New at West Aurora: Kerkman Court

For the first time since 1976 there is a different head coach on West Aurora's bench this year. But while Gordie Kerkman has retired after 39 years, his name is always going to be center stage in the program.

West Aurora's school board named its court after the Hall of Fame coach at a board meeting Monday night.

"It was a great honor but in a way a little embarrassing because so many other people are also responsible," Kerkman said. "I told the board and I thanked them and it is quite an honor but on the other hand it is a little embarrassing, too, because there are so many other people that contributed to the success we had in those 39 years."

Kerkman went to the Blackhawks' home opener last Saturday against York but has mostly kept a low profile while Brian Johnson takes over as head coach.

"I have had aspirations of going watching the kids in open gym and I know Brian wouldn't mind but I pretty much stayed away," Kerkman said. "I don't want to interfere. I'll probably go to most of the home games and maybe some on the road."

Kerkman, who was also named the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association 2016 Rolinski/O'Connor Award recipient on Monday, started coaching at West Aurora in 1962 and spent 14 years as sophomore, JV and a varsity assistant coach.

He became the varsity head coach in 1976 and coached until 2015, going 805-313, the fifth-most wins in IHSA history.

Kerkman's teams won 17 conference championships, 24 regional titles and 13 sectionals. They finished in the top five at state 4 times and won the 2000 state title.

Kerkman thanked his mentors Clayton Rabadeaux and John McDougal, who Kerkman replaced and called "an outstanding coach and individual."

"Our administration has been very supportive of our program and the overall athletic program," Kerkman said. "We've had tremendous fan support at home and a number that follow us on the road. We played road games and sometimes had more fans than the home team. And also the coaching staff, I had a tremendous group working with me. They are a big factor. And our players. We very seldom didn't have talent. Over those 39 years we've had an outstanding bunch of basketball players. It's been my pleasure and pretty entertaining coaching those kids."

Negron off to impressive start: Dynamic Larkin forward Christian Negron's play through 7 games has only further cemented his reputation as one the top prospects statewide in the Class of 2017.

Projected as an athletic four at the next level, the versatility demonstrated thus far by the 6-foot-6 junior exemplifies why he holds offers from Illinois, Iowa, DePaul and Virginia Tech and has interest from Wisconsin, Indiana, Butler, St. Louis University and Creighton.

Negron showed off his two-way skills in a win against East St. Louis last Saturday at the Chicago Elite Classic national showcase at UIC. He not only tied senior guard AJ Hunter for the team high with 20 points, he grabbed 14 rebounds, made 5 steals and blocked 5 shots.

"He's a big defensive piece for us," said Larkin senior guard Keyvon Kyles. "He blocks shots and he's a rebounder."

Through Tuesday's 74-52 win against Streamwood, Negron was averaging 16.2 points and 12.8 rebounds per game for Larkin (5-2, 2-0 Upstate Eight River). As a sophomore he averaged 12.8 points and 11.4 rebounds.

In two-plus varsity seasons Negron has scored 748 points and hauled in 625 rebounds. As importantly, he has developed into an intense but even-tempered leader, an intelligent player respected by his older and younger teammates alike.

"There are some days he impresses me so much," Hunter said. "I look up to him, as weird as that sounds with me being a senior and him a junior. He's just an amazing player, man. The stuff he does at practice always correlates to the game. It's just amazing to play with Christian. He's the best player on and off the court. He's just a great person, too. It's an honor to play with him."

Negron, who made his most recent college visit to Indiana six weeks ago, said Saturday he isn't close to finalizing his decision, though he hinted strongly he'd like to hear more from a school he visited previously.

"I went on a visit to Wisconsin a year ago. I thought it was a really cool place," he said. "The Kohl Center was really nice so I'm hoping they offer sometime soon. I know (Wisconsin associate head coach Greg) Gard has been out to watch me a couple of times, so we'll see how it goes."

New MLK weekend event: Burlington Central's inaugural Martin Luther King Tournament field has a distinct Fox Valley flavor.

The six-team tournament includes the host Rockets, South Elgin and Elgin in addition to Maine West, McHenry and Marengo.

Key games on Saturday, Jan. 16 include McHenry vs. Central at 9 a.m., South Elgin vs. Elgin at noon, South Elgin vs. Marengo at 3 p.m. and Central vs. Elgin at 4:30 p.m.

Games of Monday, Jan. 18 include Maine West vs. Central at 9 a.m., Elgin vs. Marengo at 10:30 a.m., South Elgin vs. Maine West at 1:30 p.m. and Central vs. South Elgin at 4:30 p.m.

