ACC's Kelley lands at UIC

Anthony Kelley took an almost unheard of path to Division I basketball, never playing AAU basketball in the summers and spending his off-season from high school basketball going to state in track and playing pickup games with friends.

Nonetheless, Kelley is going to be able to continue his basketball career at the Division I level after he signed a National Letter of Intent Thursday and accepted a full scholarship at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Kelley chose the Flames over North Dakota State.

"It felt like the right fit." Kelley said. "The combination of the school, being where they are, closer than North Dakota State. It all fell place. As soon as they (UIC) showed interest, I thought, 'That was pretty sweet, that is a pretty big time school."

The 6-foot-6 Kelley said he hopes to make an impact with his scoring off the bench at shooting guard or small forward for coach Jimmy Collins' Flames, who went 16-15 last year in Collins' 13th year at the school.

"I don't regret not playing AAU," Kelley said. "I think if I would have I would have got a lot more exposure. Who knows what would have happened then. I'll take this way any day. I got to do tack, I think that was big part with my athletic ability, being able to jump, the quickness, track helped make me the player I am now. But nowadays you don't see many Division I players who don't play AAU."

Kelley's high school coach Nate Drye moved Kelley up to varsity as a freshman at ACC, and the skinny small forward spent much of his first two years struggling to hold his own against older, stronger competition.

But Kelley kept working at it and that once-skinny freshman turned into a dynamic, high-flying forward on the Chargers' 23-4 Suburban Catholic Conference championship team this year.

"He just liked UIC better and was really impressed with coach (Jimmy) Collins," said Drye, who first sent Collins a tape in the middle of January.

"I think it's a great choice for Anthony," Drye said. "He will get to continue playing basketball at the highest level and get an outstanding education for free. I am very happy that I will get to be able to watch him play in the future. He has meant so much to the Charger program over the last 4 years. I always thought he had the potential to play D-1 basketball and its great to see that dream come to fruition."

Kelley was a 4-year starter at Aurora Central where he helped lead the program to unprecedented heights. The Chargers went 49-9 the last 2 years and won consecutive Suburban Catholic Conference championships - their first two in school history - as well as winning a regional championship during the 2007-08 season.

This past season Kelley averaged 20 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block per game. He was also named MVP of the Sandwich Thanksgiving Tournament, the Waubonsie Valley Christmas Tournament made the Suburban Catholic all-conference team and was a member of the Daily Herald All-Area team.

Kelley was the classic late bloomer when it came to recruiting. He started the year with just a few Division III schools interested. By the middle of the season plenty of Division II schools had offered, and Kelley started sending his tapes out to Division I schools that began sniffing around, like Northern Iowa. Kelley wasn't sure if we would get a scholarship offer from a Division I school but wound up with one from UIC.

"My times at ACC were unbelievable," Kelley said. "When I look back to where I was it's hard to believe. A lot of people told me, "that player didn't go D-I, you won't be able to.' To have the last two years I've had and to sign with UIC I really couldn't think of any other way to end it. To have coach (Drye) and my family be able to come see me, it's a huge thing. Keeping the same support system out of high school to get me where I am today, to have them come watch me at UIC and have the same relationships means a lot."

Opposing high school coaches also took notice of Kelley's play this year.

"The kid is an outstanding player," said Aurora Christian coach Marc Davidson, another player from an Aurora private school who earned a Division I scholarship (to Illinois in 1990).

"He's a pretty good player for our conference and I think he's going to be a good player when he goes to the next level because he's so long," said Marian coach Curtis Price, a former DePaul player.