of veterans, too. If you get into the right situation, a great organization, get your body in tip-top shape — like with Kofi. He can catch lobs, play in the short roll, he can pass. But he can improve in [those] and other areas because of his work ethic. I think he’ll fit in fine in the NBA with his work ethic.”

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Friday, February 18, 2022

CATHOLIC – CROSSOVER

St. Rita at St. Ignatius, 7:00

FOX VALLEY

Dundee-Crown at Cary-Grove, 7:30

Huntley at Burlington Central, 7:00

Jacobs at Crystal Lake Central, 7:00

McHenry at Crystal Lake South, 7:00

INDEPENDENT SCHOOL

Morgan Park Academy at Lake Forest Acad-Blk, 4:3

INTERSTATE EIGHT

Kaneland at Morris, 5:00

Plano at Sycamore, 7:00

Sandwich at Ottawa, 7:00

KISHWAUKEE RIVER

Harvard at Richmond-Burton, 7:00

SOUTH SUBURBAN – BLUE

Thornton Fr. South at Bremen, 6:00

NON CONFERENCE

Bloom at Lincoln-Way Central, 6:15

Bogan at Brother Rice, 7:00

Chicago Military at Little Village, 5:00

Downers Grove South at Lyons, 7:30

Dwight at Watseka, CNL

EPIC at Catalyst-Maria, 5:00

Hinsdale South at Lincoln-Way West, 6:30

Illinois Lutheran at Gardner-So. Wilmington, 7:00

Lisle at St. Edward, 7:00

Marian Catholic at De La Salle, 6:30

Nazareth at Oak Forest, 6:30

Northside at St. Patrick, 7:00

Oak Lawn at Andrew, 6:00

Ridgewood at Benet, 7:00

Rockford Lutheran at Freeport, 7:00

South Elgin at Notre Dame, 7:00

St. Bede at LaMoille, 7:00

Universal at Reavis, 5:30

University High at Mount Carmel, 7:00

Westlake Christian vs. Trinity (Kankakee), 12:00

Woodland at Flanagan-Cornell, 7:00

PROVISO WEST

Proviso West vs. Fenwick, 4:00

Hillcrest vs. Proviso East, 6:00

Glenbard West vs. Simeon, 8:00

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A federal judge gave three years of probation Friday to two former White Sox ticket sellers who helped a prolific ticket broker scam the South Siders over more than three seasons.

The sentencing of James Costello and William O’Neil ended the case involving broker Bruce Lee’s massive ticket scheme, which first came to light in October 2019. The feds say Lee swindled the team out of more than $1 million.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly on Friday sentenced Costello and O’Neil, also telling each to serve 300 hours of community service. Federal prosecutors said the two men gave “substantial assistance” to the investigation.

“But for Jim Costello’s cooperation, the outcome of this case would have been very different and we would not have had a just outcome,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider said.

Before he was sentenced, Costello told the judge he loves the Sox and has “deep regret for betraying” the team’s trust. O’Neil also apologized and told the judge, “This is going to dog me for the rest of my life. I know that.”

Earlier this week, the judge sentenced Lee to a year-and-a-half in prison and ordered him to pay $455,229 in forfeiture. The judge set restitution in the case at only $74,650, because the at-issue tickets were discounted and that was “the only number that is supported by evidence.”

Costello and O’Neil each admitted their crimes in August 2020. Costello pleaded guilty to wire fraud and O’Neil admitted he lied to the FBI.

The pair aided Lee in his scam by generating thousands of complimentary and discount tickets — without required vouchers — and giving them to Lee in exchange for cash. Prosecutors accused Lee of then making $868,369 by selling 34,876 fraudulently obtained tickets online during the 2016 through 2019 baseball seasons.

The tickets had a market value of between $1 million and $1.2 million, authorities said.

A jury found Lee guilty last fall of several counts of wire fraud.

The Sox’s data analytics team flagged Lee as a StubHub seller who had “sold more White Sox tickets than anyone else by a substantial margin,” and the team approached the FBI in October 2018. The analytics team thought Lee might have had inside help.

Costello used other employees’ ID codes to avoid detection while generating tickets for Lee, and he eventually recruited O’Neil to help with the scheme.

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Blackhawks interim coach Derek King, desperate for a spark during the third period of the Hawks’ 7-4 loss Thursday against the Blue Jackets, briefly created a bizarre but intriguing line.

He put Patrick Kane, Alex DeBrincat and Brandon Hagel — who have been clearly the Hawks’ three best forwards this season — all together. There was just one complication: they’re all wingers.

