DePaul Prep Wins Third Straight State Championship

[preview of my Inside—Booster story for this week.]

By Jack Lydon

CHAMPAIGN, IL—The toughness and heart of DePaul Prep cannot be overstated. Down by nine with under six minutes to play, the Rams rallied to defeat Brother Rice 55-52 in double overtime to win their third straight state championship. This was a heavy weight boxing match between fighters that know each other well.

The game was practically a mirror image of their first meeting in January when the Brother Rice Crusaders (31-6) defeated DePaul Prep 53-52 after grabbing an early lead. The Crusaders survived a late comeback by the Rams, but just barely.

That would not happen again. With the weight of two state champions pressing down and behind 33-24 with 5:42 to play, the Rams had to dig deep. Senior leader Makai Kvamme, a veteran of the two preceding state championships, stepped up big time.

Makai was struggling. He had not scored in the game to that point. Despite getting good looks, his shots were just not falling.

At 5:42, Makai get a layup, his first points of the game. He would score 9 more in the fourth. It wasn’t just Kvamme. Porter had a bucket. With the Rams trailing 40-37 and 43 seconds on the clock, Junior guard and transfer into DePaul Rykan Woo, who was not on the prior championship teams, surely had the biggest free throw shots of his life. He made the first. He made the second. He made the third. Scored tied, going to overtime.

It would take two overtimes but the Rams would close out the win with big buckets by AJ Chambers, Rob Walls, Rashaun Porter and five more from Kvamme in the second overtime.

“That was a fist fight of heavy weights. All great whistles. They let us play. Points were at a premium. Things got loose a little in the second half,” said Rams coach Tom Kleinschmit.

“These seniors that are up here have been on the varsity for three years. They are 70 and 5 in two years. The culture was built on the guys before them,” Kleinschmidt added.

“We knew that we had experience. We wanted to use that experience to the best of our ability. We stayed poised, stayed relaxed and started pressuring them to make them turn it over. We got that result,” said junior center Rashaun Porter.

“When we took the program over [in 2013], we had two goals: win the [Chicago Catholic] League and win the state championship. We hadn’t won a league game in five years and people looked at us like ‘ya, whatever.’ We attained one of the goals and won the League. Now we’ve won a championship,” said Kleinschmidt.

It’s three championships now actually. The Rams defeated Bloomington Central Catholic 65-41 in 2023 to win 2A. Last year they defeated Chicago Catholic League rival Mount Carmel 49-41 to win their second state championship in a row, that time in 3A. It will have to be said that the DePaul Prep Rams have entered the rarified air of multiple consecutive championships in IHSA history.   

“We are a defensive culture team that can score now. We talked about leaning on our experience. We certainly did that tonight,” concluded Coach Kleinschmidt.

Seventh ranked Brother Rice Crusaders were as tough a team as the Rams faced all year. And the Rams played a tremendously difficult schedule. Brother Rice has put together an impressive string of their own with three consecutive 30-win seasons. It was their first appearance in the State Tournament since 2005.

Chicago Catholic League Lawless Player of the Year, Crusaders senior guard Marcos Gonzales lead all scorers in the game with 24 points. Senior forward K. J. Morris had 11 points for Brother Rice. Senior guard Jack Weigus added 10 points.

It was a total team effort for the Rams, offensively as well as defensively. Kvamme lead the team with 16 points, all coming in the fourth quarter and the overtime periods. Rashaun Porter added 14 despite suffering injured fingers. Rob Walls and Rykan Woo had 7 each. AJ Chambers had 5. Jonas Johnson and Gus Donohue each added a three-pointer. The Rams had 10 steals and only 9 turnovers.

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 and Lane Are Both Regional Champs

[Preview of my Inside—Booster article for this week.]

By Jack Lydon

It was a good night for basketball teams from Addison and Western. The seventh ranked DePaul Prep Rams (28-4) defeated the Carmel Corsairs (12-19) to win their tenth consecutive regional championship. Their immediate neighbor to the north, the Lane Tech Champions (20-11) defeated the New Trier Trevians 67-57 to win Lane’s first ever regional championship in school history.

With the number one seed in the 3A Antioch Sectional, DePaul Prep faced the number nine seed, Carmel Catholic from Mundelein. The Rams controlled the game from the outset. Their patented switching defense stymied Carmel at every turn. The Corsairs struggled to even get shots up. They only scored one point in the second quarter, and that was a free through in the closing seconds of the half.

Rams’s junior guard Rykan Woo, recently selected as second-team All-City by the Sun-Times, had nineteen points included all thirteen of the Rams’ first quarter points. Senior forward and DePaul University commit Jonas Johnson started the game and added eleven points. Point guard and Western Illinois commit Makai Kvamme had ten points.

