Waiting to explode

His reputation on the summer circuit usually succeeds him.

His stature blends in with the average onlooker. He won’t draw any attention to himself with jaw-dropping displays of athleticism during pre-game layup lines like many of his teammates and competitors.

As quick as most of the opposition dismisses him based on his appearance prior to the tip, Lowell (IN) 6-foot-2 skinny, baby-faced and lights out combo guard Austin Richie is even quicker in making them reassess their initial judgment.

“Obviously I always like being the underdog, but I know I can play with any of these guys,” Richie said. “I just go out like ‘this is what I’ve trained and worked for’ and just do my thing for the most part. But when they underestimate me, and I go out and do that it’s fun.”

During the high school season, the opposition knows what a handful Richie can be.

As a junior he averaged 28.8 points per game, good enough to rank him second among all players in the state of Indiana, and got his buckets from everywhere on the court. He also led the state in free-throw shooting percentage as a sophomore with a scorching 95-percent clip. With the rare combination of a silky smooth and quick release, Richie has proven to be a deadly three-point shooter off the catch or off the dribble.  If the defense runs him off the arc, he’s got a nice mid-range pull up or a variety of floaters up his sleeve.

“He’s definitely a scorer,” Lowell coach Mike Magley said. “He can score off the pass, off the dribble, coming off screens – there’s a lot of ways he can score.”

The easiest look for him is sometimes the hardest.

“I feel more consistent with the ball in my hands and shooting off the dribble, because that’s what I’ve been required to do on my high school team,” Richie said. “I’m going to be honest, the toughest shot for me to hit is a spot shot.”

“I just don’t get to shoot that shot a lot. Defense doesn’t give me too much breathing room, but also sometimes I let it affect the mental aspect of it. Obviously I’m still a better than average spot shooter though,” he added.

Despite lacking a devastating crossover dribble to create some space, or elite level quickness, his natural instincts with the ball and good court vision allow him to be a steady distributor. However, every so often he’ll snap a no-look or behind the back pass off or leave his defender lunging for nothing with a quick spin move off the bounce.

Normally, all the aforementioned numbers and skills are paired with high school student-athletes already committed to a college after considering several other scholarship offers. Through June, Valparaiso and IUPUI are his only offers.

With the critical July evaluation period open to NCAA coaches just about to start, it’s likely he will be surprising more than his opposition who may be judging a book by it’s cover and garner plenty more offers.

“I’m trying more and more not to get stressed out about stuff like that,” said Richie, who also has Missouri State, Richmond, LaFayette, Portland and Northern Iowa interested. “It can get pretty stressful with a recruit like me who isn’t ‘the high major’ or getting a lot of hype. I’m just always striving to do my best. At the end of the day there’s more to life than basketball, all you can worry about is yourself and going out and doing your best.”

Richie’s junior season earned him All-conference and honorable mention all state honors and included a 50-point explosion against Hammond, and a 41 point performance in a win against Kankakee Valley in which he broke his hand before half-time (he scored 25 after the break). However his personal accomplishments were clouded by an early exit in the post season with a first round loss to Munster.

“We lost two games early, but then we got on the right track,” he explained. “When our football players go into the flow of everything, we won a few gaems in a row. We were just getting into a good rhythm, then I broke my hand midway through the season with some of our biggest games against Munster and Merrillville coming up, and they just smacked us. “

“Then I made it back for the last five games including the Sectional. We finished off pretty strong, but we still had Munster first round and lost.”

Besides an improvement in the win-loss column, Richie anticipates a spike in his all-around game – much like the one he saw between two years ago and this past season.

“Personally, I think it’s night and day from my sophomore season to junior season,” Richie said. “Obviously a lot of defense is effort, but I’ve been building some strength, speed and agility. I’ve been working out with my trainer for about a year and half now, and he’s got me doing some good stuff. So, I think next year it will be the same thing with more improvement.”

His tireless training and relentlessness on the court are two traits that have been a fixture in his young career, which shouldn’t come as much of a surprise based on who he’s grown up around.

“I’m extremely competitive in everything I do, it’s not even funny,” he said with a laugh. “I’ve been like that since I was younger, especially growing up with my two older brothers. They kicked my butt.”

Older brothers Nate and Aaron played collegiately at Drake and IPFW, respectively. Following them off the court, and on, has had an immense impact on Austin.