“[I was] just trying to find something,” King said. “I didn’t like certain guys, and Hagel played a little center with me [in the AHL]. I just thought, ‘He’s going to bring some energy and hunt down some pucks and maybe get something going.'”

They played 2:45 in three shifts together, outshooting the Jackets 2-1. But the lack of a center backfired on the third shift, when Boone Jenner predictably won a faceoff against Hagel to set up Patrik Laine’s goal three seconds later.

“It didn’t really work,” King admitted. “Then I put [Dylan] Strome back [as center] and they got a…goal. I’m just trying to find something for these guys to bring something. I have to do a better job managing the lines.”

It was still an interesting idea, though, and King’s willingness to try it might foreshadow that more outside-the-box line combinations could appear during this season’s experimental stretch run.

The Hawks have regularly tried starting overtimes with just DeBrincat, Kane and Seth Jones, essentially forfeiting the opening faceoff in favor of counterattacking explosiveness. Meanwhile, it might make sense to try a two-center line with Kirby Dach and someone else, such as Sam Lafferty or (when he returns) Tyler Johnson, who can help Dach on faceoffs.

And maybe even the DeBrincat-Hagel-Kane trio will return someday. Kane, for his part, seemed to like it.

“I think it could be good, especially if they throw us out on the fly,” Kane said postgame Thursday. “Those guys push the pace so hard and create turnovers and little battles where you can get the puck back. Tonight, when we actually got the puck back in the offensive zone, we had some time and space to make plays and created quite a bit.”

Toews skates

Jonathan Toews was a full participant in Hawks morning skate Friday, his first time out with the team on the ice since suffering his concussion Jan. 26. Riley Stillman made his first practice appearance since his Jan. 22 shoulder injury, too, participating in a non-contact jersey.

Although Toews was retroactively placed on injured reserve Friday — to open up the roster spot for Lukas Reichel — it seems like he’s on track to return sooner rather than later.

Additionally, Jujhar Khaira and his $975,000 salary cap hit were moved Friday to long-term injured reserve.

IceHogs rolling

Reichel’s recent dominance, earning his Friday NHL call-up, is just one piece of a winter full of good news in Rockford.

In fact, the IceHogs’ improvement over the course of this season — with one of the youngest, most prospect-heavy rosters in the AHL — might be one of the most encouraging storylines in the entire Hawks organization right now.

Rockford’s current four-game winning streak has lifted their overall record to 21-16-4, occupying the third of four playoff spots in the AHL’s Central Division. They’re 18-10-3 since Nov. 17.

Ian Mitchell has emerged as an all-around No. 1 defenseman at the AHL level; he has recorded seven points in his six games. Fellow prospect defenseman Isaak Phillips is surging, too, with points in four of his last five games. And at forward, once-forgotten prospect Michal Teply has overcome an awful start to record 11 points (including seven goals) in his last 14 games.

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The Bears have hired Jim Arthur as their strength and conditioning coach, the team announced Friday. He replaces Jason Loscalzo.

Arthur was the Bears’ head strength and conditioning coach from 2008-14 after serving three seasons as an assistant to Rusty Jones. He was the Bears’ assistant strength coach in 2015, when Jason George was hired under new general manager Ryan Pace. Arthur was the Dolphins’ assistant strength and conditioning coach from 2016-21.

Loscalzo had been the Bears’ strength coach since 2018, when Pace revamped the conditioning/training staffs under new coach Matt Nagy.

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Philip Glass has surpassed Beethoven’s nine symphonies, a number that has represented a kind of psychological barrier for some composers, and he shows no signs of stopping. The National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., is set to premierehis 15th creation in the form next month.

Thursday evening in Orchestra Hall, music director Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra took on Glass’ Symphony No. 11 (2016), and the performance, though not a world premiere, was still a milestone.

First off, it was the first-ever performance of a Glass symphony in Chicago by any ensemble. The Chicago Symphony had previously only performed the composer’s orchestral piece, “Facades,” on its subscription series in 1999 and featured a suite on a MusicNow program in 2007-08.

For Muti, who has never previously conducted any music by Glass, and the Chicago Symphony to take on this symphony, is a sign of how far the composer’s standing has risen in recent decades in the classical world.

Even though he was a pioneer of the influential minimalist movement, Glass was shunned for several decades by certain facets of the classical world in part because his iterative style was seen as simplistic or naive.

