Illinois HS Basketball News: Issue 45

July 12, 2021

The newsletter is back after a couple week layoff, and it’s officially over one year old. I kept to the “weekly” promise until April, but the season burned me out. I hope I’m back to the regular cadence, but I’ve spent more time building Illinois-Basketball.com (and working my other jobs).

Still, I love being a part of this community and meeting so many new people. The site and newsletter have been read over 100,000 times in the past year, and that blows me away. Thanks for being a part of it. As always, I appreciate you sharing any of my work with others who care about Illinois high school hoops.

Let’s get to basketball!

Update: I created a Facebook page for the website where I’ll post stories and updates daily. I’d love to connect with everyone on there, and for you to share with fellow basketball fans.

Writers Say Goodbye

High school sports coverage has dwindled for years as digitalization has drastically changed the news industry. Sports coverage in Illinois has certainly not been immune to that broad trend. In the last month, we lost a couple of greats in the state:

• Pat Disabato took a buyout at the Daily Southtown after 31 years of coverage. He wrote a thank you to readers and shared his four favorite games he’s covered.

• For the Herald-Whig, Matt Schuckman is leaving the newsroom after 22 years. He said thank you in a goodbye letter.

Coaching News and Stories

• Sean Connor takes over as the Antioch boys coach after several years as a DePaul Prep assistant. Kaleb Carter wrote about the hiring for Illinois-Basketball.com, and Bob Narang did for the Lake County News-Sun.

• West Aurora boys coach Brian Johnson is ready to bounce back after a 1-15 season and a health scare, writes Rick Armstrong for the Aurora Beacon-News.

• We’ve tracked 82 head coaching changes across the state for boys and girls. There are some gaps, so definitely send updates my way.

Boys Commitments

• Buffalo Grove 2022 wing Kam Craft committed to Xavier. He spoke to Dick Quagliano about the choice for the Daily Herald.

• East St. Louis 2022 point guard Christian Jones committed to Missouri. I’ll have a story tomorrow on his commitment.

• Glenbrook South 2022 forward Nick Martinelli committed to Elon. I’ll have a story early this week.

• Normal Community 2022 power forward Zach Cleveland committed to Liberty. Jim Benson wrote about the decision for The Pantagraph.

• Antioch 2021 guard Kobe Kriese committed to D-II Minnesota-Crookston.

• Edwardsville 2021 forward Brennan Weller committed to D-II Arkansas Tech. Matt Kamp wrote about the commitment for the Edwardsville Intelligencer.

• Kankakee 2021 guard Rashard Harris committed to juco Olney Central.

• Homewood-Flossmoor 2021 forward AJ Wells committed to juco North Iowa Area.

• Springfield 2021 small forward Bernie Slater committed to juco Southwestern Illinois.

• Bogan 2021 power forward Ideary Mooney committed to juco Olive-Harvey.

• “Recruiting notes: Waubonsie Valley’s Isaiah Smith and Carter Langendorf look to build on combo at Oakleaf Basketball Academy.” (Story: Patrick McGavin/Naperville Sun)

• Milford 2021 guard Trey Totheroh committed to play at Cornell College. Cody Smith wrote about the multisport athlete for the Daily Journal.

• We’ve tracked 214 boys commitments from the 2021 class and 4 from the 2022 class (3 new).

Girls Commitments

• Butler College Prep 2022 guard Camille Jackson committed to Illinois.

• Glenbrook North 2022 power forward Brooke Blumenfeld committed to Northern Illinois. I wrote about Blumenfeld’s journey to NIU for Illinois-Basketball, including overcoming two torn ACLs.

• Batavia 2022 big Tessa Towers committed to Wisconsin. Kaleb Carter wrote about her commitment for Illinois-Basketball.

• Burlington Central 2022 big Taylor Charles committed to Princeton. Kaleb Carter wrote about Charles’ commitment for Illinois-Basketball.

• Bolingbrook 2022 forward Tatiana Thomas committed to Kent State.

• Saint Viator 2022 guard Joy Bergstrom committed to South Dakota.

• Peoria Notre Dame 2022 shooting guard Delaney Cook committed to D-II Western New Mexico.

• Johnsburg 2022 center Molly Wetzel committed to juco McHenry County.

• Indian Creek 2021 guard Brooke Heiman committed to juco Waubonsee CC.

• We’ve tracked 169 girls commitments from the 2021 class (4 new) and 19 from the 2022 class (8 new).

Transfer News

• Three girls from Aurora Christian, including two-time all-stater Aspen Weeks, have transferred to West Aurora, Rick Armstrong reports for the Aurora Beacon-News. Aurora Christian’s season is in jeopardy over lack of a team.

• We’ve tracked 32 transfers across the state since the end of the season, both boys and girls.

Boys Recruiting News

• Class of 2022 offers: 25 players with their first offer since the last newsletter, now up to 70 players with 287 total offers. Yorkville Christian’s Jaden Schutt landed an offer from Duke yesterday.

• Class of 2023: 4 players with their first offer since the last newsletter, and 34 new offers. Up to 133 offers for 27 players.

