Powerful high school and club coaches used to rule the Chicago area basketball scene. Certain programs were so prestigious that talented players would sit on the bench and wait years for the chance to star for a particular high school.
Those days are over. Parents have taken charge and spend the off season maneuvering their kids into the best positions to succeed.
Homewood-Flossmoor, the defending Class 4A state champs, graduated four starters. So four spots were seemingly open and available to team with senior point guard Jayden Tyler.
The best players at Lincoln-Way East (Brent Taylor) and Thornwood (Arden Eaves) transferred to Homewood-Flossmoor. And one of the area’s top freshmen, guard Darrius Hawkins, arrived on campus.
That well-known group was strong enough to place the Vikings in the preseason top ten. But it turns out the team’s true strength is a trio of seniors who waited their turn to play for Homewood-Flossmoor.
Ethan Howard, Kyle Polk and Aiden Derose all impressed in No. 6 Homewood-Flossmoor’s 58-45 win against Marian Catholic on Wednesday in Chicago Heights.
Howard barely played last year and Polk, who started as a B-team freshman, saw about three minutes a game. Now they are starters.
“I’m just so excited for the chance to be a leader on this team,” Polk said. “Watching those guys last year, I learned that you have to be tough. There is no time to be soft on the court.”
The Vikings (3-0) came out strong and opened up a 24-8 lead after a three-pointer from Derose to open the second quarter. Marian Catholic (2-1) fought back and cut the lead to 35-30 on Delan Davis’ three with 3:54 left in the third quarter, but that was as close as it would get.
The Spartans are heavily reliant on senior Zack Sharkey (20 points) for scoring, while all eight players in Homewood-Flossmoor’s rotation were able to score in a variety of ways.
Rose finished with 12 points and seven rebounds for the Vikings. Taylor scored 10 and Eaves added seven points and 11 rebounds. He says his transition to H-F has been smooth.
“They welcomed me with open arms and have pushed me to get better,” Eaves said. “I’m just glad to be here.”
Hawkins is a strong, confident freshman with great ball-handling skills and the ability to get to the rim.
“He made some mistakes early and some coaches may have taken him out in such a high-intensity game,” Dismukes said. “But I let him play through it and you saw how improved. Confidence is his best attribute, and I’m not going to harm that.”
“[Hawkins] can do everything,” Eaves said. “You need a pest on every team and he’s our pest.”
Hawkins scored six points. Tyler finished seven points and six rebounds and Howard added eight points and five rebounds.
“[Derose, Howard and Polk] all could have left when they didn’t play much last year,” Dismukes said. “They could have left when they saw the transfers come in this year. But they didn’t. They stuck to the process. They learned our concepts and our culture and you can see now that it is pretty much their show.”
