In the beginning, Neuqua Valley had to learn how to crawl.
And basketball coach Todd Sutton wasn’t certain how long his program would be down on all fours.
“I wasn’t sure back then,” Sutton said of the Wildcats’ inaugural varsity season of 1998-99, when Neuqua Valley finished 6-22. “Our best player broke his ankle, and we had point-guard problems. We had to teach everyone how to play man-to-man defense, even when it meant matching up against people like [Elgin’s] Sean Harrington and Marcus Smallwood.
“This was a huge challenge for a 35-year-old coach, and I wasn’t very patient. We were building a program from scratch. In our second year, only half the guys on varsity and half of the sophomore team stuck around. What drove the others away? It’s called work ethic.”
Last season Sutton resisted the urge to mount a youth movement and left a talented sophomore class together to fashion a 17-7 record on the lower level. The only exception was 6-foot-5-inch guard Keelan Amelianovich, who was already on the varsity–and probably the best player in the entire program.
It all began paying off last weekend when Neuqua Valley (12-3, 5-1) established itself as a bona fide Upstate Eight contender with back-to-back victories over St. Charles East and East Aurora.
This weekend the Wildcats can earn a share of the conference lead by beating Waubonsie Valley and No. 9 DeKalb (16-0, 6-0).
Next thing you know, this “expansion team” could be ranked.
“We don’t want anybody to know about us,” Sutton said.
That’s the least of his worries.
“People around school are still taking a wait-and-see attitude about us,” Sutton said. “No one is jumping on the bandwagon. There are still a lot of non-believers.”
Amelianovich, averaging 14 points and six rebounds a game, and point guard John Pugliese form an all-junior backcourt that is the heart of the team, along with 6-1 Henry Davis, averaging 13.5 points. They are supported by 6-8 junior John Wesley, 6-6 Jordan Dunsmore, 6-6 Scott Dunn and 6-4 Curtis Collins. Backing up Pugliese is senior Ed Reeder, a cousin of former St. Joseph standout Tony Reeder.
“The first two years were pretty bad, but we’re slowly starting to get a little respect,” Amelianovich said. “There’s a big difference in our team from last year. It’s like we’re playing more together.
“Now we want our own identity. Our school was formed from Waubonsie Valley, but we don’t want to be known as Waubonsie Valley Jr.
“Waubonsie Valley (Friday night’s opponent) beat us by 19 points in a Thanksgiving tournament, and they especially don’t want to lose to us. We haven’t played a good game against them in three years.”
The Wildcats’ best this season has been a 31-point triumph over Plainfield and last Saturday’s 25-point rout of East Aurora.
“[We’ll] know Saturday night [after the DeKalb game] how good a team we are,” Sutton said.
CIVIC PRIDE
Two of Rockford’s finest will confront what was supposed to be the pride of the Chicago area in the fourth annual High School Hoops Showdown double-header Saturday night at the Rockford MetroCentre. In the opener, Rockford Guilford (13-5), led by Aaron Robinson and 6-5, 255-pound Scott Filipowicz, will battle No. 1-ranked Thornwood (13-1) and 6-11, 290-pound Eddy Curry (25 points, 14 rebounds a game). Many in the anticipated crowd of 6,000 will be coming to check out Curry, but Guilford’s run-and-gun offense has scored 80 or more points in eight games and at least 70 in 13. Led by Robinson’s 60 three-pointers, Guilford is shooting 37 percent from the arc.
In Game 2, Young (5-8), the state’s top-ranked team in the preseason, faces a Rockford Boylan (12-3) team poised to make another Elite Eight run. Young’s talented 6-8 junior Marcus White, sidelined with a broken hand sustained in a preseason workout, was scheduled to make his return for this game. But in removing the cast prematurely, White slowed the healing process and isn’t expected back for at least two more weeks. Young, which upset No. 4 Crane on Wednesday, starts four Division I recruits: 6-5 Ronald Howard (Marquette), 6-8 Josh Williams (Illinois-Chicago), point guard Chris Hill (Wisconsin-Milwaukee) and 6-8 Brandon Allen (Maryland-Eastern Shore).
