Call Warren senior Brandon Paul Mr. Basketball

Life coaches often suggest that if you have a goal that is important to you, you should write it down, because it's more likely to come true.

Warren senior Brandon Paul is a big believer in that theory right about now.

When Paul was a sophomore, his mother Lynda presented him with a sheet of paper that listed every Mr. Basketball of Illinois since the award was first presented in 1981. At the top she wrote, "Brandon Paul, 2009."

"She posted it on my wall and I've been looking at that every day," Paul said. "It's still there. It's been my motivation for getting better."

Paul has not only gotten better, he's gotten so good that what his mom wrote at the top of that sheet has actually come to fruition. On Saturday, Paul was named the 2009 Mr. Basketball of Illinois.

Paul, a 6-foot-3 all-state guard who will be playing at Illinois next year, beat out his future Illinois teammate, Waukegan junior Jereme Richmond, by just 16 points. It was the closest voting in the 29-year history of the prestigious award, which is determined by coaches and media representatives throughout the state.

Paul received 337 votes while Richmond finished with 321 votes.

Drew Crawford of Naperville Central placed third with 137 votes followed by Darius Smith of Marshall (106), James Kinney of Champaign Centennial (65) and Matt Vogrich of Lake Forest (54).

Other Lake County players receiving votes were Colin Nickerson of Waukegan and Lenzelle Smith of Zion-Benton.

"It means a lot for me to have my name up there with all the other top players that have won Mr. Basketball. This is exciting," Paul said shortly after winning the slam-dunk contest at Friday's Chicago High School Classic at Niles North. He and his mother and his father Cliff were then going to drive all night to St. Louis for Saturday's River Wars All-Star game, which features the best players from Illinois taking on the best players from Missouri.

Paul averaged 19.8 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3 steals per game this season for Warren, which went 23-6 and lost a 71-69 heartbreaker to Waukegan in the Class 4A Waukegan sectional championship game.

It will be remembered for many years to come for its spectacular ending.

Warren trailed by 2 points when Paul was fouled on a harried three-point attempt with 4.7 seconds left. Paul coolly made all three free throws and the Blue Devils, up 69-68, seemed poised to pull off the miraculous comeback.

But Richmond took Waukegan's inbound pass, drove to half court and then launched a set shot that hit nothing but net as the buzzer sounded. The fans from Waukegan rushed the floor in a frenzy, and Paul and his teammates headed for the locker room in disbelief.

"I wish the season would have ended differently because that was really hard," Paul said. "But getting this (Mr. Basketball award) helps with that."

Paul's amazing performance against Waukegan was indicative of his play throughout the entire tournament. He averaged 27 points and 9.8 rebounds over Warren's four tournament games.

"Brandon played his best basketball at the end of the year," Warren coach Chuck Ramsey said. "He just keeps improving. He's worked very hard and he made a tremendous investment to become the player he's become.

"I just think Brandon is very deserving of this award. It's such a special thing. When you really look at it, there are more than 700 teams in Illinois with 12 to 15 players on each team and there's only guy who is Mr. Basketball. And that's Brandon. This is more than a once-in-a-lifetime thing. It's a once in a lot of different lifetimes thing. We're just real happy for Brandon and real proud of him."

Paul is the first player from Lake County to be named Mr. Basketball of Illinois. Last year's winner was Kevin Dillard from Homewood-Flossmoor. The 2007 winner was Simeon's Derrick Rose, who is now the starting point guard for the Chicago Bulls.

"It's just a great honor," Paul said. "This was a great senior year, a year to remember."