The high school basketball season takes time to ferment. With so many games and players to see, along with different geographical matchups that materialize, holiday tournaments instantly speed up the process.
As a result, we head into January in an almost effervescent way.
Here is a short list of teams and players who opened eyes in their own way this holiday season.
Marshawn Cocroft and Kaneland
After back-to-back 26-win seasons, this one shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. After capturing the Plano Christmas Classic, Kaneland is off to a stellar 12-1 start.
At first glance, this Kaneland team certainly looks the part, starting with established scoring point guard Marshawn Cocroft. Then there is the impressive athletic trio of 6-7 senior Freddy Hassan, 6-5 junior Evan Frieders and promising 6-9 sophomore Jeffery Hassan.
But Cocroft, who was named tournament MVP, makes this team go. He was a small school all-stater last year playing for an Aurora Christian team that finished fourth in the state in Class 1A. He returned to Kaneland schools this year, where he attended through seventh grade, and has the look of lifting this team to perhaps another level going forward.
Cocroft plays with great pace, confidence and brings the combination of table-setting and scoring to the point guard position. He gives the Knights, who were rocked by Crystal Lake South in the sectional final a year ago, a legit shot in this year’s very winnable Rochelle Sectional.
Fremd
Even with the departure of highly-successful head coach Bob Widlowski, who retired at Fremd but took the Hersey job this past offseason, the Vikings were expected to be good. But how good under first-year coach Mike Brown was the question?
Fremd won the Wheeling Hardwood Classic for the first time since 2013.
Sweeping four games at the Wheeling and heading into January with a 12-game winning streak and just one loss –– a 71-60 loss to Evanston at Thanksgiving –– has provided some proof. Fremd is the favorite in the MSL West and has the look of a potential top seed in the Schaumburg Sectional.
Jordan Williams, who nearly went for a triple-double in the title game win over Deerfield, has been on the radar as a prospect since he entered high school. But the 6-5 junior has emerged as a legitimate difference-maker. He’s a load as a finisher at the rim and on the glass. He averaged 19.5 points a game at Wheeling while being named tournament MVP.
With Williams and 6-4 senior Sam Hirsch, who is a major threat shooting the basketball, Brown has a significant 1-2 punch to lean on.
Charlie Pomis, Hersey
Throughout the spring and summer, Pomis flashed signs of having the potential to be an impactful player this season. He’s reached that point and has emerged as a new name on the radar in the junior class.
People slept on Hersey a bit in the preseason as Pomis was unknown to most. But the instant impact was felt when Pomis scored 26 points in the season opener and was named MVP of the Palatine Thanksgiving Tournament.
Pomis impressed again at the Pekin Holiday Tournament, where Hersey fell to eventual champ Morton but still finished 3-1. The smooth Pomis is an athletic 6-3 wing who attacks the basket and has the ability to play above the rim. He led the Huskies in scoring at Pekin with 16.5 points a game.
While he is a three-point threat, when the perimeter jumper adds consistency his rise as a prospect will follow.
Fenwick
The Catholic League certainly has its stalwarts. But after its run at York’s Jack Tosh Holiday Classic, Fenwick is more than ready to make a dent in the coming weeks against the more ballyhooed teams in the league.
The Friars won four straight to reach the title game at York where they fell to highly-ranked Bolingbrook.
Yes, Fenwick did make the best of a pretty favorable road at York; they didn’t have to beat a single ranked team to get to the championship game. Nonetheless, this Fenwick team, led by football star Nathaniel Marshall and guard Ty Macariola, did some serious pre-holiday damage that didn’t receive enough attention.
Fenwick, 13-3 overall, is 2-0 in the Catholic League with an eye-opening December win against Mount Carmel. Then there is a massive win over Peoria, a team that just won the State Farm Classic in Bloomington and whose only loss on the season is to Fenwick.
Coach David Fergerson clearly believed he had more with this group than others did coming into this season. He put together a schedule that included the aforementioned teams, along with Simeon, Young and Hinsdale Central still left on the non-conference schedule.
And how much could be at stake in the season finale —a road date at No. 1 ranked DePaul Prep?
Bryce Wegrzyn, Libertyville
You’re not going to find many juniors who are producing at the level of Wegrzyn, particularly one with as little name recognition as this 6-8 big man. He put up some significant numbers in four games at the Wheeling Hardwood Classic where the Wildcats finished 2-2.
Wegrzyn averaged 27.3 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 61 percent from the field. In the opening game of the tournament, Wegryanz converted on 15 of 16 shots.
He’s a big man with versatility. He gets work done around the basket but is capable of stepping out and stretching the floor with his three-point shot or bringing the ball up the floor.
On the season, Wegrzyn is averaging 22.4 points and 10.4 rebounds.
Jamier Montgomery, Crane
Crane made an impression at the Proviso West Holiday Tournament, upsetting Perspectives-Leadership in the quarterfinals and playing Lincoln Park tough in a 57-51 semifinal loss.
And the little-known Montgomery, a smooth, long 6-1 guard with scoring ability, did as well.
Montgomery is a name to watch in the Class of 2027. While he didn’t impact the third-place game, Montgomery averaged 13 points and 3.3 assists in Crane’s first three games at Proviso West.
Montgomery is a name to put on the radar while Crane could be a Class 2A team to watch in late February and early March.
Morton (not the one in Cicero)
There was no team outside the Chicago area who made a bigger statement than Morton.
Morton stays local during the holidays, heading 20 minutes west to the tradition-rich Pekin Holiday Tournament. With five losses on the season, the Potters were not among the top four Pekin seeds but took down three of them — No. 4 Hersey, No. 1 Mount Carmel and No. 2 Moline — in a 30-hour stretch.
Big man Wes Gudeman, the tournament MVP with 16.2 points and 8.7 rebounds a game, is a physical load around the basket and can step out and make a three. Alex McKie is a serious weapon shooting the basketball.
And what an off–the-bench story Owen Adams was as the key sub came in and buried a whopping eight three-pointers for 24 points in the title game win over Moline.
What the three days in Pekin did was establish Morton as a legitimate threat to get to Champaign in Class 3A.
