Listen up, mister. Junior guard point Noah Mister and Mount Carmel will be back next season. ‘How can you go wrong?'
As far as junior point guard Noah Mister is concerned, Mount Carmel's quest for a trip to the state finals in 2025-26 starts now. And redemption will be a big part of the focus.
Last season as a sophomore, Mister enjoyed the ride of making it to the Class 3A state championship game, with the Caravan finishing in second place.
But mere minutes after Monday night's supersectional, Mister was already laying down the law.
'It's not going to happen again,' he said. 'We have work to do, but it's not going to happen again.'
Despite Mister's best effort, the Caravan dropped a 49-48 decision to St. Patrick in the Class 3A Illinois-Chicago Supersectional at Credit Union 1 Arena in Chicago.
The 6-foot-2 Mister led Mount Carmel (29-6) with 22 points, including a pair of 3-pointers in the final eight seconds that closed the gap to the final score. He also had a game-high four assists.
Cameron Thomas came through with 12 points and seven rebounds for the Caravan, while Keith Jenkins added seven points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots.
Afterward, Mister stayed around to watch the following Class 4A supersectional game between Kenwood and Rich Township. Even though he transferred from Kenwood to Mount Carmel after his freshman year, Mister was happy for the Broncos.
'They are my guys,' Mister said. 'I don't have any bad feelings toward them. I'm not a hater.'
St. Patrick (28-7), which will be making its first trip to state under longtime coach Mike Bailey, was led Monday by RJ McPartlin with 12 points and eight rebounds. Anthony Favia added 10 points.
The Shamrocks will play at 6:30 p.m. Thursday against Brother Rice (30-6) at the State Farm Center in Champaign. The Crusaders rolled past Peoria 60-41 at the Pontiac Supersectional.
Mister, however, had earned the respect of St. Patrick's players. EJ Breland said his family and Mister's family are close and they grew up playing together.
'I know him pretty well, and he's always been a great player,' Breland said of Mister. 'He can make a lot of tough shots.'
Nevaeh Hawkins agreed with Breland in his assessment of Mister.
'From my perspective, he's a great basketball player,' Hawkins said. 'For him to take those shots and make them — he has nothing to hang his head about. He was definitely a problem for us.'
Mister said the difference between winning and losing Monday was the 'small mistakes' that Mount Carmel made. He took some blame for that, pointing to five turnovers, several for traveling.
'Man, I didn't think some of them were, but those were the calls and you have to keep playing,' Mister said.
A year ago, Mount Carmel needed overtime in the supersectional to beat St. Patrick 56-46. Mister finished eight points and seven assists in that game.
Even though Thomas, Air Force recruit Grant Best, Jenkins and other talented seniors will be graduating, Mister can't wait to see the development of the Caravan's younger players, including Claude Mpouma and Marshaun Thornton.
Mount Carmel coach Phil Segroves acknowledged that he will need time to digest this loss and see what areas can be improved.
Still, he has an optimistic view of the future and appreciates this season's team, even though the Caravan came up one game short of reaching to state.
'If you were in our locker room, you would have seen emotion,' Segroves said. 'There were a lot of 'I love yous' and 'I'm going to miss yous.' It shows we're doing things the right way.
'As proud as I was of last year's team, I'm just as proud of this year's team. And how can you go wrong next year with Noah Mister leading the team?'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bloomberg
7 hours ago
- Bloomberg
Chicago Bears Weigh Sale of McKenna's Minority Stake
The Chicago Bears are exploring a sale of the minority stake owned by the late Andrew McKenna Sr., according to people familiar with the matter. The exact size of the stake isn't known. McKenna died in 2023. The descendants of George Halas, the team's founder, own approximately 80% of the team. In addition to McKenna's stake, some shares are owned by insurance billionaire Pat Ryan, 88. Ryan and McKenna originally purchased 19.7% of the club in 1990.
