By Elaine Gu
Gargoyle staff reporter
Posted Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2006, The OG, news

[Note: Click here for the Konan team's itinerary during their three-day visit to Uni High.]

On Monday afternoon, 23 members of the Konan Boys High School Basketball Club arrived at the Assembly Hall for practice. They had already spent the morning at Uni High meeting students and getting to know the school. Now the real work would begin for the visitors from Kobe, Japan.

First, coach Joel Beesley led them through a series of drills and exercises. Then the team split up into two groups and competed against each other to see who can score 21 points first. The losing team had to run up to the top bleacher of Assembly Hall and touch the wall.

With expressions full of smiles, the boys seemed to enjoy these games. The atmosphere was very relaxed as Beesley had nicknames for some of the players and they were all laughing and yelling. Despite some minor confusion, the Konan boys had no trouble understanding Beesley's directions.

After practice, the boys posed for team pictures standing behind the big Illinois sign at center court. They really enjoyed getting photographed as they handed several Uni students their cameras and asked them to take their pictures. Then they got dressed and walked over to Ubben Complex.

Richard T. Ubben Basketball Complex, a $5.5 million dollar facility, is the finest architecture of its kind in the country. This is where the Fighting Illini men's basketball team practices each day. Each of the Konan boys were given an Illinois basketball T-shirt and a Fighting Illini basketball poster.

Soon the Illini men's team showed up for practice. The Konan boys formed a line and got signatures from athletes like Brian Randle, Jamar Smith, and Rich McBride. They shook hands with each other and many of the boys pulled out their cell phones to take pictures with the Illini team. In the end, even head coach Bruce Weber made an appearance and signed the boys' shirts.

After all the autographs and pictures, the Konan team went upstairs to watch the Illini practice. About 45 minutes later, they headed back to the Hampton Inn on University Avenue, where they're staying, to get ready for Monday night's basketball games against Normal Calvary Baptist and a Uni alumni team.

At 6:30 p.m., the Konan boys took on Normal Calvary Baptist. IHSA rules prevented Uni's own basketball team from playing them. Normal Cavalry Baptist, however, was able to compete because they aren't part of the IHSA.

The Konan boys played well the first quarter. However, they had a disadvantage in height and lost in the end.

Then they played a Uni alumni team composed of players such as Al Renner, the top scorer in Uni High history, Henry Pollock, the third top scorer, and other varsity starters like Zhe Gao and Austin Berger.

Konan scored the first basket, and they were only behind by a few points by halftime. However, they missed many shots in the end and again suffered a clear height disadvantage. The Uni alumni team won by more than 20 points.