Elgin ready to run

Like a boxer learning his craft, the inexperienced Elgin boys basketball team took some inevitable lumps last season.

Considering coach Mike Sitter's starting lineup often featured three sophomores and a freshman point guard along with junior Jordan Dean, Elgin's final record of 7-21 could have been far worse.

However, those four underclassmen then-freshman point guard Arie Williams (5-6) and sophomores Kory Brown (6-3), Dennis Moore (6-0) and Matt Andres (6-0) were in the lineup because they can play. No one threw in the towel.

With a year of experience under their collective belts, not to mention a confidence-boosting summer league record of 32-5, the Maroons hope to be the ones handing out lumps this season.

“I think we bring a lot more to the table,” said Brown, a returning all-area pick who averaged 11.1 points in his first varsity season in the post. “We have a lot more knowledge about the game and how fast it goes with me Dennis and Matt coming back as juniors and Arie as a sophomore. I think we can control games now and take them over.”

Though he's cautiously optimistic with five starters returning, Sitter would be happy with incremental improvement.

“I just want to see us take the next step from last year,” he said. “We only won 7 games last year, so we'd like to double our number if we could and just perform well in our half of the Upstate Eight.”

Brown's improvement alone is reason enough to believe the Maroons will develop into a far more dangerous team this season.

“Just to look at him he's the same, but he's improved his vertical by five or six inches and he's a lot stronger in the post,” Sitter said. “Kory has improved by leaps and bounds. I think the other kids see it and they know he's the go-to guy on this team right now.”

The elevation in Brown's maturity level has kept pace with his vertical.

“Last year he led by example,” Sitter said. “He was our hardest practice player, but he didn't feel right calling out seniors and older kids. Now he considers this his team, even though Jordan is the senior on this team. Kory is the on-court leader. He's the loud, vocal presence everyone looks to for leadership.”

Jordan Dean, the leader of Elgin's playoff-qualifying football team this fall, has no problem letting Brown lead on the basketball court.

“We're all about team,” Dean said. “I love those guys. They're a great junior group. They've been on varsity as long as me. They look up to me and I look up to them.

“We have the type of team where not one person is above everyone else. We're all going to have a game where we're the leading scorer. It all equals out with the way we play.”

The Maroons will once again be a guard-oriented team rich in ballhandlers. Dean and Moore have each spent time at point guard. Varsity newcomer, Cortez Scott (6-0), gives the Maroons another talented dribbler.

However, no one handles the ball better than Williams, who shot up five inches in the off-season. He averaged three 3-pointers per game last season after he was elevated to the varsity for the Elgin Holiday Tournament.

One of Williams' main targets in transition is Moore, an adept finisher in the open court or when driving the lane. Williams will also kick out to Andres or Dean for a 3-point shot.

Elgin had every intention of being a run and gun team last season, but the inexperienced Maroons didn't always play defense well enough to force the turnovers that ignite fast breaks. Their coach openly invites this team to run to its hearts content.

Under one condition.

“If they want to run and shoot, it means they have to do it on the defensive end because it's hard to get the ball and fast break on a made basket,” Sitter said. “If they want to work hard on the defensive end and get stops, they can run all they want.”

Dean says that's the plan.

“We'll be running and gunning,” he said. “I think we'll be one of the best teams around. We don't have much height, but we can run the floor and we're not going to slow it down for anybody.”

Running also requires bodies. Juniors Devin Gilliam (6-0) and Gerardo Mojica (6-3) have each earned playing time in the post and bring the rotation to eight.

The Maroons were particularly effective in the open court over the summer because of familiarity. These players have been competing with or against one another in the Junior Maroons program for six or seven years.

“We all know each other so well,” Brown said. “Arie knows what we're going to do and we all know where each other will be on the court.”

Is it the kind of style that can result in a breakthrough season for a young but promising group?

“I think we can get to the sectional if we really dig in and want it,” Brown said. “We all have more experience together and a lot of us have gotten stronger and elevated our games.

“But right now the mindset is on Buffalo Grove (Monday at 7:30 p.m.). It starts with Buffalo Grove and we'll go from there.”