“It’s great. I certainly don’t take it for granted,” Rams head coach Tom Kleinschmidt said of his teams’ having won ten straight IHSA Regional Championships.

“It the cultivation of a program, the support that we get from the school, the coaches and players that we have had, names that [our current players] may not know or may have only heard of that really build the program, guys like Chris Herrell and Raequan [Williams], David Holiday, Scotty Calderon, [Dan Lydon], all those guys that build the program,” Kleinschmidt added.

“[Those guys] took the program and gave it to Perry [Cowen], Perry gave it to these guys. It’s been awesome. I don’t take it for granted. Ten straight regionals. I remember the first three that we played in we didn’t win one. I was hoping to win one or two regionals.”

DePaul Prep senior Makai Kvamme, widely regarding as a top point guard in the area, reflected on his last home game in DePaul’s Tom Winiecki Gym. “I have played here for so long, developed such a great relationship with my teammates. It means the world to me being here with my teammates and coaches.”

As good of a night as it was for the Rams, it was that and more for the Lane Tech Champions. The number four seed Champions defeated the previously ranked and five seed New Trier Trevians in the Maine South regional final 67-57. This was Lane’s first regional championship in school history. The Champions join the ranks of venerable southside 2025 CPS regional champions such as Kenwood, Simeon, Whitney Young and Curie.

The Champions reprised their January 18th 60-47 victory over New Trier but it wasn’t without having to deal with adjustments by the Trevians.

“They really tried to negate [first team All-City senior center] Dalton [Scantlebury],” said Lane Tech head coach Nick LoGalbo.

“They were in a box and one [defense] the entire game. We did a good job in setting our other guys up, using Dalton’s strengths in other ways. Guys stepped up.”

New Trier junior forward Christopher Kirkpatrick led the Trevians attack with his deadly long range jumpers. Kirkpatrick managed 29 points but it would not be enough to overcome a 17-4 first quarter deficit.

“We got hot from three early. We made some big ones late. We got to a point where they were just daring us to shoot it. Drew Barolai hit a big one from the corner. That kind of broke the game open in the third quarter. We took a pretty good lead. We maintained that through the fourth. And that was it,” LoGablo said.

“I am super proud of our guys. We have been talking about trying to do this for a long time. I thought we had the team to do it. We set the schedule at the beginning of the year. We decided that we are going to go play everbody. We found a way to get ourselves here. Our guys were ready for the moment.”

DePaul Prep advances to face a somewhat overlooked St. Viator Lions team in the 3A Antioch Sectional semi-final on Tuesday. The Lions have put together an impressive 23-9 record year.

The Lane Tech Champions will face #12 Evanston (26-5)  in the 4A New Trier Sectional semi on Tuesday.

Other area teams also played in the regional championships. In 4A, #20 Whitney Young knocked off the other ranked area team #13 Lincoln Park 50-47.

DePaul Prep Dismantles Fenwick 52-22, Wins Chicago Catholic League

[Preview of my story in this week’s Inside—Booster.]

By Jack Lydon

The DePaul Prep Rams (26-3, 7-1) dismantled Fenwick 52-22 to win the Chicago Catholic League at DePaul Friday night. Absolute shutdown defense held the Friars to thirteen points into the fourth quarter. This is an exceptional Friars squad with that only had three losses in the Catholic League coming into the game. A Fenwick victory in this game was entirely impossible.

The Rams came into the game with a 6-1 record in the Chicago Catholic Leagues Blue Division tied with Brother Rice. A win for the Rams assured them of at least a share of the conference title. Shortly after the game ended word spread that Mount Carmel defeated Brother Rice making DePaul Prep outright CCL champs for the second year in a row.

The Rams hit a little rough patch at the end of January suffering back-to-back losses first to Brother Rice and then to Homewood-Flossmoor at the end of January—if you can call it a rough patch to lose consecutive games to the No. 8 team and the No. 3 team respectively when you have a 26-3 record. Let’s call it a little bump.

The Rams opened the game strong. Senior guard Rob Walls dropped a short jumper from the lane on DePaul’s opening possession. It was a good omen given the Rams first quarter struggles in the home loss to Brother Rice two weeks earlier. Then the defensive show started. Fenwick struggled to even shoot the ball. Drives into the lane quickly lead to passes out to the wing. The outlet passes lead to off-balance missed shots and DePaul Prep rebounds. Few if any offensive rebound for the Friars.

The Rams built their typical 15-6 first quarter lead spreading the ball around with buckets from all five starters and two each from junior guard Rykan Woo and senior point guard Makai Kvamme.

