Illinois HS Basketball News: Issue 22

Week of November 15, 2020

Nov 16, 2020

Two major storylines defined this week, and they couldn’t have had more different energies. On one side was the early signing period, and student-athletes from around the state got to celebrate their achievements and moving on to the next level. It’s hard to have anything but happiness around those stories.

On the other side was the continued fallout from the IHSA-IDPH divergence in opinion over the winter season. I was updating my Season Start Tracker multiple times per day before the IHSA had its meeting on Thursday, as school after school postponed their seasons (and the occasional school moved forward).

Who’s ready for another week of waiting?

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!

Season Start

All week long, conferences, districts and individual schools released news about their basketball seasons. The vast majority chose not to move forward, following the governor’s and IDPH’s instructions. More than 200 schools had postponed through Thursday. The reaction from players around the state was tough to see. Dave Eminian captured that in his story about Peoria-area players reacting.

The IHSA held a meeting on Thursday, and we all waited for its announcement on next steps. Its main takeaway was to invite the governor’s office to its next meeting, on Nov. 19, Michael O’Brien reported for the Sun-Times.

For now, most schools will hold three days of non-contact practices or tryouts while they await further news. As COVID-19 cases rise around the state, it’s difficult to see the governor changing his stance.

So what are the options? A January start? That seems like the best-case scenario. A spring season? There are many issues, including too many teams sharing gym time, and multiple seasons overlapping for multi-sport athletes. A summer season? Nobody knows yet what will happen, but it’s not a good sign for anyone pushing for an upcoming season that Michigan just paused all high school sports for three weeks. Still, 39 states plan to start competition before the year ends,

Roxana boys head coach Mark Briggs believes the schools should have ultimate say, and that there are mitigation efforts that can be made to keep players and coaches safe, as he told Troy Taylor for the Journal-Star. John Lemon writes for the Daily Herald that education officials are worried about the mental health of student-athletes without the chance to play sports.

Most of my readers are parents or coaches. Imagine being both, as Lemon shares the circumstances of Crystal Lake South’s Matt LePage and Dundee-Crown’s Lance Huber who have to balance both roles.

Finally, the Little Ten Conference Tournament has been played every year since 1919. It hangs in the balance, writes Brian Hoxsey for the Daily Chronicle.

Transfer News

At least eight players announced they’d transferred out of state this week as uncertainty around the season continued. By my tally, that’s 31 players (30 boys, 1 girl) who have left the state since the 2019-20 season was cut short by COVID-19. You can see all the out-of-state transfers here.

Peoria Notre Dame brothers Noah (2021) and Nelson Reynolds (2022) have transferred to Merrillville in Indiana. “We understand why this is happening ” Notre Dame boys basketball coach Tom Lacher said to Dave Eminian at the Journal-Star. Noah Reynolds was the paper’s boys player of the year last season.
Bloomington 2021 SG DeMarco Clayton transferred to Glenn in Texas.
Bloomington 2021 guard Landon Moore transferred to Brownsburg in Indiana. The Herald & Review’s Randy Reinhardt has the story on Moore, who averaged 18 points, five rebounds and five assists as a junior.
Bolingbrook 2021 SG Isaiah Stafford transferred to Crispus Attucks in Indiana. He holds multiple D1 and D2 offers.
Lake Forest Academy 2022 forward Danny Wolf transferred to Northfield Mount Hermon in Massachusetts. He’s a top-15 player in his class. Bob Narang has the story for the Pioneer Press.
Downers Grove South 2022 guard Ty Butler transferred Rossview in Tennessee.
Brimfield 2022 guard Jakoby McKown transferred to Bellevue East in Nebraska, Dave Eminian writes for the Journal-Star.

Signing Day

November 11 was the day when 2021 recruits could officially sign their national letters of intent. As the Sun-Times reported, this was a slow year for the boys due in large part to the pandemic, and only 15 players were expected to sign D1 offers during the early signing period. There were no surprises on the actual day, and many players signed from their homes rather than at school.

Still, there were some major signings from the state. Fenwick’s Bryce Hopkins signed with Kentucky, and Rolling Meadows’ Max Christie made it official with Michigan State (Sun-Times, Daily Herald). Christie was part of the No. 7-ranked class nationally and Hopkins part of the No. 3 class, while now-Simeon wing Isaiah Barnes joined the No. 1 class of the Michigan Wolverines and Chicago-native coach Juwan Howard, as Joe Henricksen wrote for the Sun-Times.

Locally, Simeon’s Ahamad Bynum, “The kid from Chicago,” signed with DePaul, Lawrence Kreymer writes for The DePaulia (DePaul had the No. 9 class). And Loyola signed two local recruits in DePaul College Prep’s Ty Johnson and Waubonsie Valley’s Ben Schwieger, as the Chicago Tribune broke down the local college teams’ recruiting classes.

