Boys basketball: Scouting St. Viator
St. Viator
Last year: 21-9, 5-3 in ESCC, regional champion, sectional runner-up
Coach: Mike Howland (3rd year, 46-13)
Top players returning: All area guards senior Ore Arogundade (18.9 ppg, 7.1 reb., 2.8 asst., 2 steals) and junior Mark Falotico (10.1 ppg, 3.7 assts.), seniors Robert Grant, Matt O’Neill, Miguel Aguilar, Tom Martin and Xavier Sanchez, and juniors Patrick McNamara and Sal Canella.
Outlook: St. Viator hopes to take the next step on the tournament trail after last season ended in a sectional final loss to eventual state runner-up Stevenson. “Stevenson was fantastic team, and we know what they’ve got coming back,” St. Viator coach Mike Howland said. “It’s more than likely we’ll be in the same sectional, so they’re in our path. Now we want to take next step. We don’t lose sight of how much work we have in front of us. We’re 0-0 and haven’t won anything. (The kids) got a taste of it. They felt like they got close to where we want to go. The kids are confident, yet they work their tails off. It’s a fun group to coach.” The big off-season news at St. Viator was the addition of all area junior guard Roosevelt Smart, who averaged 18.3 points and 5.4 rebounds per game at Palatine. Very few teams in the ESCC or any conference can boast a trio of all area guards like Arogundade, Falotico and Smart, whose combined scoring average of more than 47 points per game exceeds some team totals. “Roosevelt has been great,” Howland said. “They got to know each other in the fall. We had lot of open gyms where team has come together. He gets along with all the guys, and it’s been a pretty seamless transition.” Arogundade, a Drake signee, is part of St. Viator’s 4-guard offense, with Falotico, Smart and G Patrick McNamara and C Sal Canella. “I know Ore wants to go out on top in his last year,” Howland said. “He understands the sacrifice and hard work that is necessary if we want to win the ESCC and go downstate in March. We’ll be playing four guards 90 percent of the time and one big. We want to see people match up with us. We want to play at a very fast pace, and we believe we have personnel to be successful that way,” Howland said. “That’s the way we played the last two years. We like to get up and down and make it a high possession game.” Howland hopes mismatches will work in his favor. “We hope our versatility can dictate what we do on the defensive end. If we’re mismatched on defense, (our opponents) will be mismatched at their end.” Even with 4 guards on the floor most of the time, sharing the ball won’t be a problem. “Technically, Falotico is the No. 1 point guard, but with the guys we’ve got, we’ll let anybody handle it. If you get a rebound, it’s yours, and we’ll be off to the races.” St. Viator has beefed up its nonconference schedule this year, adding Proviso East, Hinsdale Central, Glenbrook North, Loyola and Mt. Carmel to the always difficult ESCC. That’s in addition to MSL opponents Hersey Conant and Prospect. “I want to play the toughest schedule we can play,” Howland said. “We want to win the ESCC, and everything else is getting ready for tournament time. The more tough games, the better prepared we’ll be for March.” The conference, with just a single game against each opponent, will be a high-stakes game each time the team takes the floor. “It’s a battle,” Howland said. “It will come down to who can win games at home and win the tight ones on road.” Howland mentioned Marian with Kentucky signee 5-9 PG Tyler Ulis and Benet with Xavier signee 6-9 C Sean O’Mara as teams to contend with in the ESCC.