In the second quarter, the Rams held Fenwick to three points. They made just one basket, a three-pointer from senior Kamren Hogan. The Friars’ frustration was palpable with a halftime score of 29-9 DePaul.

“They couldn’t get by us. We made them take jump shots. We got every rebound. We can play,” DePaul Prep head coach Tom Kleinschmidt said of his Rams’ defensive effort.

“I think our switching bothers teams. Our guards really kept the ball in front of us. We were disciplined tonight. We made them take jump shots.”

Rams junior center Rashaun Porter put on a masterful defensive performance that stood out among masterful defensive performance. Porter was matched up against Fenwick standout forward Nathaniel Marshall. Marshall is one of the best football players in the state who has gained attention for his basketball skills in recent months.

“Shaun’s a big body. He’s long and he is strong. He didn’t bite on head fakes or pump fakes. He kept [Marshall] in front of him. He did a nice job,” Kleinschmidt said of Porter.

It didn’t get much better for Fenwick in the second half. The Friars managed only another four points in the third quarter falling behind 41-13. Even so, there was no quit in Fenwick, their own defensive effort made the Rams work for their points. Rykan Woo finished with sixteen points in a little more than three quarters. AJ Chambers had twelve. Makai Kvamme had eight. Rashaun Porter had seven.

The regular season is drawing to a close with one regular season game left, a home matchup against East Suburban Catholic Conference champion Benet Academy next Friday at DePaul’s Tom Winiecki Gym.

DePaul Prep landed the #1 seed in the IHSA 3A Antioch Sectional. The Rams will host the winner of Lake View v. North Chicago on February 26th to open the playoffs. The Rams look to “threepeat” as state champions. Two years ago the Rams won the 2A state championship and won the 3A state championship last year with win over Chicago Catholic League rival Mount Carmel in the championship game.

DePaul Prep Beats St. Ignatius 60-58 in OT

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

[Full photo gallery to follow.]

By Jack Lydon

I got there over an hour early and the parking lot was already totally full. Friday’s DePaul Prep v. St. Ignatius game at DePaul Prep’s Tom Winiecki Gym would be different. Well not so much different as amplified. Bigger, stronger, faster.

And so it was. The DePaul Prep Rams (24-3, 5-1) defeated the St. Ignatius Wolfpack 60-58 in overtime to advance toward another Chicago Catholic League title and prove they can come from behind and win when it matters.

This was a high-level high school basketball game played by very talented players and coaches on both sides. Few turnovers, multiple dunks and three-pointers, defense and offence. The largest lead of the game by either team was a six-points.

The Tom Kleinschmidt formula win goes like this: an early lead, a dominant third quarter that builds a 15 to 20 point lead and then kill the clock in the fourth. That wasn’t happening in this game. St. Ignatius’ coach Matt Monroe knows that scenario. The Wolfpack didn’t get far behind and flipped the script by outscoring the Rams and taking a lead in the third quarter.

“They're obviously one of the best defensive programs around. They're switching defense causes teams fits. So we were hoping to put them in more scramble situations. We are hoping to do a few of our attacking switch techniques, like slipping with a couple of things we call twist and turn,” said St. Ignatius coach Matt Monroe.

Monroe’s plan worked. It didn’t look good for the Rams at the 5:48 mark in the fourth when Phoenix Gill, St. Ignatius’ senior point guard, Northwestern commit and son of a former NBA player, Kendall Gill, drained a three to give the Wolfpack a 48-42 lead.

After a time out, the Rams chipped away and chipped away. A couple buckets from Rykan Woo and AJ Chambers but the relentless defense lead by Rob Walls and Makai Kvamme led to turnovers which turned into clutch layups by Kvamme to tie the game.

St. Ignatius had a chance to win at the end of regulation. After a time out and with a few seconds left on the clock, Phoenix Gill took the inbounds pass. With DePaul Prep’s Rob Walls guarding him at the top of the key, Gill worked the ball to the right but had dish the ball off to junior guard Napolean Harris IV, who put up a three-pointer that missed.

Overtime. DePaul’s junior center Rashaun Porter dropped a bucket. Junior guard Rykan Woo added a free throw. St. Ignatius senior guard Ryan Cavanagh drained a three to tie the game with 46.9 left in OT.

The Rams had the ball with time winding down. Porter drove to the hoop and was fouled. He drained two free throws with three seconds left to give the Rams a 60-58 lead and the victory.  

“We’ve got grit. We showed some toughness. [If something bad happens, it’s] on to the next play. A lot of teams or individuals would have hung their heads and quit. We didn’t. We believe in each other. We came out and made some plays,” said DePaul Prep head coach Tom Kleinschmidt of his Rams.