“They’ve helped me build strong character and set really good examples for me as a human being,” Richie said. “But a lot of that is learned through basketball, especially strong character and stuff like that. I would not be where I am today without my brothers or my dad helping me out.”

As he prepares for the critical July evaluation period on the club circuit with northwest Indiana based CAPS All-Stars, coached by his brother Nate, that includes at least four different tournaments attended by every big time program in the country – Austin Richie is determined to let his play do his talking.

“When I was younger I sat down and made a list of goals for myself, and I set ten of them,” Richie said. “I put them in my dresser and I’ll look at them from time to time. Things like being an Indiana all-star, winning a state championship, play division-one basketball, and things of that sort are things I always thought were obtainable and still obtainable. So from an early age those are what I’ve strived for and am still striving for.”

By the time Richie concludes his final summer showcasing his ability on the court all over the country in front of potential future college coaches, and his final season playing high school hoops in the Hoosier state, it’s a safe bet he will be able to cross a few more things off the checklist in his dresser.

“I think he’s very capable of being a D1 player,” Magley said. “He’s got the work ethic, the grades, and the ability. I think he’s going to be a fine catch for somebody.”

UPDATE: Since being published, Richie picked up scholarship offers from Bucknell, Lafayette, Hartford, Appalachian State, and Portland after a strong showing in his first tournament of July in Indianapolis.

He followed that up with another great performance in Highland, IN over a three-day stretch, with plenty of college coaches looking on. His 35 points, and 30-foot tiebreaking and game winning three-pointer at the buzzer in the championship game against Baylor probably left a last impression on whatever coaches and fellow competitors were still around to see him go to work.

Dennis Gates, Whitney Young, Class of 1998

Dennis Gates was a key part of the 1998 Class AA state champion Whitney Young Dolphins.  Prior to that championship, Whitney Young was never one of the first teams mentioned when going down the list of great teams in Chicago.  Since then, they’ve been a powerhouse in the CPS.  After graduating from Young, Gates played his collegiate ball in the Pac-10 at Cal.  He has since gotten into coaching.  His first job was at Northern Illinois, and now he is on Nevada’s staff as an assistant.  End to End caught up with Dennis to talk about his IHSA days and what his been up to since.

Talk about being part of the Whitney Young state championship team

First, you got to look at the friendships we had off the court.  Me, Quentin Richardson, Cordell Henry; we all knew each other since seventh grade.  When it came down to it, we all said we wanted to go to the same high school.  It was a dream of all of ours growing up to win a state championship, and we did it.

Explain what your experience was like playing at Cal

It allowed me to grow a lot more than it would have had I stayed around my parents and support system.  I basically had to learn on my own being thousands of miles away from Chicago at Cal.  It was an unbelievable situation.  Ben Braun and Charles Ramsey recruited me, but I also had a teammate from Chicago – Sean Lampley.  I saw his success, and he encouraged me to look at Cal.  It’s a great academic institution, and great basketball so it was the best of both worlds.

What has the adjustment been like from being a player to a coach?

For me as a player, I was always a leader on the team.  Everybody knew growing up, except for me, that I’d be a coach.  From Quentin, to my high school coach George Stanton, and Cyrus McGinnis, they all used to tell me I’d be a coach when I was 13.  My hat’s off to those guys for seeing those qualities in me.  Now as I take that side of the fence of coaching, I still have player and coach’s mentality.

Do you think your Young team was better than the Simeon’s state championship teams?

What you got to look at is this, and I’ll explain this to anybody, is the teams we had to go through.  Now you have four classes, and we only had two.  There was only one team allowed to come out of the city, and that was us.  We went through Farragut, Simeon, Julian, Westinghouse, and Marshall.  To be city champions was an honor.  Downstate we beat Sean Harrington (Illinois) and Elgin, The Douglas boys at Quincy, and Rod Thompson (Iowa) and Joey Range (Iowa) from Galesburg in the finals.

Justin Cerasoli’s Road Less Traveled

After playing his first season of AAU with Ft. Sooy No Limit, during the summer of 2003, Justin Cerasoli cemented his status as a top 100 player in the country.  Thanks to his strong performance on the AAU circuit alongside backcourt mate Shaun Livingtson, Cerasoli secured an invite to the prestigious ABCD All American camp.  His peers at the camp such as Dwight Howard, Sebastian Telfair, Josh Smith, and a slew of other highly rated players were shoe-ins to the camp’s all-star game because of their names, not their performance during the camp.  Cerasoli separated himself from the other hundred camp participants to earn a final spot in the camp’s all-star game thanks to his strong play.  With that, came a bunch of scholarship offers from big-time programs from all over the country.

