Coaches hand out midseason grades
Moving from the holiday tournaments into the second half of the season is a fine time for midterm assessments of Tri-Cities boys basketball teams.
Following are capsule reviews based on coaches' comments, including a grade assigned by each coach.
Aurora Central: Returning still-young players who suffered through last year's 3-24 campaign it was hard for the Chargers not to improve. ACC matched last year's wins total by Dec. 9 then lost five straight games mainly against 4A competition before winning handily to enter 2015 at 4-7.
The final margins against Neuqua Valley, Geneva and Urban Prep at East Aurora were substantial but the Chargers were in those games early. This is part of coach Nathan Drye's annual plan: play quality regular-season competition to prepare for the playoffs.
Offensively he likes ACC's typical array of 3-point shooters and scorers - point guard Mac Cowen, off-guard Brett Czerak, forward types Nick Faltz and Evan Schuetz and the closest thing to a post player, Mario May, who grabs 10 rebounds a game but prefers the outside shot. Freshman Will Courter, 6-3, will get more minutes after grabbing Drye's attention at East Aurora.
Alternately the Chargers average 15 turnovers and allow 70 points a game. Particularly that second number is high, though 85-plus games by Neuqua, Geneva and Riverside-Brookfield - a combined 37-4 - skew that figure.
"We're doing OK, we're improving, we're getting better and I think we'll continue to get better," said Drye, who won his 150th game on Dec. 5.
Grade: C.
Aurora Christian: Aurora Christian coach Pat McNamara sees the same thing with the Eagles, which started 8-1 then dropped its last two games in a fourth-place showing at the Plano Holiday Tournament to match its seed. McNamara likes the offense and seeks improved defense. (Realistically, which basketball coach doesn't seek improved team defense?)
McNamara points to shooting percentages of 53 on 2-pointers and 37 from 3-point land as indications of unselfish offensive play.
Illustrating that, his son, also named Pat, was chosen for Plano's all-tournament team. The junior guard is the Eagles' fifth-leading scorer on the season but finished second at Plano in assists and steals while averaging 10.3 points.
Aurora Christian currently is getting double-figure scoring by three players, which is uncommon - forward R.D. Lutze, center Zack Singer and guard Wes Wolfe. As the senior McNamara had hoped, undersized senior forward Juwan Sisco has continued where he left off in the 2014 playoffs, coming off the bench to average 8.7 points, 4.7 rebounds. The 6-2 Sisco leads the Eagles in offensive rebounds and has more of those than defensive boards, 27-25.
On the other hand ...
"What the stats don't show you is the below-average rebounding and defense by everyone but our four guards," the coach said.
Grade: B
Batavia: The mantra of Bulldogs coach Jim Nazos is consistency.
Batavia started 4-0 to win its own Windmill Classic then won two of its next six games. Batavia won three of its first four at York to reach the consolation title game, falling in double-overtime to Conant. On Saturday Batavia lost at Quincy to stand at 9-7.
A little like St. Charles East, Batavia has a lot of different pieces from big man Chasen Peez to outside shooter Canaan Coffey (all-tourney at York after setting the tournament 3s record with 22), scrappy Carter Eberhardt and Danny Pieczynski to pleasant-surprise inside battler John Fitch.
Junior point guard Kamontez Thomas - "a one-man press-breaker," Nazos said - has quickness Batavia hasn't seen in a number of seasons. Oft-injured returning point guard Tyler Lovestrand's return at Quincy deepens the backcourt.
The motion offense has improved its shot recognition and has reduced turnovers but still suffers lulls; a solid man-to-man defense falters occasionally - these are the things Nazos hopes can gain consistency while also playing in the Upstate Eight Conference River Division, among the top leagues around.
"I think we're in a situation where we're not going to change things," said Nazos, who won the 200th game of his career in the season opener. "We just need to be better at what we're doing."
Grade: B.
Geneva: Despite lacking forwards Loudon Vollbrecht, Mike Landi, Chandler Fuzak and, critically, prospective point guard Pace Temple anywhere from a game to the entire first half, the 10-2 Vikings lost only to Neuqua Valley and St. Charles East, a combined 27-2. Geneva was 12-3 at this point last season, heading toward its first regional title since 1986.
Geneva's strengths and weaknesses have been obvious. Their overall height and offensive execution has yielded 53 percent shooting from the floor - 6-foot-7 swingman Nate Navigato is at 67 percent on 2-pointers - while holding opponents to 35 percent.
On the other hand Geneva has turned the ball over 43 more times than its opponents. The 6-foot-2 Temple, who tore a medial collateral ligament in the Vikings' semifinal football loss and declined surgery, is seen as the remedy. He practiced for the first time Jan. 3 and though his conditioning will need to come around he may return this weekend against Elgin and Larkin.
The 295-pound Vollbrecht is an all-conference post and the Buffalo-bound Navigato - averaging 23 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals - has "just been carrying us," said Vikings coach Phil Ralson. Temple's absence has strengthened backcourt depth.
Ralston is still figuring out the right combinations of personnel. January, he said, will be an important month.
"I just think that there's a lot of growth ahead of us," Ralston said. "I just don't want to be that student that's cramming at the end of the season."
Grade: B
Kaneland: Having graduated its top two scorers and rebounders in Tyler Carlson and John Pruett plus four-year point guard Drew David, then suffering a falloff with Ben Barnes focusing on track and field, the Knights struggled early. They've since rebounded.
Kaneland entered Plano's holiday seeded 14th out of 24 teams but went 3-2 there including a 63-61 win over Northern Illinois Big XII East foe Yorkville to finish ninth overall.