New Commitments

At least 35 boys and 65 girls in the 2021 class have committed to a college already. Please reach out for additions to these lists.

Thornton 2021 guard Brandon Hall announced his commitment to East Tennessee State.
Richland 2022 PG Anna Blank announced her commitment to D1 Tennessee Chattanooga.
Loyola 2021 guard Arielle Dabu announced her commitment to D2 Florida Southern College.
Romeoville 2021 SF Trayton Trice announced his commitment to D2 Lindenwood.
St. Patrick 2021 PG Caleb Corro announced his commitment to NAIA Olivet Nazarene (Bourbonnais).
Flora 2021 PF Taylor Brown committed to D3 Webster University.
Neuqua Valley 2021 PF Jada Devine announced her commitment to Kirkwood Community College.
Monmouth-Roseville 2021 PG Kelci Shelton announced her commitment to juco Black Hawk College.
Kaneland 2021 shooting guard Kelsey Modaff announced her commitment to juco McHenry County College.
Kaleb Carter talked to Aidan Murphy (Glenbard West) and Luke Braman (Roanoke-Benson) about their commitments from last week for Illinois-Basketball.com

Boys Recruiting News

Whitney Young 2022 forward AJ Casey received an offer from Gonzaga.
Former Joliet West 2023 point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. (transferred to La Lumiere in Indiana) received an offer from Gonzaga.
St. Rita 2024 big man James Brown received an offer from Providence.
Downers Grove North 2021 PF Jack Mielke received an offer from D2 North Georgia.
Fairfield 2021 SG Landon Zurliene received an offer from D2 McKendree.
Joliet West 2021 PG Jamari Ward received an offer from D2 Pensacola Christian College and D3 Transylvania.
MacArthur 2021 wing Nick Spannaus received offers from NAIAs Lincoln and Roosevelt.
Romeoville 2021 guard Joseph Adum received an offer from NAIA Marian (Indianapolis).
Perspectives 2021 wing Jabari Scuefield received offers from D3s Cornell College (Iowa) and Beloit College (Wisconsin).

Girls Recruiting News

Thornwood 2022 PG Nayo Lear received an offer from Virginia.
2021 PG Tahlor Sutton received an offer from D2 Miles College (Alabama).
Joliet Central 2021 guard Jalysa Stokes received an offer from D2 Missouri-St. Louis.
Downers Grove South 2021 PF Ashley Lang received an offer from D3 Concordia University Wisconsin.
Palatine 2022 SG Madi Stark received an offer from juco Milwaukee Area Technical College.

Coaching Stories and News

Brian Lee will serve as Elk Grove’s girls basketball coach this season, per Dion Martorano. Jennifer Buxton will take the year off after having a child but will return next season.

Illinois Players in the Pros

“NBA star Fred VanVleet set to host local turkey giveaway,” Jay Taft writes for the Rockford Register-Star about the Auburn graduate.
DuSable graduate Maurice Cheeks has been hired as an assistant for his hometown Chicago Bulls.
Sterling Brown, a Proviso East graduate and Milwaukee Bucks player, has reached a $750,000 settlement with the city of Milwaukee. This comes after a 2018 confrontation with Milwaukee police where a taser was used on Brown over a parking violation. The city has to admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement.

Illinois Players in College

“T.F. North graduate Tariq Deere ‘happy’ to provide immediate contributions off the bench for Governors State,” by Steve Millar of the Daily Southtown.
“Looking for a leader, St. Xavier women’s basketball coach Corry Irvin found ‘accountability’ in Marist graduate Claire Austin,” by Tony Baranek of the Daily Southtown.
“A ‘Mamba’ man: Thornwood graduate James Pennington uses Kobe Bryant as inspiration to lead mentality for Trinity Christian,” via Millar.
Evanston graduate Elyjah Williams, a senior forward at Farleigh Dickinson, was named a preseason All-NEC player.

Evanston Standout Shot and Killed

Ryan Bost, a 2019 graduate of Evanston, was shot and killed in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood on Monday night. He was a three-year starter for the Wildkits and is one of three players to hold a record 100-plus wins for the program.

“He was a person that was always putting others before himself,” Evanston basketball coach Mike Ellis told the Sun-Times. “Anytime Ryan was involved, you could see the strength and stability that Ryan brought — his impact — to the scene," Ellis told the Chicago Tribune.

Bost’s brother Rashawn is currently a junior for Evanston, and his grandfather was a longtime coach in the program. There is a Go Fund Me to benefit the family.

Illinois High School Basketball News

Discussion about this post