Golden Balls and Hardwood Truths: Four Crowns, One Night at the State Farm Holiday Classic Basketball, at its best, doesn’t need alibis. It simply shows up, laces its sneakers, and tells the truth. On December 30, 2025, the truth echoed off the hardwood at the Shirk Center on the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois, where four championship games decided four destinies at the  2025 State Farm Holiday Classic . Four divisions. Four final whistles. Four golden balls handed to teams that survived December, pressure, and the long arithmetic of tournament basketball. Small School Girls Championship Paris Tigers 53, Winnebago Indians 40 The top seed usually writes the script, but Paris brought its own pen. Winnebago, the No. 1 seed, arrived with expectations packed neatly in their warmups. Paris, seeded third, arrived with something more dangerous—belief. The Tigers stalked the game patiently, turned defense into currency, and cashed in when it mat...

  Day Two Delivers Definition at the 50th State Farm Holiday Classic Day two of the  2025 State Farm Holiday Classic  leaned into what five decades of December basketball in Bloomington-Normal have taught us: by now, the pretenders start to fade, and the programs built for March begin to look very comfortable in late December. On the tournament’s  50th anniversary , the large-school boys bracket provided clarity, contrast, and a reminder that this event still knows how to separate teams with purpose from teams still searching for it. Machesney Park Harlem and Chicago Prosser set the tone with a game that demanded patience. Harlem absorbed pressure, handled stretches of half-court basketball, and made the possessions count when they mattered most. The result was a  58–49 Harlem victory , a scoreline that reflected control rather than chaos. Prosser kept it within reach, but Harlem’s ability to finish plays late proved decisive inside a gym that has seen this movi...

  A Golden Milestone: The State Farm Holiday Coed Basketball Classic Turns 50 in Bloomington-Normal For half a century, the  State Farm Holiday Coed Basketball Tournament  has been a cornerstone of winter sports in  Bloomington-Normal , blending tradition, competition, and community into one of Illinois’ most enduring high school basketball showcases. Now celebrating its  50th year , the Classic stands as a testament to the staying power of the game and the student-athletes who give it life every December. What began as a local holiday event has evolved into a respected stage where boys and girls programs share equal spotlight, fans pack the stands, and generations of families return year after year. The Classic is more than a tournament—it’s a seasonal marker, signaling that basketball season has fully arrived in the heart of the state. Over five decades, it has built a reputation for competitive matchups, spirited crowds, and an atmosphere that feels both nost...

The Classic just concluded. Rock Island Rocks are represented in both the Large School Boys and Girls brackets - winning the boys and taking 2nd in the girls, beating U-High in the boys and losing on a comeback run in the girls to Chicago North Lawndale College Prep. Small School Boys and Girls brackets were taken by Quincy Notre Dame over Bloomington Central Catholic and Rockford Lutheran ove St. Thomas More respectively.  There will be coverage by Alan Look Photography - Bloomington - Normal's Best Look in Sports Action Photography in the Normalite Newspapers and in the February issue of Best Look Magazine.  Until then, you can enjoy this gallery of images. 2015 State Farm Holiday Classic - Chimperscage - Images by Alan Look  - Chimper

Best Look Magazine, Volume 4 Issue 4, November 2015 By Alan Look in Best Look Magazine 32 pages, published 11/10/2015 Best Look Magazine, Volume 4 Issue 4, November 2015 The 2015 November Issue of Best Look Magazine has arrived. The front cover features a High Dynamic Range image of the Normal Theater in Normal taken during the Sugar Creek Arts Festival in July.  The rear cover is a shot of the memorial at Illinois State University that remembers the 7- Aaron Leech, Torrey Ward, Scott Bittner, Jason Jones, Andrew Butler, Terry Stralow and Thomas Hileman who lost their lives in a plane crash on their way home from the NCAA basketball tournament in April.  Other features in this issue - a wrap up of the Normal CornBelters winning season, McLean County Antique Automobile Associations annual car show, Sugar Creek Arts Festival, a preview of the S...