DePaul Prep Wins Antioch Sectional 45-25 Over Deerfield

[Preview of this week’s Inside—Booster article.]

By Jack Lydon

DePaul Prep is rolling. Another dominant playoff win for the Rams. This time a 45-25 win over Deerfield in the 3A Antioch Sectional Final Friday. The DePaul Prep Rams’ success (30-4) is going way past impressive and moving into historic. This is DePaul Prep’s fifth Sectional championship in the last six seasons with playoffs. The four previous sectional wins ended with two third place finishes and two championships.

The Deerfield Warriors came into the game 24-7 fresh off an upset victory over Lake Forest, the number 2 seed in the sectional. They finished second behind 4A Sectional champ Evanston in the Central Suburban South Conference. They have height and shooters.

But the Rams are rolling. In the first couple possessions, it was evident that the ultra-quick ball movement of the Rams to their shooters in the corners was not going to be as open usual. Deerfield was too quick in getting into the faces of the Rams’ shooters.

Okay. Plan B—go  inside to Rashaun Porter.

The Warriors had no answer for that. Rams’ junior center Rashaun Porter opened the game with three dunks and eight of the Rams’ fourteen first quarter points. The Rams completely controlled the first quarter only giving up four points. Deerfield’s outside shots were not falling and the Rams quickly shutdown attempts to drive the lane.

The second quarter was not quite so dominant. Deerfield reeled off a 10-0 run late in the second quarter to make it a five-point game at the half.

 “We got beat on the glass. They had some desperation going. We relaxed. They beat us to the balls. They were more physical than us and they made some shots,” said DePaul Prep head coach Tom Kleinschmidt.

There was no panic. It was like, “okay, let’s just get back to work.”

Work they did. The Rams gave up only seven points in the second half, only two in the third quarter. This was against a Deerfield team that won twenty-four games this year. The Rams were just that dominant.

Kleinschmidt does not take the remarkable success of his teams for granted. “We’re not the Yankees or anything like that. We’re a good program. But people are just coming and expecting regionals and sectionals. We as a coaching staff just sometimes lose our minds because we know how hard it is to win. We don't take this for granted because we were on the other end of this ten years ago.”

Neither do the players. Rams center Porter, who in his first two high school basketball campaigns has won two state championships, was remarkably circumspect, “I'll just take it one step at a time. I just take all the information that soaked in, like being on the bench, to getting in a little bit of minutes, to having a big roll . . . now in big situations we can come together as a team.”

The Rams advance to play in Monday evening’s super-sectional (final eight teams) against Kaneland High School of Maple Park at the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates. Kaneland defeated Crystal Lake South 49-37 in the 3A Rochelle Sectional.   

Kaneland dodges a bullet with the IHSA immediately prior to Friday evening’s game. The IHSA released a statement late Friday afternoon that Kaneland had “allowed an ineligible student-athlete to participate in its last seven boys basketball contests of the season, including a Class 3A Sectional Semifinal win on March 5.”

IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson initially ruled that the school would forfeit those seven contests and would not be allowed to participate in its IHSA Class 3A Sectional Championship game. However, Kaneland appealed, and the IHSA Board of Directors reduced the penalty, allowing Kaneland to continue on in the state playoffs, but without the ineligible player.

DePaul Prep junior guard Rykan Woo was named to the Chicago Sun-Times “All Area” team Friday which recognizes the top players in the Chicago metropolitan area.

DePaul Prep Handles Deerfield 55-24 in Steve Pappas Shootout

The DePaul Prep Rams (15-2, 6-0) defeated the Deerfield High School Warriors 55-25 in the final game of the second annual Steve Pappas Shootout Saturday evening (January 11, 2020). It wasn’t that close.

The Rams handled the Warriors from the opening tip. The Rams defensive pressure gave Deerfield fits. They had trouble moving the ball. DePaul’s Tyler Johnson repeatedly picket the pocket of the Warriors’ point guard like he was a gypsy in a Paris subway. The Rams finished on the offensive end as well.

I guess I was expecting Deerfield to be better. Maybe I was just expecting a competitive game because the preceding games were so good. I seem to remember some pre-season talk that Deerfield was good and that it would be a contender with its move to 3A. Deerfield will be in the Grayslake Sectional and will have to contend with Notre Dame, St. Viator and St. Patrick; not likely to be Deerfield’s year.

