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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 Illinois women's basketball coach Shauna Green for stopping by The Esquire for 'Monday Night SportsTalk,' on WDWS 1400-AM and 93.9-FM.
➜ 2. You can listen to the podcast of Green's interview right here on our website. Where you can also vote for our latest High School Athletes of the Week finalists.
➜ 3. Congrats to the softball teams at St. Joseph Middle School and LeRoy Junior High School, with both qualifying for the state tournament this weekend at Champions Field in Normal. St. Joseph (18-7) will play Morris Saratoga (17-2) at 10 a.m. Friday in a Class 2A state quarterfinal game, while LeRoy (25-2) will play Carrollton St. John (16-0) at 3:30 p.m. Friday in a 1A state quarterfinal game.
Numbers game: 9
Area high school football programs who can clinch playoff eligibility with a fifth win this Friday night. Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond, Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin, Clinton, Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley, LeRoy, Paxton-Buckley-Loda, St. Joseph-Ogden, Salt Fork and Sullivan/Okaw Valley have all started 4-0.
Crowd control
Three events I'm paying attention to
➜ 1. Illinois at Penn State football. The 19th-ranked Illini are 17 1/2-point underdogs against the ninth-ranked Nittany Lions. Bet that gets mentioned once or 100 times around the Smith Center this week before Illinois departs on Friday for State College, Pa.
➜ 2. St. Joseph-Ogden at Unity volleyball. The two long-time Illini Prairie Conference rivals meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Rocket Center in Tolono.
➜ 3. Illinois at Nebraska soccer. The Illini (4-4-2, 0-2-1 Big Ten) are still searching for their first Big Ten win. Same for Nebraska (3-6, 0-3). Something will have to give at 7:05 p.m. Thursday when these two teams play in Lincoln, Neb.
Coach's corner
Three questions with Rantoul wrestling coach Mark Owen:
➜ 1. My favorite sports teams are ... the Chicago Cubs, the Chicago Bears and the Illini.
➜ 2. Three coaches I'd like to have dinner with are ... Nick Saban, Phil Jackson and Cael Sanderson.
➜ 3. My biggest pet peeve is ... when people would rather make excuses than take ownership of their situation and try to improve it.