Soloist Mitsuko Uchida performs Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.(C) Todd Rosenberg Photography

It also didn’t help that Glass circumvented the mainstream classical establishment early in his career, forming his own experimental ensemble in 1968 that operated in some ways like a rock band, performing on college campuses and in alternative venues.

But, now, at age 85, as this concert and the standing ovation that followed the symphony made clear, Glass has become something of an eminence grise. The composer marked the occasion with an unusual letter to attendees that was tucked into the program.

It offered thanks and pointed out the composer’s ties to Chicago, where he came in the 1950s to study at the University of Chicago and spent many evenings listening to conductor Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony.

“This kind of exposure is crucial to a young musician’s formation,” he wrote in his letter. “I learned more about symphonic music during that time than perhaps any other.”

It is not surprising that the CSO began its exploration of Glass’ symphonies with the No. 11, a sprawling, exhilarating three-movement work with a super-sized orchestration that included eight percussionists, two harpists and even the rarely heard, low-register contrabass clarinet.

As Phillip Huscher points out in his unusually long and enthusiastic program note for this work, Glass had moved away from his early minimalism in his more recent compositions, adding new layers of rhythmic and harmonic complexity.

Assistant Principal Clarinet John Bruce Yeh performs on bass clarinet in the Philip Glass Symphony No. 11 on Thursday night at Symphony Center.(C) Todd Rosenberg Photography

But in the Symphony No. 11, especially in the first and arguably most successful of the movements, Glass’ returns to some of those early hypnotic, repetitive devices intermixing them with newer elements to create an intoxicating, sometimes breathless kaleidoscopic swirl of overlapping sound and texture.

Muti admirably negotiated all the moving parts and intricate repetitions, and the musicians all seemed to embrace Glass’ distinctive style, with notably fine playing from the brass, especially the trombones, and the harps and percussion.

But as exciting as it was to witness the orchestra’s foray into symphonic Glass, the evening’s highlight arguably came on the first half, following the Overture to “The Ruins of Athens,” Op. 113, a rarely heard little gem by Beethoven.

London-based pianist Mitsuko Uchida, a regular and much-loved guest artist with the CSO, returned to perform the work with which she made her debut with the orchestra in 1986 — Beethoven’s stalwart Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58. She delivered just the kind of performance that would be expected of this veteran soloist — thoughtful, probing and profound — with Muti and the orchestra right there with her. She was especially effective in the slow second movement, offering a spacious, reflective, introspective and, at times, other-worldly take.

The emphasis with Uchida is always on the poetry, so this was never going to be a performance that emphasized the concerto’s sweep or grandeur. But she was able to deliver power and punch when necessary, not to mention some wonderfully light and agile passagework.

The audience gave her an extended standing ovation, recognizing both her spellbinding performance and no doubt her esteemed place in the international keyboard world.

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BEIJING — Methodical yet mighty, the Russians are returning to the gold medal game to defend their Olympic title.

Arseni Gritsyuk scored the winner to cap off an eight-round shootout and put the Russians into the men’s hockey final by beating Sweden 2-1 Friday night. The team known as Russian Olympic Committee will face Finland on Sunday looking for back-to-back gold.

The Russians hung tough to force OT after Sweden tied it on captain Anton Lander’s rebound goal early in the third period. Anton Slepyshev, who spent three seasons with the Edmonton Oilers, busted past former NHL defenseman Christian Folin down the left wing and slid the puck past Lars Johansson for the first Russian goal 15 seconds into the second.

Nikita Gusev and Yegor Yakolev also scored in the shootout for the Russians. Sweden got shootout goals from Lucas Wallmark and Joakim Nordstrom but not the final save from Johansson it needed.

After beating underdog Germany in overtime in the final in Pyeongchang, the Russians will face a more formidable opponent this time in Finland, which defeated Slovakia 2-0 in the other semifinal.

Finland got a goal from tournament MVP candidate Sakari Manninen and 28 saves from Harri Sateri to move within one victory of the nation’s first Olympic hockey gold medal. The closest Finland has gotten were the finals in 2006 and 1988.

“It’s huge for everybody individually, as a team and as a hockey country,” Sateri said. “It is a big thing.”

Slovakia will play Sweden for bronze, going for its first hockey medal of any kind since the breakup of Czechoslovakia.

“It would be a huge achievement, but it will be a tough game,” said 17-year-old forward Juraj Slafkovsky, who’s tied for the tournament lead with five goals. “If we do our best, then I’m not worried that we can’t win the game.”

