Blue Devils expect to see different styles, different challenges during 53rd Thanksgiving Tournament

QUINCY — Starting Thursday, there’s no time to dwell on the wouldas, couldas and shouldas.

That’s what Quincy High School boys basketball coach Andy Douglas likes about starting the season with three games in three days, which the Blue Devils will do in the 53rd QHS Thanksgiving Tournament in Blue Devil Gym.

Quincy kicks off its season at 7 p.m. Thursday against Chicago Lindblom with matchups against Dunlap and Burbank St. Laurence to follow.

“There’s not time to hold on to a win,” said Douglas, entering his 11th season at the helm. “There’s not time to hold on to a loss. There’s not time to hold on to a bad half. You have to turn the page real quick and come out the next day and improve.”

The turn-the-page mentality is something the Blue Devils embrace.

“You have to find ways to improve every day,” senior all-state guard Bradley Longcor III said. “If we play more confident and more free, I think that will give us an edge.”

Starting the season at home always does that.

“There’s no place better,” senior guard Dom Clay said.

And there’d be nothing better than holding the trophy come Saturday night.

“We want to come out, execute, win games and win our tournament,” Clay said.

That takes navigating some potential landmines.

Lindblom is coming off an 18-win season in which it captured a Class 3A regional championship, but it must find a new leading scorer after the graduation of all-state guard Je’Shawn Stevenson, who is now playing at Cleveland State. 

Dunlap has a new head coach with a championship pedigree. Ryan Julius was hired in April after working at Peoria Notre Dame, where he coached the boys golf team to a state title in 2019 and was an assistant on the girls basketball team which won a Class 2A state title last winter.

The Eagles are coming off a 12-16 season and should be led by senior guard Austin Walker, a second-team All-Mid-Illini Conference selection last season.

St. Laurence is coached by Roshawn Russell, who was the head coach at Chicago St. Rita when it played in the Quincy Shootout, and he has one NCAA Division I signee and potentially a second. Senior point guard E.J. Mosley recently signed with Purdue-Fort Wayne, while sophomore guard Reggie Stevens is ranked among the state’s top 100 players in the Class of 2027.

“I like the fact that we’re going to see a couple different styles,” Douglas said. “All of them will provide a challenge.”

Douglas expects Dunlap to be more half-court oriented offensively, while Lindblom and St. Laurence are more apt to get up and down the floor. Lindblom beat St. Laurence 50-43 in the regional championship game last season.

“That’s a get-up-and-go type of game,” Douglas said. “That’s going to prepare us for what we’re going to see throughout the season.”