Amazing duo defy the odds

And then there were two.

Just two.

Three years ago, approximately 20 boys comprised Grant's freshman 'B' basketball team. They were the rookies of the rookies, not quite good enough to be on the freshman 'A' team, but bright-eyed and hopeful nonetheless.

Now, only two remain in the program. Only two have shown the persistence and perseverance to work their way up from the very bottom.

To the very top, no less.

Seniors Gilbert Sheehan and AJ Spohr are B-teamers no more. In fact, they've become bona fide A-listers at Grant, and within the North Suburban Conference Prairie Division.

After years of toiling on 'B' teams - both were also sophomore B-teamers - Sheehan and Spohr have become the Bulldogs' top dogs.

Sheehan, a role-playing starter for the varsity last year, is averaging about 20 points per game and has suddenly become one of the most dangerous wing players in the division - a threat in the post as well as on penetrating moves to the basket.

Spohr, who was the sixth man last season, scores about 11 points per game and is a defensive headache at the point.

Their kind of total transformation is practically unheard of in high school basketball.

"To be B-teamers and to end up where they have - I haven't seen it. It just doesn't really ever happen," said Grant coach Wayne Bosworth, whose Bulldogs have gotten out to a solid 8-4 start. "Usually, you can pick out pretty early, even when they're freshmen, who the top varsity players coming out of your program will be. They're the ones on the A-teams, or they've been moved up early.

"A lot of times, B-team players will lose interest because they're not playing (on the higher-level teams). They'll just kind of fade away."

That's what happened to all of Sheehan and Spohr's former B-team teammates.

Poof. Gone.

Besides Sheehan and Spohr, who have popped for season highs of 29 and 16 points, respectively, there are only two other seniors on the varsity. And both guard Garrett Olsen and center John King played on the 'A' team as freshmen.

"I never thought of it like that before," Spohr said, shaking his head in disbelief. "It is kind of amazing. I think we may have even had as many as 22 guys on the freshman 'B' team. It was fun. We were 20-1 that year and we went 14-0 as sophomores.

"But now, there are just two of us left. Only two of us made it to start varsity."

Not very good odds, granted.

But the fact that Sheehan and Spohr have been able to not only buck the odds but emphatically kick them to the curb should give hope to others. That's what they hope for anyway.

"I actually didn't mind being on the 'B' teams because I was able to actually play that way (instead of sitting the bench on a higher-level team)," Sheehan said. "That's how I got better. People can look up to that and be like, 'Why can't we do that?' This just shows that if you work harder than the person above you, you'll get better."

Added Spohr: "Just don't give up. A lot of 'B' players might think that they'll always be on the bottom of the totem pole. They don't have to be. It's all about dedication and motivation."

Sheehan and Spohr, who became best friends on their journey from the land of 'B' to 'A,' have never been short on either.

They're self-described basketball junkies and say they couldn't imagine giving up on the game - even when their futures in it didn't look too bright.

Staying dedicated was easy.

Staying motivated was even easier.

They've been champing at the bit for the last three years for their chance to grab a bit of the limelight. So when the time came, they were determined to be ready for it, which meant working harder this past off-season than they ever had before.

"When weightlifting started, I was there. All the time," Spohr said. "Open gyms - I was out there shooting. I wanted to step it up big-time and I think I've improved my ballhandling and my outside shot. And because I'm bigger, I can finish inside pretty well now, too."

Spohr has gone from an undersized, 5-foot-4, 90-pound freshman to a 6-foot, 165-pounder. He says he's gained a lot of weight from adding muscle in the weight room.

Likewise, Sheehan has shot up and out, too. He was 5-10 as a freshman. He's now 6-3 and weighs about 180 pounds, about 45 pounds more than he weighed just three years ago.

Much of that weight is muscle that he added by working out in the weight room with the football team. Even though Sheehan's off-season regimen was sidetracked in April for more than three months when he broke both wrists while dunking at an open gym, he says that he's still been able to make himself stronger than ever. And it shows on the court.

"My freshman year, I wasn't the tallest on the team, I was weak, I was timid, I didn't trust myself very much," Sheehan said. "But going into sophomore year, (assistant) coach (Tom) Maple approached me and told me he'd like me to stick with the game. He said, 'I guarantee you'll be a starter by your senior year.' I didn't believe him at first. I was like, 'OK. You're just being nice.' But he was right. You work hard, you can make it.

"I've gotten a lot stronger and that's made me a lot more confident. My whole game has gotten better."

And college coaches have started to take notice - of both Sheehan and Spohr.

The two late bloomers say they would love to play in college, that it would be a dream come true because basketball is - and always has been - their passion.

"My mom tells me that my first words were 'Mommy,' 'Daddy' and 'ball,' " Sheehan laughed.

"It's just life for us," Spohr said of basketball. "A lot of guys on our freshman team didn't even try out as sophomores and I think it was mainly because they just didn't love the game enough. We do."

Added Sheehan: "I think that's why AJ and I have come so far. We just love basketball. We really do love it."

pbabcock@dailyherald.com