Manning's the man for 4th-ranked Cougars

CEDAR RAPIDS - Jake Manning is the poster child for these Cedar Rapids Kennedy Cougars.You might not have heard much about the 6-foot-5 senior because he gets lost among all the individual talent in town. Just like his Class 4A fourth-ranked team.But you notice him after tipoff. Kennedy takes a 13-2 record into its game at Cedar Rapids Washington tonight, thanks in part to a kid who doesn't seem to want to talk much about himself.He just smiles when you ask him about the improvement in his game. He prefers to talk about his club, which he's not surprised is doing very, very well.“I don't know if my team feels this way, but I've never felt like we've had to prove anything,” Manning said. “People can talk about whoever they want. It doesn't affect us. We're just going to come to play every game.”Manning averaged five points a game last season but has more than doubled that to 12.2 this season. He's tough inside with his 215 pounds and can be deadly from the baseline with his left-handed shot.He shoots 57.9 percent from the field and leads Kennedy with a 6.4 rebound average.“He has gotten nothing but better,” said Kennedy Coach Bob Fontana. “He really started improving toward the end of last season, his minutes increased a little bit. Then over the course of the spring and summer, he just kept getting better and better and better. Plus, he's added about 10 pounds of good weight on him, muscle.”Muscle is kind of what Kennedy is all about.It is strongest inside with guys like Manning, Christian French and Kyle Lamaak. It plays a patient half-court offensive game and gets after you defensively.“Defense is what gets it going for us,” Manning said.

This and that- The Kennedy-Washington girl-boy doubleheader will be telecast live tonight on Channel 9.2 beginning at 6. KCRG's sister station is available on most cable systems in the area, including Imon and Mediacom in Cedar Rapids.- Postseason pairings and substate sites for Class 1A and 2A were released Wednesday by the IHSAA. District groupings were released last month, with each school given a district seed according to how it played in games five through 15.The tournament trail begins with a smattering of 1A opening-round games Feb. 14. First-round games in 1A and 2A are Feb. 17.Class 3A and 4A postseason pairings are scheduled to be released Monday by the IHSAA.