Porter was jubilant after the game, “This is the Catholic league, and this is a really tough league, one of the best leagues in the Midwest. And we want to win it. . . . Our goal is to win the Catholic League. . . . So we really wanted this one.”

Kleinschmidt mentioned rivalry after the game, “It's a rivalry. It’s only a rivalry if both teams win. We won a couple in a row now, but for a while there, they won a couple in a row.” Kleinschmidt is 8-5 against St. Ignatius in his last eleven seasons as DePaul Prep and Gordon Tech head coach, including a particularly heartbreaking loss at the buzzer in a sectional final game in 2020, two days before the whole world shut down with the COVID pandemic.

Conference play is not quite over. DePaul Prep is tied with Brother Rice each having one loss. The Rams have two conference games left: DeLaSalle and Fenwick. Brother Rice has Mount Carmel left. The Rams control their own fate. If both DePaul Prep and Fenwick win out, they share the CCL title. If the Rams win and the Crusaders lose, the Rams win it out right—Chicago Catholic League champions for the second year in a row.

DePaul Prep’s senior point guard Makai Kvamme after a dunk in the first quarter against St. Ignatius

DePaul Prep Defeats Vashon 68-54 at H-F MLK Shootout

The DePaul Prep Rams (19-1, 3-0) defeated the Vashon Wolverines 68-54 this afternoon at the Homewood-Flossmoor MLK Day Shootout. Vashon, a public high school in St. Louis, (12-2) has been Missouri state champions for the last four years. They came into the game with DePaul Prep 11-1. I guess I didn’t know what to expect. As with the first game this year playing an out-of-state team, Mater Dei from Los Angeles at the Chicago Elite Classic, I was just hoping the Rams would play well and not get blown out.

I underestimated the Rams then. I ought to have known better today.

Vashon looked, to me at least, like the best team that the Rams had played all season. The Wolverines were big. They had a size advantage on the Rams on every position except for center where Lashaun Porter had an advantage on Terron Garrett who was listed in the program as a wing.

When the game started, the Wolverines were shooting well, defending furiously and rebounding on both ends.

Midway through the first quarter, the Rams had a nine point lead that Vashon cut to four by the end of the first. They Rams were playing well on defense and dealing with the pressure defense of Vashon about as well has a team could. The Rams were playing about as well as I have seen them play, especially on defense. It was two good teams battling it out. Rykan Woo had nine points in the first. The Rams held a 22-18 lead at the end of the first quarter and maintained that four point advantage at the half, 33-29.

The Rams shined in the third quarter outscoring the Wolverines 15-4. And they never looked back. The full court press that Vashon jumped into only made things worse. The Rams broke the press and ended in layups and back door dunks.

It was as impressive of a game as I have have seen the Rams play. Just so much toughness. Toughness demostrated in no small measure by the elbow inflicted gash that AJ Chambers suffered late in the second quarter. There was an extended time stoppage while the Homewood-Flossmoor janitorial staff mopped the blood off the court. Chambers wasn’t out of the game long. They quickly patched him up and he was back in the game wearing the number 21 jersey at that point.

Junior guard Rykan Woo had 18 points. Junior center Rashaun Porter had 16 points and the player of the game trophy. Senior point guard Makai Kvamme had 15 points. Let’s not forget the 4 points added by Rob Walls whose defense is worth three time as many points as he scores. Jonas Johnson came off the bench and added 7 points. AJ Chamber added 6 points, at least I think he did when I add up the scores of numbers 3 and 21. Gus Donohue added a bucket.

Maybe I am too close seeing too many DePaul Prep games. I can’t really judge how good they are. Let’s just say they are No. 1 and only getting better. IC Prep away on Tuesday and then Brother Rice at home on Friday night.

DePaul Prep Survives Mount Carmel 66-63

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

By Jack Lydon

“We don’t have any rivals.”

Not sure that he meant it the way it came across, but that’s what DePaul Prep’s Rykan Woo said when asked about Mount Carmel after his new team, the DePaul Prep Rams (18-1, 3-0) survived a late challenge to defeat the Caravan 66-63 at Mount Carmel Friday evening.

Woo may not appreciate the rivalry, this being his first year on the Rams, but DePaul Prep’s rivalry with Mount Carmel is very real. The DePaul Prep has played and defeated Mount Carmel three times in the last twelve months. The Rams defeated the Caravan last February 41-38 to win the Chicago Catholic League and then again a month later to win the 3A state championship over Mount Carmel 49-41. There is also the looming possibility of a fourth meeting in this year’s 3A playoffs. The way the sectional assignments line up, if both teams advance they could meet again in March in a state final or semi-final.

“It’s extremely frustrating,” said Mount Carmel head coach Phil Segroves when asked about losing three times to DePaul Prep in the last year.

