Illinois HS Basketball News: Issue 12
Week of September 5, 2020
What a big week for basketball! Seven commitments, more than a dozen D1 offers, a pair of transfers and other news.
On a personal note, I launched Illinois-Basketball.com. After three months of the newsletter, I’d seen dozens of great stories go untold beyond maybe a tweet, and sports coverage around the state is hurting as news organizations cut back. I want to help tell those stories, and the feedback I’ve gotten lately pushed me to pull the trigger.
I plan to tell stories, but also want to create a record of stats, scores, awards, and more. If you have any of that information, please reach out. As a reporter, it’s never easy to find what player was all-conference, or who led team X in scoring in 2018. I would love to change that.
Reminder: To send me stories or recruiting news, find me on Twitter or email rudnik.jakub@gmail.com. And if you like the newsletter, please share with others who would like it!
Let’s get to basketball!
Former Morgan Park Star Chooses Seton Hall
Brandon Weston, who played last season at Morgan Park and will spend this season at Hillcrest Prep in Arizona after reclassifying to 2021, committed to Seton Hall this week. Though he has been in the Chicago area for recent years, also playing for Lake Forest Academy, he’s originally from Brooklyn. Moving back to the east coast was a priority, Weston told the NY Post, which called him the school’s biggest recruit in six years.
Weston had Chicago-related ties to other schools in his top six:
Morgan Park teammate Adam Miller is now a freshman at Illinois
Morgan Park head coach Nick Irvin is now an assistant at Western Illinois
Chicago native Juwan Howard is at Michigan, where he’s heavily recruited Chicago over the past year.
At the end of the day, those connections lost out to a Seton Hall staff that prioritized Weston, and a location near home.
Other Weston Stories:
St. Rita Youngsters Pick Up Offers
This week five St. Rita underclassmen picked up college scholarships; for four it was their first offer ever.
St. Rita is loaded with young talent. I talked to Roshawn Russell about the direction of the program and what it will take to become a perennial power in Chicago.
Commitments
Homewood-Flossmoor 2021 forward Grace Hall committed to LSU over Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and others. Tony Baranek spoke to her about the decision for the Daily Southtown. Hall has been recovering from a knee injury and, ultimately, LSU didn’t lose faith in her as she recovered.
DePaul College Prep 2021 guard Rasheed Bello committed to D2 UW-Parkside. Assistant coach Sean Connor called Bello “Truly a utility knife,” as Bello averaged 8.3 points, 4.8 assists, 4.2 rebounds and 3.1 steals as a junior.
Willowbrook 2021 PF Stephanie Dasbach committed to D2 Winona State. She averaged 14 point and 13 rebounds as a junior, according to her recruiting profile.
Edwardsville 2021 center Katelynne Roberts committed to D2 Missouri S&T. She helped Edwardsville to a 28-2 record as a junior.
Maine West guard Dylan Van Fleet will play her freshman year at Morton College after deferring her admission to Marquette by a year. She’d delayed her schooling at Marquette to raise money to fight cancer by hiking the Appalachian Trail, which she will still do in the spring and summer of 2021.
Vandalia 2021 PG Madyson Hill committed to Lincoln Land Community College.
DePaul College Prep 2021 center Brian Mathews committed to UMass a week ago. You can read my story on him here: He didn’t play basketball until 7th grade, he raises money for causes on his own time, and he has a special relationship with his sister, who has autism. I didn’t even include how excited he was to have former NBA Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Camby congratulate him on the commitment.
Transfer News and Stories
Lincoln-Way West 2022 big Brianna Wooldridge, who holds numerous D1 offers, has transferred to Fremd, where she played her freshman season. Baranek reported for the Daily Southtown about the impact that will have on the Warriors going forward. I talked to Wooldridge about returning to Fremd, a school with students that were hostile to her when the teams met in the state title game.
Bloomington 2021 SG Rickey Woods transferred to Eduprize in Arizona. By my count, at least 10 players have transferred out of state since the COVID-19 outbreak and new IHSA guidelines for sports seasons.
Boys Recruiting News
St. Rita 2024 forward Morez Johnson, Jr. received offers from Siena and Northern Illinois, his first two offers.
St. Rita 2024 wing Joshua Pickett received an offer from Northern Illinois, his first offer.
St. Rita 2024 PG Jaedin Reyna received an offer from Northern Illinois, his first offer.
St. Rita 2024 center James Brown was offered by Northern Illinois. He previously held offers from Siena, Western Illinois and Howard.
St. Rita 2023 guard Kaiden Space was offered by Siena, his first offer overall.
Oak Forest 2022 PF Robbie Avila received an offer from Southern Illinois.
Tuscola 2022 PG Jalen Quinn received an offer from Southern Illinois. “Jalen Quinn is the best player and prospect in Illinois outside the Chicago area” writes Joe Henricksen for the Sun-Times. Henricksen has the 2022 point guard ranked No. 4 in his class, as the Tuscola player has spent the summer traveling to the Chicago area to play for the Illinois Wolves. He’s got offers from UIC and Southeast Missouri State as well, and he’s already scored more than 1,000 career points. A good read about a kid with massive upside.
Yorkville Christian 2023 guard Brayden Long received an offer from Bryant, his first offer.
Bloomington 2021 guard DeMarco Clayton received an offer from NJCAA 1 Kankakee Community College.