Associated Press
13 hours ago
- Associated Press
Chicago Sky are struggling out of the gate with a new coach and revamped roster
CHICAGO (AP) — Angel Reese captured a national championship and never lost more than two games in a row during a four-year college career. She and Caitlin Clark helped lead women's basketball to new heights with a rivalry that gripped the nation. After all that winning, first at Maryland and then LSU, her rookie season with the Chicago Sky was an eye-opener. Year 2 is off to a bumpy start, too. 'I'm not really a patient person,' Reese said. 'I like to perfect things right away. That's why I'm so hard on myself. We have great coaches, we have great players.' For now, they have room to improve. The Sky are struggling with a new coach and revamped roster, and are 2-6 following a lopsided road loss to the New York Liberty on Tuesday. A season-ending knee injury to franchise career assist leader Courtney Vandersloot last weekend only added to their difficulties. The slow start comes on the heels of a 13-27 season and 10th-place finish in the WNBA. The Sky dropped 12 of their final 14 games last year, then got busy reshaping the roster. Chicago fired coach Teresa Weatherspoon after one season and hired Las Vegas Aces assistant Tyler Marsh to take over for the Hall of Famer. The Sky brought in veteran leadership to help Reese and Kamilla Cardoso take their games to a different level, reuniting with Vandersloot and acquiring two-time All-Star Ariel Atkins from Washington. But in the early going, the team is having a rough time. Chicago ranks among the worst in the WNBA on offense and defense and leads the league in turnovers. The Sky have been blown out twice by Indiana, starting with a heated season opener on the road. Clark had a triple-double and sent tempers flaring by knocking Reese to the floor with a hard foul. Chicago dropped its first four games before back-to-back wins over struggling Dallas, with No. 1 overall draft pick Paige Bueckers missing the second meeting while in the concussion protocol. Just when the Sky seemed to be pointing themselves in the right direction, things took another painful turn on Saturday night. They got wiped out again by Indiana in the first WNBA game at the United Center, with a national, prime-time audience watching and Clark sidelined with a quad injury. Worse, Vandersloot tore the ACL in her right knee during the first quarter. The five-time All-Star known as 'The General' returned to Chicago after two years in New York, where she helped the Liberty capture the championship last season and earned her second ring to go with the one she got with the Sky in 2021. A little more than a week before the injury, Vandersloot broke wife Allie Quigley's franchise career records for scoring and field goals made. 'She's our engine,' Marsh said. 'She's our captain, she's our leader out there. Obviously, it's a huge blow.' One of the best distributors the WNBA has seen, Vandersloot is second to Hall of Famer Sue Bird in total assists and holds the highest season and career averages in league history. The Sky figure to lean more on rookie Hailey Van Lith, the No. 11 overall pick in the draft. 'She's done as good a job as she can in terms of handling pressure,' Marsh said. 'I think she'll continue to see that. But just understanding how to command a team, how to run a team — I think she's kind of now on a fast track to that.' Van Lith said watching Vandersloot go down was 'heartbreaking' and added: 'Whatever is in store in the future for this team, I trust that we will find a way to make this moment mean something.' Reese and Cardoso hold the keys. Though Reese leads the league in rebounding at 12.1 per game, she's shooting just 35.8% while averaging 10.1 points. Last year, she set a WNBA record with double-doubles in 15 straight games and finished with 26 on the season — the most ever by a rookie. She has four this year, giving her 30 in 42 games — the fewest needed to reach the mark in league history. Cardoso, the third overall pick last year, continues to show promise, including a career-high 23-point game in the first win over Dallas. But the former South Carolina star hasn't become a consistent dominant force inside. 'I think it's just continuing to instill the trust level that we have in her,' Marsh said. 'Her teammates look for her inside. They know what a force she can be down low, and our staff certainly is aware of who she can be down there as well. We want to give her looks and opportunities.' ___ AP WNBA:
New York Times
20 hours ago
- New York Times
QB Caleb Williams joins mostly rookies on field as Chicago Bears wrap up OTAs
LAKE FOREST, Ill. — More than 40 Chicago Bears players practiced Tuesday at Halas Hall, the second-to-last OTA of the offseason. This wasn't a week for veterans, most of whom began their vacation last Friday following mandatory minicamp. These practices were mainly for rookies and first-year players. Advertisement And starting quarterback Caleb Williams. 'He's committed to learning the offense,' head coach Ben Johnson said. 'We're not where we need to be yet as a team and he understands that. Any chance he gets to get a few more full-speed reps, it sounds like he wants them.' Williams and first-year pro Austin Reed were the quarterbacks. A few of the other non-rookies in attendance included wide receiver Rome Odunze, cornerback Josh Blackwell, safety Elijah Hicks, defensive tackle Zacch Pickens, and offensive linemen Doug Kramer, Bill Murray and Kiran Amegadjie. Spring OTA practices are already voluntary, this set especially so, which says even more about Williams' attendance. 'It's great. He wants to get better,' rookie linebacker Ruben Hyppolite said. 'He cares obviously, about his team, about winning, about, you know, getting everything right, getting all the I's dotted and T's crossed. So it was great, you know, seeing him around the building is very important for not only the team but for the young guys to see, including myself, that you have leaders of the team always here and present, even when you know it's voluntary.' A benefit for Williams is getting three extra days with the new playbook, technique and verbiage that comes with being in Johnson's offense for the first time. The staff has thrown a lot at him. 