It was just Tom Kleinschmidt’s Rams taking care of business—as usual. I guess I expected that this year’s Rams would not be a good as last year’s 3A third place finishers with stars like Perry Cowen, Raheem Anthony and Pavle Pantovic. The record to date suggests otherwise. At this point last year, the Rams were 13-4, pretty good. This year’s group is 15-2 with wins over ranked teams Niles North and Marian Catholic. The Rams opened the season ranked #21 and are #11 at the moment.

Coming up the Rams enter the meat of the schedule including all seven games in the Chicago Catholic League Blue: St. Francis de Sales, Montini, Peoria Manuel, St. Laurence, Brother Rice, Benet, St. Joseph, De La Salle, Fenwick, Loyola, St. Ignatius and Mather.

“I’ve said it before and I will say it again,” win the Catholic League.

DePaul Prep Season So Far, What's Next?

Ten games into the 2019-2020 season so far and the DePaul Prep Rams sport an impressive 9-1 overall record and 5-0 in the Chicago Catholic League. The Rams only loss was to #3 ranked Notre Dame. At this point last year, the Rams had an identical record with their only loss being to Benet Academy.

On the eve of the second phase of the season, the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic, the Rams record is not entirely unexpected given the schedule so far. But I am particularly impressed with how the Rams have won. They have not played like a young team making a lot of mistakes. They rarely trail in games. They just go about their business and methodically take down opponents. Not flashy. Not frantic. Businesslike, steady and determined.

Tyler Johnson has stepped up as the team’s main scorer. And score he does. I don’t have exact stats (which is a weakness of this report but I can’t take photos and keep stats). Tyler must be averaging over 20 points a game. Lance Mosley is solid as a rock in terms of points, defense and rebounds. His three point shooting propelled the Rams to victory against Leo on Friday.

Rasheed Bello has impressed as well. I didn’t get to sophomore games last year. I heard he was good and that the coaches were very high on him, but I hadn’t seen him. I have seen him now. There was a moment in the Providence game early in the third quarter when the Rams were in the midst of a 22-0 run, with the game well in hand and the Rams in no real danger of losing, when I saw Rasheed Bello take off done the court trying to get back on defense as if his life depended on it. He was playing as hard as he could with the game well in hand—extra effort that one might expect at the end of an important game, late in the season.

I ought not have started writing about individual players. I don’t have the ink to write about every player. My leaving out the others is no reflection on them. It’s more of a reflection of the amateurishness of this blog. But I will say that the whole team shows a maturity that belies its tender years. 

Looking ahead to the upcoming phases, we have the Christmas tournament, the CCL schedule and then the 3A playoffs. I know I shouldn’t get ahead of myself, but that is what I do here. I indulge in the foolish luxury of playing out the season in my head and examining the possibilities.

The Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic is a good tournament. It’s well run and spectator friendly. (There is no media room with tables to work at but that’s a problem for only a few geeks like me—but a problem nonetheless that ought to be addressed!) The field is large with a couple ranked teams, DePaul, Marian Catholic, Stevenson. St. Rita, also. The Rams have made it into the final four of the tournament that last couple years, falling to eventual champion St. Rita in the semi-final in 2017 and Marian Catholic last year.

Joe Henricksen just published his holiday tournament preview basically suggesting anyone of the ranked teams, Stevenson, Marian Catholic or DePaul Prep could win. He also wrote some complimentary words about Tyler Johnson. The HCHC will be another test for the Rams.
As the bracket lines up, the Rams face Richards tomorrow night, then probably home team Hinsdale Central or Westinghouse on Thursday evening. If they get past those teams, they will have #8 ranked Marian Catholic (7-2, 1-1) on Friday night at 8:30. That will be tough. I saw Notre Dame handle Marian Catholic. Given they way the Rams played Notre Dame, I don’t see any reason to be too afraid of Marian Catholic. Get past Marian and you’re looking at #18 Stevenson or #9 Homewood-Flossmoor. Definitely doable but quite a feat if done.