Fenwick 2021 forward Bryce Hopkins is down to nine schools, reports Henricksen for the Sun-Times. After decommitting from Louisville, Hopkins has Kentucky, Illinois, Cal, Indiana, Iowa State, Michigan, Oregon, Providence and Texas as his final options.
Scoopman TV talked to Whitney Young 2023 guard Dalen Davis after he picked up an offer from Illinois, his third overall.
Girls Recruiting News
Kenwood 2022 guard Brianna McDaniel received an offer from Texas. She has more than 30 D1 offers.
Simeon 2021 forward Aneesah Morrow received an offer from Duke.
Bollingbrook 2022 PG Kennedi Perkins received offers from Vanderbilt and SIU.
Whitney Young 2023 guard Skylar Jones received an offer from Miami (FL). DePaul was her first offer.
Burlington Central 2022 center Taylor Charles received an offer from Colorado. Penn and Princeton also offered this summer.
Bartlett 2022 guard Kenzie Hare received an offer from Hofstra.
Benet 2023 guard Lenee Beaumont received an offer from St. Thomas.
Kenwood 2022 guard Whitney Dunn received an offer from Chicago State.
Kenwood 2022 center DonYeil Bolton received an offer from Chicago State.
St. Charles North 2021 SG Talia Pellegrini received an offer from D2 Quincy.
Conant 2021 SG Isabella Tierney received an offer from D3 Dominican.
Lincoln-Way East 2021 PG Samara Swire received an offer from D3 Aurora.
Grayslake Central 2021 PG MK Drevline received an offer from D3 DePauw.
Evanston 2021 SF Amarii Mays received an offer from D3 Knox College.
Downers Grove South 2021 PF Ashley Lang received an offer from D3 Elmhurst.
Peoria Richwoods 2021 guard Liv Allen received an offer from NJCAA 2 Black Hawk College.
Coaching Stories and News
Larry Graham, who coached Madison to state titles in 1977 and 1981, passed away at age 77, Colin Feeney writes for Riverbender.com. Graham, whose record at Madison was 312-103 and is a member of the Illinois Basketball Hall of Fame, also won 147 games as head coach of SIU-Edwardsville. He also had numerous coaching stints outside of Illinois.
Tom Antosz will wear his signature bow ties and expects his players to “hustle and give it their all each time out,” Dion Martorano reports for the Journal & Topics in his story on the new Wheeling boys head coach.
Former Kenwood head coach Justin Bowen has joined Chicago State as an assistant under Lance Irvin, the Sun-Times’ Michael O’Brien reports on Twitter. Lance is the brother of Mike Irvin, the new head coach at Kenwood. Joseph Phillips at the Hyde Park Herald wrote a story on Mike Irvin’s hiring.
Buffalo Grove graduate John Clancy has been hired as an assistant coach at John A. Logan College. Clancy has coached at Wheeling, St. Viator, Elk Grove, Niles North, Southern Illinois and Triton College, reports Spyder Dann for the Harrisburg Register.
COVID-19 Updates and News
The Illinois Wolves never left Illinois to play during the pandemic but “found a way to play by staying in house.” Jon Kerr with another great feature for his newsletter.
The IHSA gave guidance on contact days for basketball, among other sports, reports Randy Sharer at The Pantagraph. Basketball programs can have intra-squad scrimmages with parent consent. Masks must be worn during scrimmages.
The Rich South Big Dipper holiday tournament has been officially cancelled, an email shared by the Sun-Times’ Michael O’Brien shows.
Social Issues
The IHSA approved its Hate Speech and Harassment Policy, which allows officials to stop a game upon hearing hate speech, and requiring an offending player or coach to be ejected and suspended for a game, or a fan to be ejected. Dean Criddle broke down the policy and spoke to athletic directors for the Belleville News-Democrat.
Put it on your calendar: On Saturday, September 19, Chicago coaches will “march towards peace” at the Above All Odds rally. Organized by Hyde Park boys head coach Ja’Mere Dismukes, Simeon assistant Tim Flowers and others, the rally aims to “get the our state government to help fund these inner city kids’ sports [and] communities, and how we can protect against the scariest part of Chicago (neighbor on neighbor crimes) — our kids can’t even play in the parks,” Dismukes told me in a message. More information next week or at the link above.
Illinois Players in the Pros
Former Simeon guard Kendrick Nunn finished second in the NBA Rookie of the Year voting. He was undrafted coming out of Oakland after first playing for Illinois. He and the Miami heat are up 3-0 on the No. 1 seed Milwaukee Bucks.
Former Joliet Catholic and DePaul guard Allie Quigley is now the leading scorer in Chicago Sky history.
Niles West graduate Jewell Loyd hit the game-winning jumper Friday for the Seattle Storm. After beating the Sparks 90-89, the Storm are 15-3.
Illinois Players in College
Former Loyola Academy guard Connor Barrett’s “work ethic” and “passion” will help him succeed at Valpo, the school’s athletic department writes. Several quotes from LA coach Tom Livatino in that one.
Other Stories and News
The Rockford Register Star continued its rankings of all-time area basketball stars. At 9 is John Wessels who led Rockford West to back-to-back state titles in the 50s and went on to play for Illinois. At No. 8 is Lee Lampley, who averaged 29.8 points as a senior for Boylan in and led the team to two fourth-place finishes at state in the 90s. However, he only played one season of JuCo ball (finishing second in the nation in scoring). He posted this video less than two years ago of himself hitting 112 of 120 threes. Give this story a read, I learned so much about a great “what if” in Illinois basketball history.