What seems like a typical story of any top 100 recruit is anything but for Justin Cerasoli.  Cerasoli, a 6’5’’ point guard who possesses great handle and excellent court vision, started his high school career at Providence St. Mel in Chicago.  He started attending the small private school as a sixth grader.  At that point, St. Mel had one of the better basketball teams in the city under head coach Billy Garrett.  By the time Cerasoli started high school, Garrett had gone onto the college ranks at Seton Hall.

After his sophomore year at St. Mel, Justin transferred to West Aurora to go to school with a lot of kids he grew up with.  As a senior, Cerasoli helped lead his team to an appearance in the 2004

Class AA elite eight in Peoria.  Current New Orleans Hornet Julian Wright, and his Homewood Flossmoor Vikings, would defeat West Aurora in the semi-finals.  After a third place finish downstate, Cerasol chose to play collegiately for Garrett at Seton Hall over several other offers from prestigious programs.

“I was an All-American coming out of high school.  I played in the EA Sports Roundball Classic.  I had a lot of schools after me.  I ended up choosing Seton Hall.  They weren’t on my list originally, but they made me a lot of promises about playing there.  Plus, my old high school coach Billy Garrett was there and he was the one recruiting me,” Cerasoli explained.

Cerasoli’s AAU teammate, Shaun Livingston, would enter the NBA draft after their senior year of high school, along with several other players Cerasoli competed with that previous summer.  Cerasoli, like many kids who grow up with a love for basketball, also had NBA aspirations.  Admittedly, he entered college with the wrong mindset.

“A lot of my peers went straight from high school to the NBA.  Honestly, my focus going into Seton Hall wasn’t right.  I went in with the mindset of probably pulling a one-and-done because the coaches had promised me a lot of playing time.  Had they told me the truth on how they would’ve played me, I probably wouldn’t have ended up there,” added Cerasoli.

Since it was his first time being away from home for an extended period of time, and away from his family and friends, Justin had a difficult time handling the new experience.

“I can say that I didn’t really know how to handle a lot of situations.  It just wasn’t a good fit for me over there because I had felt like I had been tricked into going to Seton Hall.  It was a good learning experience though,” said Cerasoli.

All was not lost for Justin during his freshman season.  He was able to contribute to the team and had several good games.  His minor successes gave him the opportunity to transfer to Mississippi the following season to play in the SEC.  He felt comfortable with their coaching staff, Rob Barnes and Tracy Dildy, because they had recruited him out of high school.

Per NCAA transfer rules, Justin would have to sit out a year before he could gain eligibility.  It seemed as if he had a fresh start playing in a major conference.  Between the time he arrived on campus, to the time he gained eligibility, much had changed.  The coaching staff that recruited Cerasoli was fired, and Andy Kennedy was brought in as the replacement.  On top of that, he broke his wrist during the summer prior to the season he would be eligible.

“We had a new coach come in, and I broke my wrist going into the school year.  I wasn’t able to condition or lift weights with the team.  I basically went straight out of the cast onto the basketball court.  I played a few games, but I just wasn’t ready,” Justin explained.

Soon after the start of the season, Justin sat down with coach Andy Kennedy.  They came to a mutual understanding that it would be best to part ways.  Kennedy, who Cerasoli still has great respect for as a person and coach, needed to be able to bring in players he recruited.  Justin would head back to his home in Chicago discouraged, and unsure of his future.

“When I left Ole’ Miss, I was really done with basketball.  I was already looking for jobs, and stuff like that.  My pops spoke with some people, and the opportunity at Loyola came about,” said Cerasoli.

With two years of eligibility remaining, Justin Cerasoli had reservations about playing at Loyola.  Family support, and his unwavering love for the game of basketball ultimately were the reasons he chose to play for Loyola.  However, just like his previous two stops, Loyola gave him an entirely new learning experience.

The culture of the program at a division-one program like Loyola is much different than those in the major conferences.  The adjustment Justin had to make fitting into that program was tough.