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The College Football Playoff is set to remain a four-team format through the 2025 season after the administrators who manage the postseason failed to agree on a plan to expand before the current contracts run out.

The CFP management committee, comprised of 10 conference commissioners and Notre Dame’s athletic director, met by video conference earlier this week, Executive Director Bill Hancock said Friday in a statement.

Unable to break an impasse, the commissioners decided to abandon efforts to implement a new 12-team format for the 2024 season and recommended staying with the current model to the presidents who oversee the playoff.

The Board of Managers accepted the recommendation and directed the commissioners to continue discussions on a new format to go into effect for the 2026 season.

“Even though the outcome did not lead to a recommendation for an early expansion before the end of the current 12-year contract, the discussions have been helpful and informative,” Hancock said. “I am sure they will serve as a useful guide for the Board of Managers and for the Management Committee as we determine what the playoff will look like beginning in the 2026-2027 season.”

The decision to shelve early expansion comes as no surprise. The commissioners left their last in-person meetings in early January gridlocked and unable to produce the unanimous consensus needed to move forward with a 12-team proposal they had been haggling over since June.

The presidents did not fully close the door on early expansion after that meeting, but hope for an agreement was clearly fading.

A few days after the meetings in Indianapolis, Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner Jim Phillips took the strongest public stance yet against early expansion, saying a new CFP format should not be a priority with so much uncertainty throughout college sports.

On Friday, the commissioners finally signaled they have given up on on trying to implement expansion for the final two years of the CFP’s 12-year deal with ESPN — a failure that will cost the conferences an estimated $450 million in additional revenue.

Now they will focus their attention on building a new model for beyond the 2026 season when there are no agreements in place.

The road to expansion appeared to be much smoother eight months ago, when CFP unveiled the 12-team plan. Even with details still be worked out, there was optimism that a new format could be implemented by the 2024 season.

About a month later, it was revealed the Southeastern Conference was in talks with Texas and Oklahoma to leave the Big 12 and join the powerhouse league that has produced 12 of the last 17 national champions.

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey had been part of the four-person subcommittee that worked on the 12-team proposal for more than two years. The plan called for the field to be comprised of the six highest ranked conference champions in FBS and six at-large teams determined by selection committee rankings.

Relatively new commissioners in the Big Ten, Pac-12 and ACC, already leery of a process that started before they were involved with the CFP, became even more disillusioned after the SEC’s expansion plan became public.

Since then the process has stalled, despite more than half a dozen in-person meetings with the commissioners. All agree the playoff should expand, but they disagree on how and when.

Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren has said he favors automatic bids for the champions of the Power Five leagues, instead of the six best champs regardless of conference. The commissioners of the non-Power Five conferences, the so-called Group of Five, are against that — with American Athletic Conference Commissioner Mike Aresco the most vocal opponent.

Phillips continued to push for a smaller expansion to eight, if any at all.

Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff said his conference, which has only placed a team in two of eight playoffs, supports any number of expansion formats involving eight or 12 teams. But he was asking for the Rose Bowl to retain its traditional New Year’s Day time slot in a new format and the most of the others were not on board.

Meanwhile, most of the others remained steadfast in their support of the initial 12-team proposal crafted by Sankey, Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby, Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson and Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick.

Sankey has said the SEC already made a concession by agreeing to expand from a playoff format in which the conference has never failed to place at least one team. But he said allowing greater participation would help boost the sport nationally.

Sankey made clear: The choices for the remainder of the current agreement were 12 teams or four.

Despite the potential benefits to expanding early, four it is.

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An Oak Forest man pleaded guilty Friday to a federal gun charge, admitting he fired a pistol he possessed illegally during the May 2020 protests and unrest in downtown Chicago.

Kevin Tunstall, 30, was among the first to be hit with federal criminal charges in the days that followed the May 2020 rioting and looting that then played out. Authorities say he was arrestedafter police monitoring protests heard gunshots around 1:26 a.m. on May 30, 2020, fired from a parking lot near the southeast corner of State and Harrison streets.

As officers approached, they said several people fled on foot through the parking lot. But Tunstall got in the back seat of a parked black Jeep. And using a flashlight, police said they could see Tunstall inside leaning forward, with his hands near his waist.

Prosecutors later alleged that Tunstall was “manipulating something in his stomach area under his jacket.”

When an officer opened the rear passenger side door, Tunstall allegedly slid across the back seat and tried to get out using the driver’s side door. That’s when the feds say he dropped a Smith & Wesson .40-caliber pistol on the ground outside the Jeep.

