Sinclair settles on St. Bonaventure
When it came to choosing a college to play basketball, Bartlett senior Lexie Sinclair said it was all about the coach.
In St. Bonaventure's Jesse Fleming, Sinclair found a coach who will push her the way she prefers.
"They came in late in the recruiting process but their coaching staff showed how much they wanted me and their head coach is a hard coach so I think that benefits me too," Sinclair said. "The main reason I picked that school was the coaching staff. They made a really big effort to communicate with me. I would prefer coaches be brutally honest with me. That's how I've kind of grown up playing in AAU and benefits me the most I've realized."
Sinclair, a three-time Daily Herald All-Area selection and the Fox Valley All-Area Team Captain as a sophomore, is a hard-nosed point guard who will attack constantly and also can hit the 3-point shot. She plays AAU for M14.
It was after Sinclair's sophomore season, when the Hawks knocked out two-time defending state champion Geneva and reached a Class 4A sectional final, that Bartlett lost its coach Brad Hunt to a heart attack.
"Something so sudden happens, it was like wow," Sinclair said. "That was probably the turning point after that happened where I was so determined (to play Division I basketball). Hunt was such a mentor to me and always wanted to make me better."
Sinclair averaged 19 points, 6.9 assists and 5 rebounds for the Upstate Eight Conference champions this past year, scoring 32 points in a regional championship loss to eventual state qualifier Lake Park.
She picked St. Bonaventure over Utah State and Denver, making her decision Tuesday night. Planning to major in business, Sinclair and her mom will visit the campus for the first time Labor Day weekend.
St. Bonaventure returns a senior point guard who Sinclair plans to learn from while being groomed to be the Bonnies' lead guard in the future.
"Having all the coaching changes (at Bartlett) made me form into a different type of player and I need to be a leader even though it absolutely stunk," said Sinclair, who will have had four coaches in four years. "I've been playing basketball for three years with that weight (of college) on my shoulders and to have it off, I just hope I have a high school season because I know I'll play so freely."