“That really showed me a different side of basketball.  The whole mindset is different when you go to a low-major school.  The emphasis on basketball is different.  Coming from two schools from big conferences, where the focus is all about winning basketball games, that wasn’t the case at Loyola.  At Loyola it was about playing hard, and working harder than the next guy,” said Cerasoli.

“We could lose a game and it’d be ok if we had a week of good practices.  That was different for me.  Because of that me and my coach didn’t always see eye to eye.  We had a good relationship and everything, but we had differences because that was something that was new to me.  It was fun for me though for the simple fact that I love to play basketball,” added Cerasoli.

Justin ended up having a subpar junior and senior year by his own standards.  He averaged about 13 points per game, and led the team in steals.  After finishing up his collegiate career at Loyola, Cerasoli has kept training to reach his dream.  Right now, he’s looking at options to play overseas or in the NBA’s developmental league.

The path, former high school All-American, Justin Cerasoli’s career has taken is not the one he expected.  However, it gave him a chance to learn from all the different environments he played in.  Whether it was his first and only summer on the AAU circuit, sitting behind a point guard solely because the kid played his high school ball for a coach who has a lot of pull in the state the college is located, or playing for a school with little national exposure, Justin took something out of each experience.

Ideally every player with several scholarship offers would want to pick one school, have a successful career and a shot at playing professionally.  Realistically, that is not always the case.  Cerasoli’s experience taught him a lot about how things can work, and offered a little advice to those who might be in a similar position he was in as a senior in high school; someone who wanted to play a lot right away.

“I never really understood the politics that came with college basketball.  I always thought my talent would get me where I needed to go.  I would just tell anyone to do their research, and look at the guys ahead of them.  Also try and get as good a feel for the coach as possible in that short period of time.  It’s really all a crapshoot at the end of the day,” said Cerasoli.

End of Season Showdown Notes, pt. 2

Mac Irvin Fire 16’s upended by CAPS All Stars

Northwest Indiana’s CAPS All Stars, coached by Nate Richie, surprised many onlookers by taking it to the Fire from start to finish.  The Fire were without their best prospect, Whitney Young’s 6′6” Sam Thompson, but added Mt. Carmel’s Tracy Abrams who played with the 17’s the night before.  Abrams, who committed to the Illini last fall, had his hands full all game with Lowell’s 6′0” combo guard, Austin Richie.  Richie led the charge with well over 30 points in the game, scoring in a variety of ways.  He also had help in the back court from Westview’s Justin Jantzi.  Munster’s 6′6” forward Ricky Carbajal, and Crown Point’s 6′10” Jared Smoot did a lot of damage on the glass, and provided a great presence inside on offense.

While most of the college coaches, and neutral spectators, around the court were there for the high-profile Fire 16’s, they all got to see a handful of division-one prospects for the class of 2011 from northwest Indiana.

Illinois Wolves 16’s continue to dominate

Coach Mullins and coach Maniscalco have seen great success throughout the spring and summer with their Wolves 16 and under club.  Many of the tournaments their team has won, have been in the 17’s division.  At the End of Season Showdown, the Wolves played their way to a title in the 17’s division against some great competition.  Rock Island’s Chasson Randle, and St. Ignatius’ Nnanna Egwu were named co-MVP’s of the tournament.  They received help, as usual, from St. Patrick’s Jacob Williams, Benet’s Dave Sobolewski, York’s Will Sullivan, and Peoria Central’s Bobo Drummond.

After all their success this summer against kids a year older than them, there is no telling what they’re going to do to the competition next summer.

A.J. Guyton, Peoria Central, Class of 1996

While the Peoria Manual Rams were stealing all the headlines in the late nineties winning four consecutive state titles, A.J Guyton had a successful high school career at Peoria Central.

Guyton went on to play collegiately in the Big Ten at Indiana University.  It didn’t take the 6’1’’ combo guard with a deadly cross and silk stroke to make his impact felt in Bloomington.  After averaging nearly 14 points as a freshman, Guyton would become the Big Ten Co-MVP by the time he was a senior averaging nearly 20 points.  He finished his career as the fourth all time leading scorer for one of the most storied programs in the country.

Guyton had a two-year stint in the NBA, one season with the Chicago Bulls, played overseas in Europe, and now currently plays in Argentina.  End to End had the chance to catch up with A.J. about his playing days, and what’s in store for him.

Describe your high school career, and how your recruitment went?