Then the bulk of the season comes after the tournaments. Fourteen games in January and February including tough non-conference games against Deerfield, Peoria Manual and Benet. At the end, come the all-import Chicago Catholic League deciding games against Fenwick, Loyola and St. Ignatius. I have to think there will be a couple upsets in conference play and the top teams will come into the final games with at least one loss each leaving the head-to-head matchups to decide the League champ. It seems to always come down to beating Loyola, Fenwick and St. Ignatius. Achieving an accomplishment like winning the Catholic League is hard. Winning the Catholic League has been the goal of the season to me. When I was a kid I remember my dad talking this his school, St. Phillip, now long closed, playing in the Catholic League. It meant something him even as an old man. I have written it before and I will write it again, “First things first; win the Catholic League.”

I am not going to preview the playoffs with two thirds of the season to play. That day will come. And sooner than I would like. Only seventy-three days left in the season. Enjoy them while they last.

And as always, Go Rams.  

DePaul Prep Handles Vocational 62-46 and Look Ahead

The DePaul Prep Rams defeated the Chicago Vocational Career Academy 64-46 in the Battle of the Bridge Thanksgiving Tournament.

The Rams jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. The Rams defense simply stifled the CVS’s scoring attempts and and turned around and scored layups in transition. It was 20 to 6 and at the end of the first quarter and 43 to 18 at the half.  Rams’ Jr. guard Tyler Johnson finished with eighteen points. Center Brian Matthews had 13. Brian is playing with confidence and he is scoring. Lance Mosley had seven points.

Last year I wrote a season preview so I thought I should again. I am a little late with the Rams having already played two games but I thought I might offer some thoughts anyway.

Last year I wrote, “The Rams are also seen by many observers as among the top teams in 3A with Morgan Park, Bogan, St. Viator and St. Rita. So the expectations are high for a deep run into the IHSA 3A playoffs.” The Rams did not disappoint. They won the Grayslake Sectional over a very good St. Viator team. The Super-sectional game never happened because of a fight in the sectional championship between Farragut and North Lawndale. After falling to Bogan in the 3A semi-final, the Rams won the 3A Third Place last March over Peoria Manual.

In the words of Joe Henricksen, “Under Tom Kleinschmidt, DePaul Prep has arrived as a full-fledged, legitimate basketball program in Illinois.” Last year’s success made believers of Joe Henricksen and the Sun-Times reporter Michael O’Brien. The Rams look to take the next step from upstart to perennial powerhouse.

A look ahead at this year’s schedule has some opportunities for the Rams to pile up wins. The Chicago Catholic League poses its usual problems, Fenwick, Loyola, St. Joseph. I don’t know what to expect out of Br. Rice and St. Laurence with their two stars graduated or transferred. I would say the Catholic League Blue is wide open and the Rams have as good a chance as anybody.

The second major tournament is the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic. This will be the Rams third year in Hinsdale for Christmas week. Hinsdale has a number of ranked teams including Marian Catholic, Stevenson, Homewood-Flossmoor, Westinghouse and CCL rival St. Rita. The Rams could make a run at this title. It would be difficult and would require some good fortune but they could win.

The Second Annual Steve Pappas Shootout brings Deerfield to the Tom Winicki Gym. Deerfield is good but they are not Morgan Park. Personally, I think it was genius to bring in Morgan Park last year. It got last year’s team into a big game against a potential state tournament favorite. The narrow defeat gave the 2018/2019 Rams the confidence they needed for their deep playoff run.

This year’s St. Patrick Shootout will bring St. Viator. Even without St. Viator’s graduated stars, Hernandez and Calvin, my beloved Lions are more than just dangerous. Lions forward Connor Kochera is drawing rave reviews for his performances over the summer.

Non-conference games include Ridgewood, Peoria Manual, Benet and Mather (for senior night).

The 3A landscape is a little different this year. This is not your father’s 3A. Changing  enrollment classifications have dropped some traditional 4A schools into 3A. Among those schools moving from 4A to 3A are Notre Dame, Deerfield, Benet, Fenwick, Kenwood and Riverside-Brookfield. All these 4A playoff teams in 2018/2019 are in 3A this year. Throw in powerhouse teams like Morgan Park and Bogan and 3A is a whole new world.

So here we go:

1.         Battle of the Bridge

2.         CCL Part 1

3.         Hinsdale Christmas Tournament

4.         CCL Championship

5.         3A Playoffs

How does one eat an elephant? One bite at a time.