"I think it's a really competitive field for out first time hosting," Central coach Brett Porto said in the preseason. "I think it'll be a good test for every team involved."

Chasing 1,000: Several area players have a chance to get to 1,000 points this season.

The closest to the milestone is Elgin Academy senior Dee Robinson, who scored 382 points as a sophomore and 405 as a junior. He has 90 points this season for a career total of 877.

Aurora Christian senior RD Lutze is the next closest. After scoring 16 and 19 points last weekend in wins over St. Edward and Aurora Central Catholic, Lutze has 775 points in his three years playing varsity basketball for the Eagles.

Westminster Christian senior Dillon Rejman totes 781 career points into Saturday's home game against Aurora Christian. The 6-foot-1 guard has scored 81 points in 6 games (13.5 avg.) for the 5-1 Warriors.

Larkin junior Christian Negron is likely to eclipse 1,000 points later this season. Averaging 16.2 points per game in his third varsity season, the 6-foot-6 forward is on pace to reach the mark sometime in early February. Negron enters Friday's game at Geneva with 748 career points and 630 career rebounds.

Batavia's Canaan Coffey also is in his third year playing varsity basketball. His 21 points leading the Bulldogs past St. Charles North in their Upstate Eight Conference River Division opener last Friday brought his career total to 680. He added 17 more Tuesday against Elgin, improving the Bulldogs to 4-2 overall and 2-0 in the Upstate Eight River.

Jacobs 6-foot-9 center Cameron Krutwig takes his 626 career points into Monday's nonconference game at Barrington. The junior is averaging 19.2 points for Jacobs (6-1).

Brett Czerak is only a junior at Aurora Central Catholic but also could reach the mark this year after scoring 151 points as a freshman and 492 as a sophomore.

The active area career scoring leader is South Elgin's Matt Smith. The senior guard committed to Central Michigan enters Friday's home game against Glenbard East with 1,173 points. He has scored 73 points this season for the Storm (4-3).

Good omen: It took one possession in Aurora Christian's season for coach Pat McNamara to know the Eagles are going to be good.

On their first trip down the court, Jake Wolfe had an open 3 on the wing. Instead of taking it, he passed into the corner to an even more open RD Lutze.

Lutze can hit 3s with the best of them, but when Wolfe's defender came sprinting at him, Lutze passed right back to Wolfe who took the shot.

"I said right to my assistant that if your two best players, if those guys are passing the ball, that's great to see," McNamara said.

The Eagles finished their 5th annual Burney Wilkie Tournament at 3-1. Aurora Central had the opposite record at 1-3 yet coach Nate Drye sees plenty to build on.

"I thought we improved throughout the week and at the end of the day nobody really cares who wins this tournament," Drye said. "We care about what we look like in March."

Welcome back: Brett Bowman's return to the lineup came just in time for Batavia.

Out for the first four games with a sprained MCL suffered in the football team's playoff loss to Cary-Grove, Bowman came off the bench for 15 points and hit 7-of-8 free throws in a win over St. Charles North last Friday.

"Bowman gave us a nice spark," Batavia coach Jim Nazos added. "I didn't know what we were going to get from him but I'm glad with what we got."

Only Canaan Coffey scored more. Nazos has been just as impressed with Coffey's work on the other end guarding the opponent's best scorer.

"He's our best one-on-one defensive player," Nazos said. "He's not just a scorer, he's not just a shooter. He is the first one to want to guard the other team's best player. He relishes that."

Not your normal foe: Geneva has an unusual opponent on the schedule Saturday night when the Vikings welcome a private high school squad all the way from Brisbane, Australia.

​The game came about when coach Phil Ralston was having trouble filling out the schedule. Benet and Naperville Central scheduled games against similar teams from Australia last year.

"We were desperately looking for a nonconference game," Ralston said. "It seemed it was taking forever to find opponents to play. Someone called us from an Australia basketball program that brings teams from over there here. We said, 'We need a game, bring them over.'"

In addition to the unique opponent, Geneva's players will have an opportunity to learn a little about a new culture. There will be a pizza party after the game, and several of the Vikings families will host an Australian player Saturday night.

"It's kind of a goodwill gesture," Ralston said. "It's a goodwill exchange and a chance to meet some people from a different country."

Condolences: Thoughts go out to the family of former Hampshire coach and athletic director Jim Root, who passed away Dec. 7 at the age of 76 and after a long battle with cancer. Root, who was inducted into the IBCA Hall of Fame in 1980, had several Little Eight and Big Eight conference champions as well as at least five district tournament titles and several 20-plus win teams in the mid-1960s through the early 1970s but never made it past the regional level in the old one-class system. He retired from Hampshire in 1998.

John Radtke contributed to this report