Vine blossoming into something special for Wheaton North
Walking through the hall outside the Wheaton North High School gym, it is hard to miss the jerseys honoring Falcon greats gone by.
Graham. Thonn. Conner.
Fantasia Vine is not yet that kind of a household name.
Give her time.
In an area loaded with strong junior point guards like Montini's Whitney Holloway, Immaculate Conception's Kasey Reaber and Naperville Central's Emma Ondik, Vine is one whose stock is on the rise.
After "blowing the doors off people," AAU coaches told Falcons coach Dave Eaton, at an AAU tournament in Ohio over the summer, Vine has no less than 34 Division I colleges knocking on her door. Legendary Rutgers coach Vivian Stringer sent a scout to check out Vine in October. Wisconsin will be in town later this month, and Purdue is in touch. She already has visited Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
"It's definitely different for me," Eaton said. "I haven't had an experience like this."
Wheaton North hasn't, period. A nice program that contends in the DuPage Valley Conference yes, but major girls basketball prospects don't just walk through the door at 1 Falcon Way every day.
In fact Vine would be Wheaton North's first Division I girls basketball recruit since Sue Murphy, who played for the University of Alaska in the mid-1980s.
"She works well with the kids," Eaton said, "but with her athletic ability I look at my assistants and shake my head at times. She does some amazing things. A different kind of player than what we're used to."
Her story is a different kind of story. To say the least, Vine is a late bloomer.
The only member of her family to try sports, Fantasia wasn't permitted to play organized basketball for most of junior high. Finally, with prodding from her aunt Latricia and pleading from Fantasia, mom Patricia relented in eighth grade.
"Her eighth-grade basketball coach had her in PE in seventh grade," Eaton said, "and told me, 'We have to get this Vine kid to come out. You should see what she does in PE class.' I saw her play in eighth grade and was amazed she had only played one year of organized basketball."
New to organized basketball yes, but the game runs through Vine's blood. On days she isn't playing at Wheaton North, Vine goes to a church in Wheaton to go against the boys. She loves playing the NBA 2K video game and watching NBA games. No surprise that Bulls point guard Derrick Rose is her favorite player.
By the end of freshman year, it wasn't uncommon for Vine to score 30 or more points in a game. Freshman coaches wondered why she was there.
"She needed to learn the game," Eaton said.
Vine showed flashes of brilliance playing varsity as a sophomore. Since last winter she's made her biggest jump. Vine said she's improved a lot "working on shooting, driving and dishing."
Commitment to the game, never in question, is even greater this year with college on the horizon.
"Her ability to learn and put everything together," Eaton said, "that's the biggest improvement."
Easy to forget, Vine is still a teenaged girl learning.
Refreshingly naive to the whole recruitment process. A star player who's just another teammate. A girl Eaton calls "a fantastic kid" whose fellow Falcons rallied around when she dislocated a finger earlier this season.
The name Vivian Stringer didn't ring a bell when Rutgers came calling, and Vine doesn't have a "dream college" she wishes to go to.
She's just a basketball player. The kind rarely seen in Wheaton.
"She just wants to play," Eaton said. "She isn't really concerned with where she goes to college. She just wants to play right away and play where she's comfortable."