Boys basketball: Record Newspapers team preview capsules for the 2023-2024 season

The 2023-24 boys basketball season tips off this week. Here are previews of teams from around the Record Newspapers coverage area.

Newark

Coach: Kyle Anderson (2nd season)

Last season’s record: 18-14, 7-3 Little Ten

Top returning players: Clay Friestad (sr., G), Nate Kath (sr., G), Lance Pasakarnis (sr., G), Blake Wallin (sr., F)

Top new players: Aidan Brummel (jr., G), Reggie Chapman (so., G), Cody Kulbartz, (so., F), Jackson Leggett (jr., F), Dylan Long (jr., G), Payton Wills (jr., F)

Worth noting: Anderson now has a year of coaching at his alma mater under his belt and is excited about a group that possesses good height and length and also shoots well. Pasakarnis (5 ppg, 3 rpg, 3 apg) and Wallin (4 ppg, 2 rpg), Friestad and Kath will look to lead the Norsemen in their final respective seasons as seniors. The arrival of Leggett, Long and Willis, who range in height from 6-foot-2 to 6-foot-4, should provide some key size into the mix. An overall lack of experience and ball handling issues are key concerns for Anderson, as are team speed and defensive physicality. Last season, the Norsemen beat some good teams, finishing 7-11 against teams with a winning record, but one of those wins was a 51-48 victory against Serena in the season opener. They’d later get blown away by 26 points the next time they played Serena before playing them again and only losing 46-41. They got off to a great 6-1 start but would later suffer through a seven-game losing streak so getting some consistency and avoiding losing streaks are priorities.

Oswego

Coach: Chad Pohlmann (7th season)

Last season’s record: 15-16, 9-7 Southwest Prairie Conference

Top returning players: Dasean Patton (jr., G), Rodney Richardson (sr., G), Taiden Thomas, (sr., F), Tino Thompson (sr., G), Bryce Woods (sr., G)

Top new players: Michael Delgado (jr., F), Tyrell Mayes (jr., G), Hunter O’Neill (jr., C)

Worth noting: The Panthers will boast some size this season, which is unlike last year’s team. “So we will be forced to play to that strength of the team, which is size,” Pohlmann said. One of those big guys is 6-foot-5 Patton (12 ppg) and he’s shown he can really fill it up. “Dasean is a big-time scorer and can do it from multiple spots,” Pohlmann said. The Panthers welcome back four key seniors, including Woods (5 ppg) who will look to lead the offense. “Bryce is an excellent playmaker from the guard position,” Pohlmann said. The Panthers will need some help from their bench, including some junior newcomers, including the 6-foot-5 Delgado and the 6-foot-11 O’Neill. “We will need to get the junior class outside of Dasean some experience early on in the season,” Pohlmann said. “Much like last year, this group will be better later in the season.” The Panthers finished won nine of their last 12 a season ago.

Oswego East

Coach: Ryan Velasquez (7th season)

Last season’s record: 29-6, 16-0 Southwest Prairie Conference (first place)

Top returning players: Jehvion Starwood (sr., G)

Top new players: Mason Lockett (so., G), Noah Mason (sr., G)

Worth noting: Last year’s team made school history by winning a sectional title for the first time. While most of that team is gone, University of Wyoming commit Jehvion Starwood is back to lead the squad. The Wolves are fortunate to have the player back who drilled the game-winning three-pointer to beat Bolingbrook in a sectional semifinal and his role becomes a bigger one after graduation has left them with a roster full of inexperience. “With limited experience returning, the Wolves will look upon leadership from their lone returning starter [Starwood] from a year ago,” Velasquez said. “Other players to watch are seniors Andrew Wiggins and Noah Mason. Underclassman Mason Lockett will be a solid contributor as well.” Starwood averaged 10.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.0 assists last season for a team that had lots of offensive threats, including Mekhi Lowery who is now at Towson. Since the Wolves have been so dominant in the SPC in recent years, they will undoubtedly see the best from their conference foes again this winter so they’ll have to find players who can step in and fill those graduation voids.

Parkview Christian

Coach: Don Davidson

Last season’s record: 3-28, 0-10 Illinois Christian

Top returning players: Alex Bernicky (sr., F)

Top new players: James Jefferson (so., G), Landon Malkowski (so., F), Tristian Mersman (so., G/F), Christian Mulder (so., G), Caleb Van Denend (jr., F), Karter Wilson (jr., G), Kashton Wilson (so., G)

Worth noting: After retiring three years ago after a coaching career that began in the early 1970s, Don Davidson is back again at Parkview Christian, just as he was just three years ago. The young 78-year-old will be challenged with a roster that lacks experience and size, so he will pull heavily on a young group of kids looking to prove themselves. “We have a very hungry group of unselfish players that I’m hoping can develop into a cohesive unit to overcome some of the problems of almost no experience returning and a lack of height,’ Davidson said. “If we can learn to defend with intensity, rebound with great desire and shoot well, I’m convinced that we’ll have a very solid season.” Davidson, a member of the Illinois Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame, started the program at Parkview Christian in the 2013-14 season and coached through the 2019-2020 season before retiring. Now he’s back for at least one more season.