“We feel we’ve got something pretty special here and we know they do too. We’re gonna just keep knocking on the door.”

The game opened with the DePaul’s defense taking Mount Carmel out of what they wanted to do. The defensive engine for the Rams runs on senior guard and defensive specialist Rob Walls. Walls took a large hand in shutting down Mount Carmel’s star point guard Noah Mister Friday night. In one sequence midway through the second quarter, Walls tied up Mister and stole the ball. A quick pass by Walls to Rams’ point guard Makai Kvamme lead to a layup and the Rams opened an eight point lead.

“Usually, you’ll see me take a charge out there and all the sudden you’ll see all of us getting excited. That just gets us going. It’s fun being out there. Playing with competitors, it’s fun,” said Walls.

The Rams defense set the tone, but junior guard and Whitney Young transfer Rykan Woo and junior center Rashaun Porter scored the points. Woo lead the Rams with 28 points, including three three-pointers and thirteen free throws.

“We know that Rykan Woo is a very good player. Even though Makai Kvamme runs the show at point, [DePaul’s] offense goes through Woo,” Segroves said.

“He’s their scorer. We knew that. We did our very best to defend him. He still came out on top. Sometimes you have to tip your cap.”

 “I think it’s just repetition and practice. Just trying to not let my mind mess around with me,” Woo said of his hitting 10 of 12 free throws in the game.

“My teammates do a great job setting me up all the time. I give them a lot of the credit.”

In addition to Woo’s twenty-five points, Ram’s junior center Rashaun Porter had sixteen points including two big free throws in the closing seconds to seal the victory.

Despite the defensive efforts of Walls and the scoring efficiency of Woo and Porter, the Caravan came roaring back in the closing minutes. Let by senior guard Grant Best with twenty-three points, Mount Carmel came back from a thirteen-point Rams lead early in the third quarter to make it a one possession game in the closing seconds.

The Rams improve their record to 18-1 with their only loss coming in the fourth game of the season to then #1 ranked Kenwood and then only by two-points on the last possession of the game.

The Catholic League is also coming into focus. Mount Carmel now has two losses, one earlier in the year to Fenwick and one tonight to DePaul Prep. Brother Rice suffered a Catholic League loss on Friday to St. Ignatius. Only DePaul Prep and Fenwick are undefeated in the Chicago Catholic League’s Blue division. The Rams will face the Friars on February 14th but there are plenty of league games for both teams between then and now. Still a lot of basketball yet to play.

For now at least, the DePaul Prep Rams are likely to retain their number #1 ranking this week and sit atop the Chicago Catholic League just short of two-thirds of the way through the season.

DePaul Prep Survives Loyola 43-35

The DePaul Prep Rams (15-1, 3-0) defeated the Loyola Academy Ramblers (15-5, 1-2) 43-35 on Friday evening at Loyola. I have to hand it to Loyola. Tom Livatino had the Rams playing his game. Slow the tempo way down, play very physical and hope to edge teams at the end.

It was working in the first half with the assistance of the referees. I don’t like to criticize referees. They are usually very good. In first half of this game, the referees were let them play. Meaning they weren’t calling any fouls. This hurt the Rams. Their shots were not falling.

The Ramblers were hitting shots at least enough to stay close to the Rams. Loyola’s center Brandon Loftus was impressive in the paint and hitting outside shots.

The second half was different for the Rams. The refs started calling fouls and the Rams were able to score like they usually do.

The Rams gained a lead and were able to build it with some remarkable free throw shooting to seal the victory. Junior Rykan Woo was 8 for 8 in the game and 6 for 6 in the last 1:05 of the game.

The Rams improve to 15-1 overall and 3-0 in the Chicago Catholic League Blue and probably retain their #1 ranking.

A little past the midway point of the season 16 games into the 30-game season, the Rams are the No. 1 ranked team in the Sun-Times Super 25. They got that spot after winning their inaugural appearance in the Pontiac Holiday Tournament. It was another achievement for the DePaul College Prep basketball team that has now become a “program.”

At the R-B tournament in the summer of 2023, I was talking to Mike Mullin of the Illinois Wolves. He was the first person that I heard use the term “program” in conjunction with DePaul Prep. After just one 2A State Championship, some might argue that the “program” moniker might be a little premature. Not anymore. Since 2019, the DePaul Prep Rams have achieved a third place in 3A, a No. 1 ranking in the 2020, the COVID year, a 2A state championship, victory in Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic, a 3A state champion and a Pontiac title. Combine that unprecedented success with the same coach in the program for 10 years, a coach with over 300 career wins, and you are pretty much talking “program.”

