With a lost season behind him, Jake Nosek is back on the basketball court for Metea Valley. And he couldn’t be happier.
Ditto for coach Isaiah Davis and Nosek’s teammates.
Nosek, a 6-foot-8 junior, is listed as a wing on the Mustangs’ roster. He has been a welcome addition as a full participant this month for the team’s summer program after missing all of last season with ankle and foot injuries.
“Having him back has been huge,” Davis said.
Nosek tore two ankle ligaments last fall in preseason workouts. He returned to practice in late December and broke a bone in his foot before even playing one game.
“It was just out of nowhere in practice,” Nosek said. “It sucked I couldn’t play.”
He found himself back in a walking boot, a hoped-for breakout season put on hold.
“It was killing me to be out that long,” Nosek said. “I’m so excited to be back.”
Nosek made his varsity debut as a freshman when he was promoted for the team’s Christmas tournament appearance. He stayed up for the second half of that season, joining older brother Charlie, a 6-4 senior who moved on to play at Augustana.
Jake is not the prototypical, back-to-the basket post player.
“His shooting ability, size and high basketball IQ were the reasons we moved him up,” Davis said. “He was good as a freshman. Unfortunately, he was out all last year.”
Working with his big brother was a big factor in his development.
“Growing up and playing with him, training with him and just tagging along helped,” Jake said of Charlie. “Everybody knew I was going to be tall but skinny, obviously, and it was going to be hard banging in the post. I really worked hard at developing my ball handling and outside shot.
“As I got older and taller, I still had a size advantage and was able to use it on the wing and shoot over defenders. Playing with my older brother, coaches were able to see my potential at guard.”
This March, Nosek eased back into action with his AAU team and was ready for action in June for Metea.
The Mustangs went 4-0 last weekend at the 20th annual Riverside-Brookfield Summer Shootout, an 80-team event with more than 100 college coaches on hand for the NCAA live event.
Paced by 6-6 senior guard Will Ashford, 5-10 senior point guard James Parker and Nosek, Metea beat Downers Grove South, O’Fallon, Lane Tech and Oak Lawn. A 73-68 win over O’Fallon was the most noteworthy victory as the Mustangs rallied from a 10-point deficit.
In the final 90 seconds, Nosek had a nice assist on Ashford’s basket and Parker beat a defender one-on-one for another to seal the win.
“We definitely needed a bucket there,” said Parker, likely to have a bigger role with the graduation of Jahki Gray. “They had the momentum going and we had to stop it.
“Jake can do everything on the court. He’s just gonna get better. It’s good to have two bigs like him and Will who can do everything — pass, dribble, shoot. It opens up everything for everybody on the court. We’re all unselfish.”
Davis likes what he sees, despite three losses this summer to area powerhouse Oswego East.
“We’ve been playing well,” he said. “It’s a tough group. We bring back a lot from a team that was pretty good last year.”
The Mustangs (21-10) also have a new face on the coaching staff with former West Aurora coach Brian Johnson joining Davis on the bench.
“Brian and I are good friends,” Davis said. “When whatever took place at West happened, we reached out to each other and just started talking.
“We knew this would be a good match. He’s kind of like our defensive coordinator. It’s just been great having him.”
Two of the losses to Oswego East were by three points, according to Nosek.
“They’ve been battles,” Nosek said. “We’ll be ready when the season comes.”
Parker looks forward to it — and having Nosek.
“He would have been a big piece for us last year,” Parker said. “He’s about to have a big summer and big breakout season his junior year.”
