PEORIA - The Mid-Suburban League has had teams in a league of their own 73
               times since its humble beginnings among corn and cows back in the fall of 1963.

               The MSL has been a league for many sports as it grew with an area that is now
               one of suburban sprawl filled with malls.

               One for distance runners, baseball players and gymnasts. Even a bowling league
               with 73 IHSA team title trophies coming back to MSL schools in the Northwest
               suburbs.

               Boys basketball?

               That was the realistic dream for kids in the South suburbs or Chicago. Or for those
               from places downstate such as Peoria, East St. Louis and Rock Island.

               Schools in the MSL such as Schaumburg?

               There would be the occasional trip to the Elite Eight to enjoy. And if good fortune
               smiled, as it did on Fremd in 1993 and Schaumburg two years ago, a fourth-place
               trophy was no small consolation.

               The landscape changed on a Saturday St. Patrick's night in 2001 in Peoria.

               Schaumburg gave the MSL its first shot on the state's center stage to play for the
               Class AA version of what could arguably be called the state's most storied and
               prestigious championship.

               "We are here to represent the MSL,'' said Schaumburg senior point guard James
               Han of a shot to face Thornwood with nearly 12,000 in Carver Arena and hundreds
               of thousands on statewide television watching.

               "Our league probably doesn't have the greatest reputation around the state,'' said
               Bob Williams, who has been in it for 21 years as a head coach at Schaumburg and
               assistant at Palatine. "This is another step for not just Schaumburg but the MSL.''

               Hersey was the first to break through in 1974 and made subsequent trips in 1985
               and 1995. Arlington, Rolling Meadows, Conant and Hoffman Estates have also
               taken places among the state's boys basketball Elite Eight.

               Fremd was the closest to playing for a title as it fell just a couple of points short in a
               semifinal to Rockford Guilford. Schaumburg's shot two years ago came and went in
               a 16-point Saturday afternoon loss to Warren.

               But two years later the Saxons have displayed just how far they had come since
               Williams inherited a program coming off a 4-22 season in 1991.

               "We've showed we can play with the elite teams in the state,'' Williams said. "I'm
               very proud of the kids. They've come a long way to get to the state championship
               game.''

               Particulary from a Dec. 28, 1995 night when they gave up the first 21 points of a
               York tournament game to none other than Thornwood. The Saxons would
               ultimately rally to within a fourth-quarter possession of the lead before losing.

               That wasn't the point.

               Williams took a long time making it that night to a team that featured some tough
               and talented kids such as future Illinois walk-on Jeff Reichardt and Northern Illinois
               standout Mike Brown. And a talented quarterback in Champaign named Kurt
               Kittner and a guy named Mike Nall who helped Schaumburg win one of its eight
               state team titles in baseball in 1997.

               Being scared straight into submission would no longer be tolerated. Taking on the
               best in the state with your best would only be accepted.

               It was driven home by Williams again after a tough time in an offseason game in a
               league at Chicago's Hamlin Park.

               "Coach talked about in the locker room seven months ago,'' said Schaumburg senior
               standout Mark Pancratz. "Coach was pretty upset and told us how we could be if
               we worked hard. That we could be the best team in our league or the Northwest
               suburbs to ever play.

               "Going into this game we understand Thornwood has been ranked No. 1 (in the
               state) all year. But we're not going to lay down because they are what they are.''

               Even if the Thunderbirds do have a 6-foot-11, 290-pound tower of power in Eddy
               Curry, who has signed with DePaul but figures to take the money and run to the
               NBA when the draft rolls around in a few months.

               "We don't have anybody in our program who can guard Eddy Curry,'' Williams said
               with a grin after the semifinal win over Lyons Township. "But we're not the Lone
               Ranger on that one.''

               And Pancratz, an AAU teammate of Curry and some of the other state's big-name
               performers, is too strong-willed to let anyone not do whatever is in their power to
               battle most everyone's season-long title favorite.

               "He's made the right choices so it's easy to have faith in him and his game,''
               Williams said.

               On and off the floor, which will make the talented and unselfish Pancratz a steal for
               some Division I program looking for a player with more than a dash of flash.

               But he just happens to be the poster boy for a full crew of what Williams called
               throwbacks to 30 years ago. Players willing to do whatever necessary for the
               betterment of the team.

               "If I take a step back and watch us play I like us,'' Williams said. "The kids work
               hard, they're respectful and they play together.

               "We've got great unselfish kids who work hard. I'm real happy with that aspect of
               our program.''

               One that has gone from a second thought to being lumped with the state's power
               programs.

               A pretty solid authority in recently retired Rock Island coach Duncan Reid
               predicted it two years ago before his team's state quarterfinal loss to the Saxons.

               They have gone to the Proviso West tournament and beaten tradition-steeped
               programs Proviso East, Westinghouse and New Trier. They invited and beat
               Thornton in its mid-'90s heyday at their Thanksgiving tournament.

               Not to mention West Aurora and Lyons this weekend.

               But it also comes back to the strength of a league that may be light on prime-time
               talent but is heavy on coaches and players willing to work hard and believe they
               can succeed.

               "Coach talked about being the best team in the area ever and we want to be that,''
               Han said. "I think our league has actually gotten better and better and we deserve
               to get more respect.

               "I think we could build on this to keep winning and winning.''