That’s all fine but there are games to play. This season has seen the return of proven producers Makai Kvamme, Rob Walls, Rashaun Porter, AJ Chambers and Jonas Johnson. But it’s the emergence of Rykan Woo that have brought the Rams, admittedly a 3A team, to that top tier.

Woo, a transfer from Whitney Young, is averaging 17 points a game. His eye popping 24 points and 6 of 7 three pointers against Warren has him being talked about as the best player in the whole junior class. I first saw him play at the R-B tournament this past summer. But it was at the Ridgewood summer event that he turned heads. A longtime DePaul Prep observer told me that this 24-25 team would be better than the last two state championship teams. We will see about that but the addition of Rykan is making a believer out of me.

The Rams schedule has been rough. At the start of the season, Tom Kleinschmidt told me, “We are going to lose some games this year.”

Not true so far. Only one loss. And then to the No. 1 team at the time, Kenwood. And then only by two points in the last ten seconds of a weekend shootout game. Add in some signature wins over Niles North, Lane, Rich Township, Mater Dei (a California powerhouse program), Curie, Benet and Warren.

I would say the first half went well for the Rams. The bulk of the Chicago Catholic League games will be played in the second half, namely Mount Carmel, Brother Rice, St. Ignatius, DeLaSalle and Fenwick. Who cares about Pontiac and state championship if you don’t win the Chicago Catholic League Blue? We will see about the second half.

DePaul Prep Wins Pontiac with 59-56 Victory Over Benet

DePaul College Prep Rams beat both Curie and Benet on Saturday afternoon and evening to win the 93rd Pontiac Holiday Tournament in their first appearance. They weren’t the typical Rams’ victories. The Rams battled, struggled, endured and ultimately prevailed over two of their toughest opponents this season. They survived Curie 68-64 in afternoon semi-final and edged Benet 59-56 in the late evening championship game.

In a larger sense, the arrival of the DePaul Prep Rams (14-1, 1-0), probably new No. 1 ranked team and back-to-back state champion, at Pontiac this year might well signal a change in the tournament. It might be a little early for a '“private school takeover narrative,” but this is at least a little historic. Either Simeon or Curie has won Pontiac every year since 2008. For the first time ever, two private Catholic schools meet in the championship. After a contentious, back-and-forth, up-and-down semi-final between Benet and Simeon, Sun-Times reporter Michael O’Brien reported that Simeon coach Tim Flowers said that Simeon will not be back at Pontiac. Without Simeon next year, who knows what happens.

“Kind of like that fact that there is some teams other than Simeon and Curie,” said Red Folktstad from Braidwood. Mr. Folktstad attended his first Pontiac Tournament in 1980 and has missed only a few since.

Rams 68, Condors 64.

First things first, the semi-final. The Curie Condors were the Rams’ second toughest opponent to that that point in the season. Only No. 1 Kenwood, their only loss was a tough game. The game was exhausting. At a point in the third quarter, a Curie player stood near this reporter with a look of shear exhaustion on his face. After the game, Curie head coach Mike Oliver was overheard saying, “We just ran out of gas.”

Curie employed a full court trapping press all game long. Despite the pressure, DePaul Prep slowly built 35-28 lead by half time.

There was one play late in the second quarter that epitomized the extra effort that it took to win. At a 3:13 mark in the second, junior guard Rykan Woo put up a three-point shot that was short. He followed his shot, got the rebound and laid it in before Curie could react.

“That’s more of a hustle play. I could tell that the shot was a little off, a little short. My guy did not box me out. I just ran to the rim and the ball just happened come in my hand,” Woo said.

Ya! That’s the kind of hustle play by Woo and the rest of Rams that provided the edge necessary.

Curie is the second-best team that the Rams have faced to that point. The first being Kenwood. The Condors are big, athletic and very active. Active to a fault. Midway through the third quarter, the author studied one of the Condor guards. He was gassed. The Condors shooting in the third suffered. They managed only eight points with 2:15 left in the quarter.

Despite being gassed, the Condors played remarkable pressure defense. With under a minute left and down six points, Curie pressured the Rams inbound passes for at least one turnover and two time-outs.

The Rams survived a furious full court press in closing minutes with some key free throw shots by Rob Walls.

Rashaun Porter lead all scorers with 18 points. Rykan Woo had 17, Makai Kvamme 14 and AJ Chambers with 10.

Rams 59, Redwings 56

Having won the 1:00 p.m., semi-final, the Rams advanced to play the Benet Academy Redwings in 9:00 p.m., championship game. Benet (12-2) somehow survived a game with Simeon that defies description.

One thing was sure from the outset, for a first time forty years, a private school would win Pontiac. Only two private school teams had every won Pontiac; Weber, a now closed Resurrectionist high school formerly located near Riis Park on Chicago’s northwest side, in 1976 and Providence-St. Mel, another Chicago Catholic League school on Chicago’s westside, in 1984.

