Schuckman: No. 1 ranking is sign of respect, but doesn’t change Blue Devils’ approach to improving

QUINCY — Andy Douglas’ one-word response to learning the Quincy High School boys basketball team is the No. 1-ranked squad in the Associated Press state poll for the first time in more than four decades told a small part of the story.

His reaction to what it means moving forward illustrated the bigger part.

The AP released its first boys and girls state rankings Wednesday afternoon with the Blue Devils moving to the top of the Class 4A poll after starting the season at No. 4 and moving to

No. 2 just before Christmas. Quincy received six of the nine first-place votes in this week’s poll.

It marks the first time Quincy has been the state’s No. 1 team since opening the 1982-83 season on a 16-game win streak before suffering a 74-55 loss at Rock Island on Jan. 21, 1983. Quincy fell to No. 4 the following week.

“Wow,” Douglas said when told that fact.

But the head coach, now in his 11th season at the helm, doesn’t want his players concerned with the rankings and doesn’t believe they are.

“I haven’t heard any of our guys talk about it,” he said.

As he sees it, the rankings shouldn’t matter to how the Blue Devils practice, play or prepare.

“It means people are taking notice, but people will take notice if you keep playing well and keep winning,” Douglas said. “Being No. 1 now is good. Being No. 1 when it really matters at the end of the season after you’ve played your last game is when it becomes great.”

There remains a long way to go to reach that spot, which is why the Blue Devils can’t get engrossed with either their state title aspirations or their ranking.

What looms on the schedule matters more.

After a pair of home games this weekend against Rock Island Alleman and Springfield, the Blue Devils (13-1) venture into a gauntlet of tough games. They travel to Moline (13-3), play host to 10th-ranked Rock Island (15-1) and Lincoln (10-5) on back-to-back nights and then have the marquee matchup of the Quincy Shootout against Bishop O’Connell of Arlington, Va.

“It’s always on to the next step, what’s the next area of growth,” Douglas said. “If you look at business, that’s how business is. If you look at a lot of jobs, that’s what the job is about. You don’t want to just settle. As a parent, you don’t want to just settle.

“You’re looking to develop bigger relationships and boil on relationships with kids and families. That’s what we’re trying to do here. We want our guys to grow in every respect every day.”

How the Blue Devils handle the pressure of being the No. 1 team is part of that growth.

“What do we do with that now?” Douglas said. “Now the X on our back is bigger than it ever has been. It’s always been big being from Quincy, but now highly competitive teams are going to want to go at you even more. I love that part of it. 

“I love the fact these guys are going to be pushed and be pressed and these guys are going to have to face adversity. So far, for the most part this season, we’ve been able to face it head on and be better because of it.”