Young pups are carrying a big bite around Fox Valley
What used to be rare has become commonplace this season.
It used to be that freshmen were raw pups meant to be developed. Place them at the lower levels of a basketball program for a year or two, let them polish their skills as they get acclimated to high school and hope the upperclassmen don't con them into buying a fake elevator pass.
Things are changing. Today, some freshmen own a more-developed basketball acumen than the upperclassmen. Thanks to AAU training at the grade-school and middle school levels, the pups are entering high school ready to run with the big dogs.
The Fox Valley area has seen its share of freshmen contributing in recent years, headed by a talented group that came through Jacobs. John Moran (Northern Iowa) played varsity all four years as did Conrad Krutwig (South Dakota) and Tim Moran. Current point guard, junior Mike Peterson, was brought up to the varsity as a freshman, mainly to learn by being John Moran's sparring partner in daily practices.
Other freshmen have dotted the varsity landscape recently. Huntley's Jordan Neukirch, a special athlete now playing linebacker at Illinois State, was a four-year varsity basketball letterman. So was Elgin 3-point specialist Armani Williams, now playing a key role at the University of Texas-Arlington.
Luke Labedzki, a senior at Bartlett, is a four-year starter. In November, he passed Anthony Maestranzi to become the Hawks' all-time leading scorer.
Last season, Hampshire's Tyler Watzlawick (6-foot-7) came off the bench as a freshman, and Ray Hunnicutt became the first freshman starting guard for Burlington Central since Cully Payne (Iowa).
The freshman floodgate has opened this season like never before.
A total of six freshmen are playing varsity ball at area schools, seven if we include former Elgin Academy coach Everette Stephen's son, Kendall, a 6-2 guard at St. Charles East.
Three of them enjoy starting roles, including broad-shouldered Larkin forward Carlito Singleton (6-2), deceivingly quick Huntley forward Bryce Only (6-0) and heady South Elgin point guard Jake Maestranzi (5-5). Jake is the fifth of five Maestranzi brothers trained by their father, Illinois Wildcats AAU coach John Maestranzi.
The area's other freshmen playing key minutes include above-the-rim guard Lance Whitaker (6-2) of Bartlett, steady Jacobs forward Connor Conzelman (6-0) and Elgin point guard Arie Williams (5-4), Armani's younger brother.
A couple of years ago, Arie would edit together video of Armani's best plays, set them to music and post them on YouTube. Since his elevation to the varsity before the Elgin Holiday Tournament, Arie has been creating his own highlights as a ball distributor and 3-point shooter off the bench.
What do coaches need to see in a freshman to be convinced a 13- or 14-year-old player is varsity material?
"It depends on what he does well and if there's anything he does poorly that would have a negative impact, whether it's size or mobility or something along those lines," Huntley coach Marty Manning said. "Bryce is the kind of key figure we were missing last year. He leads our team in rebounds as a six-foot guy, he leads our team in steals and any loose ball within 15 feet of him he's going to get to.
"Even though he's only averaging about 3 points a game, he's instrumental to how well we're doing right now (11-5) because of the things he's doing."
Playing a freshman is the coaching equivalent of diverting money into a 401(k): sacrifice a little now for an expected payoff at a later date.
"In general, I think teams are looking more toward the future now and preparing for the next two or three years down the road," Elgin coach Mike Sitter said. "Maybe you get that kid on your bench just to watch. I see a lot of programs bring players up to watch and not play them. But they get used to the varsity situation, traveling with the varsity, practicing every day with the varsity.
"Some games Arie doesn't play a whole lot. Cary-Grove played a trapping zone and he had a whole lot of problems with their physical game, so he didn't play a lot. But he still practiced with the varsity every day and that's going to make him better than practicing with sophomores every day. I think it has a big upside to it, at least in his case."
The interesting behind-the-scenes note about this year's banner batch of freshmen? Five of them have grown up playing AAU ball together, training for their chance to play high school varsity basketball when the time arrived.
Elgin's William's, South Elgin's Maestranzi, Larkin's Singleton, Bartlett's Whitaker and St. Charles East's Stephens are all members of the Illinois Wildcats. Coach John Maestranzi has operated the Bartlett-based AAU team since 1995. He has produced several college and pro players, ranging from former Illinois guard Dee Brown to current Villanova star Scottie Reynolds to his son Anthony, who starred at NIU and has played professionally in Italy for the last four years.
John Maestranzi thinks area fans are in for a treat for the next three and a half seasons.
"This class, 2013, these are very talented freshmen," he said. "I've been doing the AAU circuit for a while and every four or five years you'll see a class like this that's very talented at their grade."
Maestranzi said some other players from the Illinois Wildcats team that advanced to AAU nationals last season are also varsity ready as freshmen, but they face a logjam of older talent ahead of them at their respective schools. Guard Kyle Bolger is on the sophomore team at Schaumburg, whose varsity rotation runs 10 deep. Zack Strittmatter is a 6-4 forward playing sophomore ball at Batavia, where the varsity is 11-4. Guard Jason Pisarski is on the sophomore team at St. Francis.
In other words, the five freshmen fortunate to already be playing varsity ball at the Upstate Eight Conference schools should appreciate the opportunity.
"It's great that they're playing varsity as freshman," Maestranzi said. "They got lucky to be in that situation because their school needed them at that point. It's great to make it on the team, but it's better to make a team where you can contribute, develop your skill and help you get to the next level."
Jake Maestranzi earned the starting job as South Elgin's point guard after three-year starter Alex Sanchez graduated. Storm coach Chaz Taft touched on two reasons why the freshman belongs in the varsity starting lineup.
"No. 1, he takes coaching," Taft said. "He doesn't get down when he makes mistakes. He just kind of looks at you and takes advice on what he needs to do to improve. Whether it's me telling him where to go or what to do, from Day 1 it's been him accepting coaching.
"The second thing is his basketball IQ. He is very smart as a point guard. He's that old-school type of point guard, too. He's looking to get everybody else involved first and then he'll look for his. I think that's what the team we have right now needed."
The young players, always competitive, enjoy the opportunity to test their skills against the big boys.
"It's a great experience playing with all the older guys," said Only, who played AAU ball with the Chicago Hoopers and credited his dad for training him. "It's different coming right out of middle school. The guys told me straight from the get-go that the game is faster, the guys are stronger. You just have to slow the game down, do what you can, let the game come to you and not force it."
As John Maestranzi points out, talent runs in cycles. However, as players continue to grow up within AAU basketball programs that offer better training with each passing year, the interim between such cycles could be diminishing. We may not be far from the day when it's common to see six, seven or more freshman contributors spread between our 15 area schools every winter.
Until that day arrives, let's keep March 2013 in the backs of our minds. That's when the members of this freshman class will battle each other for regional and sectional supremacy. Until then, it's going to be fun to watch this uncommonly talented young group develop.
Hopefully, none of them get lost looking for that elevator.
jfitzpatrick@dailyherald.com