Tim Ervin is a man of faith, so he prays. He says this with a slight chuckle, but the first-year Providence-St. Mel boys basketball coach couldn’t be more serious.
You see, the basketball gods have played a cruel trick on Providence-St. Mel, blessing the school with boundless talent–often among the most in Class A–only to watch the Knights fail to reach their potential.
As the frosh-soph coach for the last four years, Ervin watched as St. Mel kept falling short in the state tournament under departed coach William Garrett. Now he can do something about it.
Besides introducing his team to the weight room for the first time and bringing more intensity to practice, Ervin has also sought help from a higher power.
“I pray,” he said of bringing St. Mel its first Class A state basketball championship since 1985.
Many coaches can only pray for the talent St. Mel has had over the years, this season being no exception. Led by DePaul-bound, 6-foot-3-inch senior swingman LeVar Seals, 6-foot-7-inch junior Stanley Gaines Jr. and 6-7 senior Darron Evans, the senior-laden Knights are again considered the team to beat in Class A.
That is, if they don’t beat themselves as they have in the past.
“Everybody said we’ve had the most talent in Class A, and we have not gotten it done,” Ervin said. “It’s just a matter of coming together and playing to our potential. In the past, for the big games we seemed not to perform to our potential. I’m very excited about this year. We have the possibility of doing something special. It’s all wasted if we don’t win it all.”
Gaines, considered by some to be among the nation’s top juniors, was on the team two years ago that lost to Rock Falls 47-44 in the state quarterfinals.
“We’ve been knocking on the door too long,” Gaines said. “We need to live up to our potential. It’s a level of frustration because everybody knows we have the most talent in Class A. If we just play to our ability, we know we can be the best in Class A, hands down.”
Over the last four years under Garrett, who left to be a college assistant at Siena after last season, the Knights had a record of 98-28, including three straight seasons of 25 victories or more. That St. Mel hasn’t won more than just its share of games has given Gaines plenty to think about.
“I have sat and thought about that for hours, days, weeks, months,” he said. “I just couldn’t put a finger on it. I think it came down to desire. We wanted it, but not bad enough.”
The way Ervin had it figured, the Knights should be in the process of defending their Class A title, not talking about winning their first in 15 years. After all, they had earned a trip Downstate with a team filled with sophomores the year before. But after going 25-7 last season, St. Mel was expelled from the tournament for using an ineligible player.
Then Garrett took off for Siena.
“It hurt–it was disappointing,” Ervin said of the forfeit. “Then Billy left. We’ve had the spring and summer to lick our wounds. It’s been a nice little roller-coaster ride since last winter.”
“That just lit a fire for us,” Gaines said. “We were just so sure we were going to win state. That just made us that much hungrier.”
Seals said dissecting the Knights’ past misfortunes can only hurt them in the present.
“You can’t think about the past,” Seals said. “If you think about the past, that’s where you’ll end up being. You have to look ahead to what you have to do to get better.”
The Knights will have to learn to get better without Seals. Two weeks ago, during St. Mel’s victory over Aurora Christian, he broke a bone on the side of his right foot and is expected to miss about six weeks. Last Saturday at the Hoops in the Loop Shootout, St. Mel was blown out by Indianapolis Pike, the top-rated big-school team in Indiana.
Although Seals is disappointed about the injury, he said there are benefits.
“It will help the team get better,” he said. “In big games, we’ll have everybody stepping up.”
Seals said this is the most talented St. Mel team he has played on. The Knights (3-3) have eight seniors, most of whom have played together since 8th grade, and can go 10-deep. Seals also noted that Ervin has made a big difference by raising the intensity level in practice.
Whether all that equates into St. Mel’s finally fulfilling its potential remains to be seen.
“I don’t think there’s pressure on us,” Seals said. “It’s just something we have to do.”