'We've loaded him up,' Johnson said. 'We've tried a number of different things: long play calls, multiple plays at the line. Tempo. We've dabbled here, there and everywhere really throughout the spring time and some come a little bit more natural than others for him, but I do think we've seen him get better in really all facets. We'll have to sit down as a staff before we leave and when we come back just to make sure we're honed in on what direction we want to go all together, but I feel pretty confident the things he's put on tape that we can go ahead and get after it a little bit.' Advertisement The team drills and 7-on-7 reps were focused on the red zone and near the goal line, the area Johnson said 'takes the longest as an offense to get really good at the red-zone passing game.' We saw a couple hiccups, with Williams throwing an interception to Blackwell at the back of the end zone, and another pass got deflected in the air and into the arms of a defender. But he also rifled a touchdown to tight end Joel Wilson right under the crossbar. 'It's tighter windows throughout, so we emphasize different types of throws,' Johnson said. 'Front pylon, back pylon. Front line. High-back five on the back line throws. And so there's some of those that you're working in a team setting or a 7-on-7 setting and you're just trying to find an open receiver and fit it in, but then when you're in routes vs. air you can really hone in on the detail of where you want to put that ball and the placement of that ball.' Williams was 36-of-72 passing in the red zone as a rookie with 13 touchdowns and no interceptions, good for a passer rating of 96.8 and an EPA per pass attempt (expected points added) of 0.18. Jared Goff, playing in Johnson's offense, nearly doubled that EPA (0.35), completing 65.6 percent of his red-zone passes with 23 touchdowns and no picks. That figures to be an area where the '12 personnel' will show up most, giving Williams big targets like Cole Kmet and Colston Loveland. Second-round rookie Ozzy Trapilo got another day at left tackle with the 'starters.' While it wasn't Jonah Jackson, Drew Dalman, Joe Thuney and Darnell Wright, he was protecting Williams' blind side, while Amegadjie got the reps at right tackle. 'It's a really great opportunity,' Trapilo said. 'This is the perfect time for the coaches to do it. Rotate guys in. Like I said, there's no pads on or anything yet, so they're really just doing their best to get guys looks, get a feeling for it all. I'm going out there every opportunity I get, trying to make the most of it, and I think, again, it's really beneficial to be able to work next to guys that have played in this league.' .@OzzyTrapilo is talking at the podium — Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) June 10, 2025 Trapilo explained that learning a new playbook and technique on the left side was actually easier for him than the right, where he spent most his time at Boston College. 'I don't go flow state like I do if I were to go on the right side. I kind of just get in those habits, whatever I've been taught for so long,' he said. 'So on that foreign side, a little foreign, you're able to really hone in on the minor differences that these coaches want to see. So there's definitely benefits in that.' Advertisement We'll see when Braxton Jones can join the competition on the field, but Trapilo got plenty of chances this spring — albeit, without pads — to show the coaches what he can do with the starters. Loveland was in a red, non-contact 84 jersey on Tuesday, doing some route running on a different field as he works his way back from a shoulder injury. Johnson didn't know yet if Loveland will be full-go for the start of training camp next month. Over Loveland's month in the NFL, it's been a lot of doing everything he can do while waiting for the green light. 'I would say I think what I can gather from the walkthroughs, from the meetings, is he's very professional,' Johnson said. 'He takes everything seriously. I think he's going to fit in really well once we start getting him to go full speed. I know coach Dray's said to me numerous times how impressed he is for the types of questions he's asking at his young age.' Loveland has been able to lift weights, run routes and catch passes. He said the final hurdle is getting his strength and mobility fully back. Meantime, it's been a lot of mental reps. 'It's definitely the playbook,' he said. 'I obviously got to take care of things physically. But mentally, it's a lot. I mean, all you guys know that. But really diving into that playbook. It's one thing to know it but to go out there and do it in real time. It's the walk-through reps, the mental reps. I got to say, those are huge and crucial.' Second-round wide receiver Luther Burden III hasn't been on the field since rookie minicamp, as he deals with a soft tissue injury. Johnson does expect him to be ready at the start of training camp. Johnson wasn't shy about what it means for a player like Burden to be sidelined for OTAs and minicamp. Advertisement 'He misses a lot,' Johnson said. 'I mean any time you're not out there, if you're in the training room when the rest of the guys are practicing, you're losing valuable time, valuable time with your coaches, valuable reps with your teammates; the ability to build the trust that we're talking about. 'It's not just the coaching staff having trust in you doing the right thing over and over, but also your teammates. They've got to see you do it. They've got to know the guy right, left of them, that they're gonna do the right things and they're gonna make the plays when called upon. So yeah, I think it's for everybody, and it's a shame that he got dinged up and missed all that time, because for a young player it's really where you get the most reps and you can get better in a hurry that way.' The Bears will hold one last practice Wednesday before a nearly six-week break ahead of Johnson's first training camp as head coach. (Photo of Caleb Williams: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