Plano

Coach: Kyle Kee (11th season)

Last season’s record: 11-22, 4-10 Interstate Eight

Top returning players: Eric Cano (sr., G), AJ Johnson (sr., G), Waleed Johnson (sr., G), Chris Keleba (sr., F), Armando Martinez (sr., F), Davione Stamps (sr., G)

Top new players: Isaiah Martinez (jr., F/C)

Worth noting: At 6-foot-3, Keleba returns to the post while Stamps and Johnson return as starting guards for a senior-laden Reapers squad that not only returns three starters, but welcomes back others as well, including Cano, Johnson and Martinez. “Our top strength is our experience,” Kee said. “We return all but two players from the rotation last year. We should have nice size and very good quickness.” The team could get a huge jolt if Martinez’s knee doesn’t give him trouble. At 6-foot-9, his presence alone on the hardwood gives the Reapers a different look. “I believe we have a good hard-working group that should play well together,” Kee said. “I’m really excited about this group. If we can play up to our potential, it should be a very good year for the Reapers.” It should be interesting to see how the Reapers fare now that they are in the Kishwaukee River Conference, although though some of those drives might take longer than to play games.

Sandwich

Coach: Kevin Kozan (3rd season)

Last season’s record: 20-13, 10-4 Interstate Eight (second place)

Top returning players: Chance Lange (sr., G), Dom Rome (jr., F), Quinn Rome (jr., C)

Top new players: Simieon Harris (jr., G), Griffin Somlock (so., G), Drew Sullivan (sr., G)

Worth noting: Lange averaged 12 points a season ago while Dom Rome was contributing 5 points and 3 rebounds a game. Kozan believes they will be two of the better scorers in the conference this season and are among the team’s biggest strengths along with team defense. “We will be younger, but I believe we have the pieces to be a great defensive team,” he said. “Other than the defensive side of the ball, I believe our strength will be having guys such as Chance [Lange] and Dom [Rome].” They’re the only returning players who averaged more than two minutes of playing time each game last season. “Early on we may experience some bumps in the road due to having multiple guys having no varsity playing time, but I believe in the guys on this team and I feel that we can really get after it on the defensive end of the floor.” Somlock and Sullivan can really shoot it, Quinn Rome gives the team an option in the paint and Harris will look to transfer his touchdown-scoring magic to the hardwood soon.

Yorkville

Coach: John Holakovsky (4th season)

Last season’s record: 26-6, 12-4 Southwest Prairie Conference (third place)

Top returning players: Jory Boley (sr., F), Jason Jakstys (sr., F), Dayvion Johnson (sr., G), Kaevian Johnson (sr., G), Bryce Salek (sr., F)

Top new players: Taelor Clements (jr., F), Christian Harrell (jr., G), DJ Ingemunson (jr., G)

Worth noting: The Foxes are returning nine seniors, including Jakstys, who recently signed to play at the University of Illinois and five others that started in games a year ago. Jakstys (11 ppg, 7.9 rpg), Boley (10.1 ppg) and Salek, who Holakovsky is expecting big things out of this winter, will lead the way. Last year the Foxes lone conference losses were to Joliet West and Oswego, but Holakovsky recognizes that the conference is as competitive as ever with Oswego, Romeoville and West Aurora showing well during the summer. “We should be a team that can play both up tempo and a halfcourt game based on our depth and athleticism,” Holakovsky said. “We are looking to grow our team into a team that competes and wins games versus the top teams in our conference and on our schedule.” A tough non-conference schedule includes the Jack Tosh Holiday Classic and other games against Lincoln-Way East, Stevenson, Whitney Young (at the When Sides Collide Shootout at Benet), St. Francis and Metea Valley. “Our biggest challenge will be to continue to grow and improve as a team,” Holakovsky said. “And to win big games, stay consistent throughout the season and three-point shooting.” George W. Bush was the POTUS the last time the Foxes won a regional championship in 2005.

Yorkville Christian

Coach: Aaron Sovern (9th season)

Last season’s record: 10-22

Top returning players: Zach Marini (jr., G), Brady Sovern (jr., G)

Top new players: Noah Aguado (jr.), Tray Alford (fr.,), Jordan Purvis (fr.), Graham Razum (fr.), Jayden Riley (so.)

Worth noting: After six graduated from last year’s squad, the Mustangs are left with no seniors on the roster this year, but they have at least three freshmen who are expected to make big contributions all season long. Sovern said Alford, Purvis and Razum will contribute while Aguado provides some size at 6-foot-6 and “could be a force running the floor and a disruption defensively.” Marini (5.8 ppg) and Sovern (5.2 ppg) will look to lead the Mustangs with their unlimited range and ability to score in bunches while Riley will be the guy asked to lead the team’s up-tempo attack. Collectively, they’ll look to fill the massive void left with the departure of David Douglas Jr., and the 33.8 points he scored night in, night out last winter. Some of the many bigger schools on their schedule this year include Lincoln-Way Central, Neuqua Valley, Niles North, a Westinghouse team coming off a 19-win season and Rockford Auburn, which fell to Benet in a Class 4A supersectional last March.