This DePaul Prep v. Benet game can be described as close. Really close. DePaul Prep never lead by more than seven and then only for a couple brief periods. In a mercifully quick game, it was tied at 48 points each going into final quarter of basketball in the tournament.

After trailing the Rams by a few points most of the fourth, Benet brief took a 56-54 lead with 3:48 to play on Blake Fagbemi midrange jumper. Those would be the last points the Redwings would score.

A Benet turnover at 2:47 led at Makai Kvamme layup to tie. Another Benet turnover on a shot clock violation lead Rams’ senior center Rashaun Porter back down the lane against Benet’s 7-footer Colin Stack only to miss a hook shot. He got the rebound and put it back. Still no. Finally, a tap in for two points and the lead, 58-56 with 1:58 to play.

Rashaun Porter added a free throw to make it 59-56. That’s where it ended when Blake Fagbemi missed a three-pointer to tie.

The significance of winning Pontiac was not lost on the Rams. Rams’ head coach Tom Kleinschmidt told his players “[Pontiac is] the top Christmas tournament in the Midwest. To win it is a priviledge and an honor. We’ve gotta be tough. Every game is like a state final or a super[-sectional.] We’ve got to be ready.”

“We would miss an opportunity if we didn’t use our experience that we have had the last couple years in the state tournament. We still have some guys back off that team. So I said, let’s take advantage of the experience we have and I think we did that,” Kleinschmidt said.

“We have too many weapons. If you take out one person, it leaves so many other people open. If a team tries to take me out, everyone else has chances,” Woo said after the game.

Rashaun Porter lead the Rams with 17 points, Rykan Woo had 14 and Rob Walls with 10.

Benet’s Blake Fagbemi has 20 points and won the A. C. Williamson award as the most valuable player in the tournament.

DePaul Prep Handles Rich Township 66-50 at Team Rose Shootout

It seems like yesterday and also like a lifetime ago that Tom Klienschmidt and Lou Adams had their teams battling each other in 2A sectional finals and semi-finals. Now Lou has a trio of state championships. Tom has two. This time they face off early in the season at the Team Rose Shootout at Mount Carmel. The tables are turned a little. Tom Kleinschmidt’s back-to-back state champions are ranked third. Lou Adams’ new team, Rich Township (instead of Orr) is ranked #13, with loads of talent but struggling to find itself.

The DePaul Prep Rams (8-1, 1-0) jumped out to an early first quarter 12-3 lead on the Rich Township Raptors (2-3, 1-0) and off they went. It’s really hard to put together a come back win against DePaul Prep, especially when your team is not shooting well.

Rich missed a ton of inside shots in the first quarter under relentless pressure from Rashaun Porter and the other Rams defenders scoring only eight points in the first quarter.

Rob Walls took the early lead to another level with back-to-back threes early in the second quarter pushing a seven point lead to to thirteen point lead. The Rams never looked back.

Huge game for Rykan Woo with 20 points inside, outside and at the line. One cannot overstate in impact and importance of the transfer to this year’s Rams squad.

Notwithstanding the big shots by Rob Walls and Rykan Woo, it was the point guard Makai Kvamme that powered the Rams through with his toughness, leadership and just plain cool head. He faced constant pressure on the ball by the tough Raptors defense it didn’t seem like he even noticed. He just did what he wanted to do, pressure or no pressure.

It was my first chance to see Rich’s key player Al Brooks. Brooks is something indeed. He had 21 points but couldn’t keep the Raptors close by himself. DePaul’s Rashaun Porter was more than a match for him on the offensive and defensive boards.

Put another victory over a top team in the column for the Rams. They just play their game and keep rolling through the season. Providence-St. Mel and Oswego East are later in the week for the Rams.

DePaul Prep Defeats Mater Dei 57-50 at Chicago Elite Classic

Kind of like my feeling regarding DePaul Prep’s recent 4A state championship in football, I looked up at the scoreboard and noticed that there were two minutes left in the game and saw that our Rams were up seven point against the California powerhouse Mater Dei on the big stage at the Chicago Elite Classic.

None of the people that I talked to in recent days knew anything about Mater Dei except that it was a California powerhouse team and that the out-of-state teams at the Chicago Elite Classic usually beat up on our local teams.

Frankly, I did not know what to expect in this game. I looked up Mater Dei and discovered that the boys basketball program has won one national championship (exactly what that means I do not know), eleven Californian state titles including back to back to back tiles from 2011 to 2014, sixteen Southern California regional titles, 24 CIF-SS titles and 40 league titles in 42 years. I am guessing this means that they are pretty.