My high school career was pretty good.  Back then I was a pretty good scorer, and I was trying to learn how to become a leader.  It enabled me to get recruited by some division one programs.  At the very beginning there weren’t that many major programs recruiting me.  Playing at Peoria Central gave me a lot of exposure.  I was able to go to the Nike camp, I was able to get on Larry Butler’s Illinois Warriors, and get some exposure at the right AAU tournaments. I got recruited by Indiana, Missouri, St. Louis, Michigan St., and Bradley.

Historically, Peoria has always produced plenty of college basketball players.  Was there ever a rivalry with Chicago?  Where is the better basketball played?

(Laughs).  Obviously at home, I felt like our competition was great up until around 2004.  Then kids starting transferring a lot, and there was a little bit of a drop off.  Chicago definitely has an edge because they have so many more kids and schools.  Peoria’s always been competitive though.  We win our share of championships, and send teams to the state finals every other year.  My argument is always this; I know they respect us and that’s all you can ask for.  They know they could never look past us and they had to bring their A-game or we were going to win.

Talk about what it was like playing for Coach Knight at Indiana.

It was the greatest experience of my life up to this point.  Coach gets a bad rap from people who don’t understand his philosophy or what he’s teaching us inside the basketball team.  I really don’t take into consideration what anybody else says unless you were part of the program.  He made us the men we are today.  If you look, we’re all successful.

You’ve played in the NBA and overseas for several years now, what are you goals moving forward?

My goals are to give back to basketball what it has given to me.  I want to get into coaching at the collegiate level.  What I can bring as a collegiate coach is really need in today’s basketball world.  I’m still young enough to get out there and show what I’m trying to teach.  So my ultimate goal is to be a college coach and give back to it some of the things I got out of it.

What were the main differences in the game between the NBA and overseas?

The style overseas is totally different.  You have to restructure your game to fit in overseas.  The pace is different, and how the game is officiated too.  You have to be in top-notch shape.  Going from big men who dunk all the time in America, to big men who shoot threes.  I always cringe when I hear NBA guys are starting a career overseas because I know what type of adjustment they’re going to have to make.  It’s not easy.

What do you think of IHSA’s switch to four class basketball?

I don’t like the switch.  It was perfect the way it was.  It’s a big mess now.  Unless they have a round robin of the four champions, then you will never know who the real champion is.  I prefer they go back to the old format.

End Of Season Showdown Notes

Brian Stinnette and ChicagoHoops.com’s End of Season Showdown at The Fieldhouse in Merrillville, Indiana showcased some of the best travel teams in the Midwest.  It also served as a last chance during this July’s live recruiting period for college coaches to see the players showcase their ability.  Head coaches and assistant coaches from high division-one programs, all the way through division-three, were in attendance.  On Wednesday and Thursday of the event, so was End to End.

Class of 2012 Point Guards emerge

Landis Farmer, 5′8”, Peoria Manual (Illinois Wolves); Farmer runs the show for the tough Illinois Wolves 15’s.  He is extremely fast with the ball in his hands, and has a slick handle.  Even though he is a true point guard, he has displayed the ability to score in many different ways all spring and summer.  Look for Farmer to make some noise with Manual over the course of the next few seasons.

Fred Van Vleet, 5′11”, Rockford Auburn (Prymetyme); Van Vleet’s point guard skills are as developed as you will find for a 15 year old.  He leads the charge for Prymetyme as they continually make deep runs in tournaments.  It’s been a while since a high-major division-one prospect has come out of Rockford, but if Van Vleet keeps working hard, that trend will end.

Jelani Neely, 5′10”, Simeon (Meanstreets); Simeon head coach Robert Smith may be relying on a sophomore to run the show for his varsity team.  If this summer is any indication, Jelani Neely looks like he will be up to the challenge.  Neely possesses a great skill set that includes a nasty cross, and a great drive-and-dish ability.  Should he continue to work on his perimeter game, as well as getting stronger, he will easily be one of the elite point guards in the CPS.

Look out for Rich South

Over the past few days it has been reported by the Chicago Sun-Times that class of 2010 guard, and Illini commit, Crandall Head will be transferring back to Rich South.  Head will join Macari Brooks to form arguably the most athletic backcourt in the state of Illinois.  Brooks, 6′2”, displayed his amazing athletic ability playing with the Mac Irvin Fire 16’s the past couple days.  The Fieldhouse was buzzing for minutes after Brooks threw down a 360 while getting fouled by an opponent.