Boylan is led by 6-4 Mike Britton (17 points), guard Steve Harris, 6-7 Adam Finley and 6-2 sophomore Matt Weber who plays a lot like ex-New Trier star Matt Lottich. Boylan coach Steve Goers recently won his 500th game at the school and has an overall coaching record of 630-199.
OUT OF HARDWARE
With this season of statewide parity and no dominant team on the scene, it’s a good opportunity for a program such as Wheaton North to make its move. The unheralded Falcons went on the road and stunned defending state champion West Aurora two weeks ago with its first victory over the Blackhawks after going 0-9 against coach Gordie Kerkman’s longtime power. West Aurora (12-2) is ranked third in the Chicago area.
“That was a huge lift for our program,” Wheaton’s rookie coach, Jim Nazos, said. “Since then, we’ve beaten Glenbard North by 23 points and West Chicago by 16.”
No. 19 Wheaton North’s 12-2 start is the best in school history, and a big part of that is a full-court, man-to-man press that’s forcing 20 turnovers a game. This could be the school’s best team since Kent Graham led the Falcons to the sectional finals in the 1985-86 season.
Leading the way are guards Brian Allured (16.5-point average) and Dan Walser (12.8) and forward Mike Dunn (14.5). Lawrence Leftwich and 6-5 Michael Turnbull round out the starting five, and Derek Meister, Matt Hackney and sophomore Dareon Spencer provide depth off the bench.
STRIKING RESEMBLANCE
Take a look at the matchups and you can see how evenly matched No. 15 St. Patrick (12-2, 6-1) and St. Viator (14-3, 6-1) are for Friday night’s East Suburban Catholic showdown in Arlington Heights:
St. Patrick . . . . . . . . . . . . St. Viator
6-5 David Rivera . . . . . . . 6-4 Justin Funk
6-4 Ivan Sekulic . . . . . .6-4 Andy Schaeffer
6-3 Anthony Scala . . . . . . . 6-3 Brian Hare
6-1 Chris Mroz . . . . . . . . 6-2 Matt Currie
5-11 Chris Hartman . . . . . 5-10 Kenny Peters
“We match up so evenly size-wise and with the talent of our players,” St. Viator coach Joe Majkowski said. “Nobody has a real big man in the post. You’re talking about two hard-working teams who play aggressive man-to-man defense.
“Our big concerns are Scala (18-point average) and Hartman (12). They are such quick shooters [that] if they get going they’re hard to stop.” Scala hit 10 three-pointers in a game earlier this season.
Simply stopping Scala or Viator’s Funk (13 points a game) won’t be enough.
“Both of us have weapons at all five positions,” St. Pat coach Mike Bailey said. “It may come down to whose bench players provide the most support.”
ALUMNI REPORT
For all those high-profile, Division I programs that overlooked him, ex-Naperville North star Henry Domercant has a message for you: How do you like me now? Domercant’s career has taken off at Eastern Illinois, where the sophomore guard is the nation’s second-leading scorer, averaging 25.2 points a game. He is 10th in the country in three-point shooting, converting 51.6 percent of his attempts. Teammate Kyle Hill, who starred at Argo, is 10th nationally in scoring at 22.6 points a game. … Ex-Morgan Park standout LeDaryl Billingsley is among the nation’s leading rebounders at 10.2 per game at Tulane, while former King All-Stater Imari Sawyer is 16th in assists with 6.6 a game for DePaul.
Former Young standout Dennis Gates is lighting it up academically at California, where he is a reserve guard. Gates is set to graduate in May with a sociology degree after just three years. He began taking summer classes to keep from getting bored and homesick. He is hoping his classroom prowess will set a good example for his two younger brothers. One of them, Armon, scored 19 points Tuesday in leading No. 14 Hillcrest to an upset of second-ranked Lincoln-Way.
“I’d like to change the negative stereotype people have about African-American college athletes,” said Dennis Gates, whose next step is Cal’s graduate school of education.