The Knights, who lost to St. Charles East Jan. 3 at the United Center, stand at 5-8.
Coach Brian Johnson said this team still has trouble with turnovers and sticking to defensive principles. For an inexperienced group this will take time to develop.
Johnson noted his "trust" with guard Mitch Groen (pronounced Green) in passing, rebounding and on both ends of the floor, and said once forward Ryan David realized his role his scoring took off. Combining points, rebounds and assists, David was rated the fourth most-effective player at the Plano tournament.
Every Knight, Johnson said, is working hard.
"I think if we limit our turnovers that'd help us out a ton," Johnson said.
Grade: C.
Marmion: The Cadets have been at or slightly above .500 virtually all season. They entered the DeKalb tournament 4-3 and came out of it 6-5 with a sixth-place finish, then beat Glenbard South 47-44 on Matt Fletcher's 3-point shot with time expiring.
A kick out pass by Jake Esp set up Fletcher's game-winner. Assists and rebounds are among the things Cadets coach Joe Currie cited as the "extra stuff" he'd asked Esp for while the senior maintained his role as Marmion's chief scorer, including a career-high 39 points against Eisenhower at DeKalb.
The coach praised numerous players for their contributions including junior Jon Young's "phenomenal" work at point guard, terminally rugged Jordan Glasgow, Josh Ruddy off the bench and hardworking Luke Juriga and rebounds leader Fletcher.
Currie believed his players are still figuring out chemistry and roles, which has resulted in periodic "sluggish" offense. He thinks an early schedule that included Niles North, Naperville North and Glenbrook North will pay off down the stretch.
"All 14 of our guys, they all get after it every day at practice. I couldn't ask for anything better," Currie said.
Grade: B.
St. Charles East: The Saints lost their third game to a star-filled St. Joseph team and have since reeled off 11 straight wins, emphatically claiming DeKalb's Chuck Dayton Tournament by averaging 90 points. Tuesday's win at Glenbard West has St. Charles East at 13-1.
When a coach cites offensive spacing among a team's greatest weaknesses, weaknesses are few. Seriously, Saints coach Patrick Woods named offensive execution, on-the-ball defense and overall rebounding as the team's faults, the latter not surprising when 6-8 Jack Bronec and leading rebounder Mick Vyzral are the sole Saints 6-5 and up.
St. Charles East's strengths are as numerous as the players Woods can use with confidence, an easy 10-deep. Capable of immediately blowing teams out of the water with 3-point shooting and able to trap effectively on defense, the Saints' energy can sap opponents.
Point guard Cole Gentry is at the epicenter. The hyper-quick senior does exactly what his team needs at any given time, whether taking time off the clock, hitting foul shots in crunchtime, getting the steal, scoring or setting up abundant options - Vyzral, Jake Asquini, James McQuillan, center Bronec. The latter's all-tourney nod at DeKalb may lead to a strong second half for a squad otherwise perimeter-based.
"I think there's a lot of praises that we can sing for the first half," Woods said. "But we've got to tighten the screws a little bit in the second half. The mistakes we're making have to be minimized if we want to win a championship like we talked about."
Grade: B+
St. Charles North: North Stars coach Tom Poulin really couldn't state negative aspects, but said if his players had known they'd take an 8-6 record into January (9-6 after beating Kaneland) "they wouldn't have been happy with it."
The start includes a fourth-place finish at the premier Pontiac Holiday Tournament and a solid 4-1 mark in the Upstate Eight Conference River Division, though the North Stars haven't seen Geneva and visit Batavia on Friday.
The coach appreciated his hungry team's commitment to defense, unselfish offense and rebounding, which has St. Charles North averaging 25.7 boards a game.
Poulin knew what he had in players like versatile forward Jack Callaghan, Pontiac First Team guard Jake Ludwig, and returners Mike Schroeder and Brendan McCarthy. He was pleasantly surprised to see sophomore Griffin Hammer earn a starting spot, and Armon Osborne emerge as a shooter teams have to prepare for.
St. Charles North is 0-2 against St. Charles East, one loss in conference, but the North Stars remain in the thick of the conference race as Poulin predicted at the outset.
"We're still in the middle of a process," he said. "What I really am proud of and what I like is you see improvement from day to day and that's huge."
Grade: B-
West Aurora: We weren't able to reach Gordie Kerkman - eight victories away from 800 in his 39-year head coaching career - so we'll go this alone.
The Blackhawks got out of the usually stringent Rock Island Thanksgiving Tournament 2-2, average to slightly under par. West Aurora, which took road losses at Bartlett and Neuqua Valley, went 3-1 at Pontiac, claiming third place after a semifinal loss to Simeon, certainly no shame.
West Aurora enters Thursday's game at Waubonsie Valley with a record of 9-5, 3-2 in the Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division, its first UEC schedule since 1996-97.
The Blackhawks average nearly 66 points a game but don't benefit when foes get up that high; they're 0-3 in games allowing at least 60 points. On average they hold foes to 49 points, just below the magic-number 50. The two-game absence of Illinois State-bound forward Roland Griffin for unspecified reasons certainly factored into an 86-83 loss to Bartlett.
Along with Griffin's 16-point, 7-rebound averages, West Aurora is getting the solid play expected from veterans Tommy Koth and Matt Dunn, the latter enjoying a 2-1 assist-turnover ratio at point guard. They're not surprises since they've been around, but senior guards Reggie Jordan and Marquis Howard have bolstered the lineup; Howard has made 33 3-pointers on hot 43 percent shooting from the arc. Camron Donatlan looks promising as a freshman guard.
A Pontiac Tournament win over St. Charles North was a positive sign for a team that has yet to click.
Grade: B.