Keep your eyes out for more stories, photos, and interviews from the End of Season Showdown…

Remember the Name

Leo’s class of 2010 combo guard, Isaac Smith III, is one of the most underrated players in the city of Chicago.  The 6′2” guard will be depended upon to take over the leadership role of the Lion squad that made it to the 3A final four last season.  With all-state guard James Pointer graduated, Smith may be asked to handle the point guard duties a lot.  He hasn’t run the point for much of his high school career, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t ready.

“I just have step up and be a leader now.  I’m used to him (Pointer) being the leader, but now I just have to work hard in practice with the younger players and play strong,” Smith explained.

Smith’s strong work ethic includes daily workouts in the gym over the summer.  He started training with Steve Pratt, of Full Package Athletics, in the Spring of 2008.  Since then, his offensive game has improved from being primarily a slasher to a capable shooter and distributor.

Currently playing with Pratt’s Chicago Elite travel team, Smith displayed great passing ability in the open court during the first part of the summer circuit.  While he is still streaky from three-point range, he has great lift and rotation on his jumper.  He also has the ability to be a lock down defender due to his speed and long arms.  College coaches started to take notice of Smith’s play at the Chicago Summer Classic in early July.  If Smith can prove he can handle the point this upcoming winter for Leo, plenty of division one colleges will be knocking on his door.

Class of 2011’s Bruce Barron

Carbondale’s Bruce Barron, 6’3’’, is making a name for himself as one of the best point guards in the state. Barron attends Brehm Prep in downstate Illinois and plays for the Illinois Titans over the summer. With ideal size, speed, and strength for a point guard, Barron combines that with an excellent feel for the position and a versatile skill set.

Besides coach Aaron Lee at Brehm, Barron has had another great teacher starting at an early age. Barron credits his older brother Justin Dentmon for the motivation to keep getting better. Last spring, Dentmon finished a successful collegiate career in the Pac-10 where he started at point guard for Washington.

“I grew up watching my brother play basketball. I saw him make it, and put it in my head that I was going to do the same thing he did. I wanted to follow in his footsteps, but be better than he was,” Barron said.

Even though they haven’t played one on one as much as they used to. Barron still admits he has some work to do.

“We played a couple times, and I beat him once. But when it comes down to it, I say he’ll beat me,” Barron said with a laugh.

Barron explained he was working on doing a better job attacking the basket this summer, and not relying on his outside shot too much. During the Chicago Summer Classic, in front of hundreds of college coaches, Barron got into the lane at will. He had plenty of weapons to distribute the ball too. The Illinois Titans start two wings over 6’5’’ who can shoot the lights out, and 6’6’’ James Siakam who finishes everything around the rim.

Before the spring, a fan wouldn’t have been able to find Bruce Barron’s name on any of the website’s that rank players in the state. After the club circuit concludes in August, a fan won’t be able to find a list where he isn’t in the top 10.

Sneak Peek at End to End, Issue Two

- Breakdown of some of Illinois’ best shooters

- Exclusive interviews former IHSA standouts Bryan Mullins (Downers Grove South/Southern Illinois University) and Patrick Beverley (Marshall/Arkansas/Ukraine) who are currently playing in the NBA Summer league.

- Player to Watch: Macon Meridian’s Trent Swigert

- Interviews with AAU coaches Tai Streets (Meanstreets) and Larry Butler (Illinois Warriors)

- Preview and breakdown of the state’s top AAU teams

….and much, much more!

2009 Summer Breakout Players

Seemingly every summer a player from the state of Illinois emerges from being unknown to a high division-one college prospect.  Players such as Bobby Frasor and Iman Shumpert went from local standouts, to being recruited by the top programs in college basketball after strong performances on the club basketball circuit.  This spring has provided fans with a good look at how deep the 2010 and 2011 classes are in the state of Illinois.  

Below are some names of players scouting services, rankings websites, and fans should all start paying closer attention too.  As the summer progresses, this list is sure to expand.   

Charles McKinney, 6′2”, Maine East (Full Package Athletics)

Kashaune McKinney, 6′3”, Rich East (Illinois Wolverines)

Bruce Barron, 6′3”, Brehm Prep (Illinois Titans)

Isaac Smith III, 6′2”, Leo (Chicago Elite)

Duje Dukan, 6′8”, Deerfield (Chicago Elite)

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