I was just hoping the Rams could make a good showing and not look totally out classed, especially, with key player AJ Chambers not in uniform for the game. That’s kind of the way it looked in the first half. The Rams struggled to score against the length of the Mater Dei Monarchs but they were playing well on defense and not getting blown out. It was 25-18 Monarchs at the half.

I don’t know what TK said at halftime or what magical scheme Kenny Gryzwa and Michael Snead cooked up (maybe it was Magic Yellow), but the third quarter was a whole different animal. A couple threes early in the quarter by Jonas Johnson jumpstarted the Rams who outscored the mighty Monarchs 19-10 in the quarter. The Rams tied the game at 37-37 at the end of the third.

I was sitting courtside photographing the game. The Monarchs standing around, a little shell shocked, just looking at each other. They didn’t know what happened. I commented on Twitter that “I went to a shootout and a Catholic League game broke out.” It seems the Monarchs have never played in a Catholic League game, at least not a Chicago Catholic League one.

Rob Walls drained a three to open the 4th. Makai Kvamme and Rykan Woo followed with some key buckets. The Rams opened a seven-point lead midway through the fourth. Even a casual observer knows that it’s best not to get behind a Tom Kleinschmidt coached team in the fourth quarter—successful comebacks are rare against his teams.

Sure enough, the Rams hit their free throws and celebrated a 57-50 victory over the California powerhouse.

As is usually the case in big wins, the contributions of one player stand out. Saturday, that player was Jonas Johnson. He played excellent defense. He hit some big threes that opened the lane for Makai and Rykan. He scored fifteen points earning himself player of the game and a fancy Cain’s Chicken gift basket—nice! It’s great to see him excel on this big stage after suffering through injuries all last year. Well done!

I am not one given to such reckless talk a week into a season but maybe the Rams are, in fact, a top team in the area.

I have evidence that tends to prove such a proposition more likely true than not, at least to this point.

Go Rams!

Riverside-Brookfield Summer Shootout 2024

The Riverside-Brookfield Summer Shootout this past weekend was a good look at teams in advance this year’s upcoming tournament. I mostly cover the Chicago Catholic League and the Chicago Public League so I wanted to get a look at as many of those teams as I could. But I could only be there on Friday.

I got a look at DePaul Prep in games against Lake Zurich and DeLaSalle. The Rams have plugged in junior guard/wing Rykan Woo, a transfer from Whitney Young. The Rams return Makai Kvamme, AJ Chambers, Rob Walls and Rashawn Porter. They should pick up where they left off.

The Lane Tech Champions also looked like they picked up where they left off. Despite losing Shaheed Solebo to graduation, the Champions return Dalton Scantlebury, a top player in the 2025 class. The returning group of seniors, Braydon Rosenkrantz, Drew Bartoli, Mike Remotigue and Zach Mazanowski. Despite a close lose to Simeon in their first game, the Champions looked good.

The St. Ignatius Wolfpack looked very good against East St. Louis. Returning top player Phoenix Gill looked bigger, stronger and faster. A new group of starters, make this pack of wolves appear especially dangerous in the coming season.

I saw DeLaSalle against DePaul Prep. Meteors coach Gary DeCesare will have this talent group ready. They looked good but not good enough against the Rams.

I saw the first half of St. Laurence against Glenbard West. Jason Opeka had his Hilltoppers playing their 1-3-1 defense that was giving the talented group of Vikings, lead be returning EJ Mosley, some trouble. I didn’t get a good chance to see much of what Roshawn Russell and this Vikings will have in store for the league this winter. I asked one observer about St. Laurence. He said, “We’ll see.”

I also got a look at El Paso-Gridley. A newcomer to the R-B, the Comets look to show off their top performer Jonah Funk. The 6-9 forward didn’t dominate and played on the perimeter more that I expected. The 2-A Comets were overmatched in the game I some them play against DeKalb. It’s difficult to say how well the Comets will fair this season even with Funk. But I got a look at Funk, he will dominate the Comets conference opponents. I intend to get down to El Paso at least once this year to see Funk play, if he stays in El Paso.

I also got a look at Lou Adams’ Rich Township squad. I figured it was only a matter of time before Adams working Rich into a top team. That time appears to have arrived. Look for Rich to make a splash.

I got a look at Benet. The Redwings look special even without one of last year’s top contributor, Gabe Sularski. Sularski a couple court’s over after returning to his home town Lemont team. Sularski had a couple chippy exchanges with Whitney Young’s Antonio Munoz in their matchup.

Whitney Young is, well, Whitney Young. They will be very good as usual—maybe special. Antonio Munoz looks itching to get after a state title.

So those are my impressions of Friday. Here are a few photos from the day.