As he was taken to a police vehicle, Tunstall allegedly said, “You dropped that gun, I picked it up,” and, “I grabbed that gun.”

But prosecutors say he later acknowledged in a recorded jailhouse phone call having fired the gunjust before his arrest.

Tunstall had previously been convicted in state court of harassing a witness or family member, records show. He now faces a likely prison sentence of around two years. His sentencing hearing has been set for May 25.

Tunstall is the third person this month to plead guilty in federal court to a crime related to the 2020 rioting, looting and unrest in Chicago. Early this month, Timothy O’Donnell admitted he set fire to a Chicago police vehicle while wearing a Joker mask downtown on May 30, 2020. He faces a likely prison sentence of around three or four years. His sentencing is set for June 14.

And earlier this week, James Massey admitted he used his Facebook account to set off rioting and looting in the city in August 2020. He faces a likely sentence of around two years in prison. His sentencing hearing is set for May 10.

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Marc-Andre Fleury acknowledged Wednesday he has thought about the possibility of a trade this spring.

“If I move, I would love a chance to win,” he said. “That’s what I play for, and that’s what I love. But it’s still a big ‘if’ at this point.”

So if Fleury is traded by the Blackhawks, where will he go?

On one hand, answering that question is simpler in Fleury’s case than for most major trade-bait items. There are only 32 starting goalie jobs in the NHL, and an even smaller slice of teams fit the two descriptions — trying to win now, and needing goaltending help — that would make them plausible suitors.

On the other hand, goalie trades ahead of the deadline are relatively uncommon because there are so few jobs available. Goalie movement around the league often happens in musical chairs-like fashion, such as it did during free agency last summer, rather than in one-off transactions.

That’s why, even with the Hawks presumably eager to recoup value for a pending unrestricted free agent like Fleury, and even with Fleury seemingly open to the idea, it’s far from guaranteed to happen. Fleury’s $7 million cap hit, even though it can (and likely will) be reduced to $3.5 million with retention, also poses an obstacle.

If Fleury is dealt, though, these teams make the most sense as possible destinations.

Capitals

The Capitals’ .905 team save percentage ranks 17th in the NHL this season and their two regular goalies, Ilya Samsonov and Vitek Vanecek, boast zero combined NHL postseason wins in their careers.

Vanecek is on injured reserve, too, and the Capitals — whose old core and sparse -prospect pipeline necessitate an intense win-now approach — entered Thursday with a subpar 13-12-4 record since Nov. 30.

The Capitals were once considered the clear Fleury frontrunner. Although that buzz has cooled somewhat, they still make a lot of sense.

Oilers

The Oilers’ .901 team save percentage ranks 23rd. Mike Smith, at age 39, hasn’t been able to stay healthy much and has looked shaky when healthy. Without him, the Oilers have only Mikko Koskinen and rookie Stuart Skinner, who boast one combined -career playoff win.

Even outside of the goaltending position, the Oilers have been a mess the last few months, wasting another season of dominance from Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Fleury’s stability and leadership, even beyond his talent, would help tremendously.

But the biggest question is whether Fleury would be willing to go to Edmonton — or any Canadian team — considering the tighter COVID-19 restrictions. Those restrictions are expected to significantly affect deadline movement.

Penguins

The Penguins’ .916 team save percentage ranks fourth. But Tristan Jarry’s meltdown in the playoffs last year — posting an .888 save percentage laden with several inexcusable goals against in a first-round loss to the Islanders — hasn’t been forgotten.

A Fleury homecoming to Pittsburgh would be one of the NHL’s biggest stories of the spring.

Others

The Avalanche seem like a logical destination — they’re the outright Cup frontrunners, after all. But Darcy Kuemper is having a career year, and it sounds like the Avs aren’t particularly interested in Fleury.

The Maple Leafs also fit the bill as an elite team conceivably just one piece away from the Cup. Their team save percentage ranks 10th, but they’ve been almost completely dependent on Jack Campbell, who boasts just three career playoff wins.

There’s a debate over whether the Golden Knights, with Robin Lehner now injured, might be interested in bringing back Fleury. Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli made waves earlier this week by reporting they were looking into it; Knights GM Kelly McCrimmon quickly refuted that.

The Wild could try to outmaneuver the Avs and Knights by landing Fleury themselves. He would be an upgrade over Cam Talbot and Kaapo Kahkonen, even though they’re a perfectly solid duo.

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