• Class of 2024: 32 total offers to 12 players. Larkin point guard Jakob Blakely received his first offer, from Western Illinois.

• For the Sun-Times, Joe Henricksen looked at the state’s top 10 incoming seniors and where their recruiting stands.

• Also from Henricksen, 10 players that raised their stock during the live period.

• Lake Forest 2023 wing Asa Thomas Lake Forest’s Asa Thomas scored 37 in a game at Riverside-Brookfield. The offers came in immediately. (Story: Bob Narang/Lake County News-Sun)

• Yorkville Christian’s Jaden Schutt is one of the state’s top three seniors. Henricksen wrote about Schutt’s recruiting process.

• “Whitney Young forward Xavier Amos raises stock at Riverside-Brookfield.” (Story: Kyle Williams/Illinois-Basketball)

• Kaleb Carter’s roundup and photo gallery from Ridgewood’s live event.

• “Glenbard West big man Ryan Renfro is seeing increased college interest,” by Kaleb Carter.

Girls Recruiting News

• Class of 2022 offers: 12 players have been added since the last newsletter, and we’re up to 346 offers for 94 players.

• Class of 2023 offers: 3 players have received their first offer since the last newsletter. We’re now at 172 offers for 21 players.

• Class of 2024 offers: 30 total offers for 11 players.

• “Stevenson’s Simone Sawyer adds Ohio and Evansville to list of 12 offers, while Creighton shows interest.” (Story: Bob Narang/Lake County News-Sun)

• Whitney Young freshman Destiny Jackson already has multiple D-I offers. Kaleb Carter talked to her at Morton College’s live event.

Coaching Stories and News

• “Matt Mead makes switch to boys basketball at Riverton.” (Story: Bill Welt/State Register-Journal)

• “Brent McKinney replaces Jason Storm at Pana after one season as interim girls head coach.” (Story: Bill Welt/State Register-Journal)

Illinois Players in International Play

• Morgan Park grad Adam Miller (LSU) and Niles Notre Dame grad Louis Lesmond (Harvard) faced off in FIBA U19 play. Here’s a video of Miller getting the steal and slam off Lesmond.

• Niles West grad Jewell Loyd made the Olympic team. Dion Martorano has the story for the Journal & Topics.

• Maine West graduate Angela Dugalic helped Serbia win the EuroBasket tournament, writes Martorano.

Illinois Players in the Pros

• “Peoria ’where it started’ for Phoenix Suns assistant Brian Randle.” (Story: Stan Morris/Peoria Journal-Star)

• “Algonquin native Cameron Krutwig prepares for professional career in Belgium.” (Story: Sean Hammond/Northwest Herald)

Illinois Players in College

• Mt. Greenwood residents Lauren McDonald (St. Ignatius) and Sydney Affolter (Marist) are ready for their college careers at Air Force and Iowa, respectively. Tim O’Brien has the story for the Beverly Review.

• Burlington Central graduate Patrick Mayfield is transferring to Division I Akron after averaging 17.1 points at Division III Dubuque. John Lemon has the story for the Daily Herald.

• South Elgin’s Vincent Miszkiewicz returns to Division I, transferring from Division II Purdue-Northwest to UW-Milwaukee. Paul Johnson has the story for the Aurora Beacon-News.

• There are 18 Division-I men’s coaches from Illinois. For the Sun-Times, Joe Henricksen looked at their careers and backgrounds.

• After one year as a walk-on at Northwestern, Glenbrook South grad Dom Martinelli transferred to St. Thomas. Dion Martorano wrote about it for the Journal & Topics.

Other Stories and News

• “Father’s dying wish was for son to make movie about Granite City’s 1940 basketball team.” (Story: Teri Maddox/Belleville News-Democrat)

• “Former Orr basketball star Raekwon Drake has been charged with first-degree murder.” (Story: Michael O’Brien and Madeline Kenney/Chicago Sun-Times)

• Rockford Lutheran looks like a boys 2A state title contender, writes Matt Trowbridge for the Rockford Register Star.

• “Ready for a reboot: Senior forward Ty Rogers and his West Aurora teammates are itching to put a miserable one-win season behind them.” (Story: Rick Armstrong/Aurora Beacon-News)

• “With Lexi Kerstein’s sister Nikki and Aubrey Galvan joining her in the backcourt, Deerfield is ready to ‘run teams out of the gym’” (Story: Bob Narang/Lake County News-Sun)

• “Guard-rich Civic Memorial girls show out in summer (w/ 10 photos).” (Story: Greg Shashack/The Alton Telegraph)

• “‘Promises to keep’: Hakim Williams and Deveauntay McNeal are gone. But Cristian Castro and Jamariel Brown intend to sustain Round Lake’s success.” (Story: Bob Narang/Lake County News-Sun)

• Former St. Rita team manager Bobby Gikas was the Illinois men’s head manager this past season. (Story: Tim O’Brien/Beverly Review)

• “Westinghouse backcourt displays potential at Riverside-Brookfield.” (Story: Kyle Williams/Illinois-Basketball)

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