Benet navigating rough and tumble ESCC

First-year Benet boys basketball coach Gene Heidkamp knows all about the East Suburban Catholic Conference. He played and served as an assistant coach at St. Patrick before guiding Nazareth from 2002-05. "With the tradition that Benet's had in basketball, I think (that) was a good match for Gene right there," St. Patrick coach Mike Bailey said of his former assistant.

(Danielle Gardner/Staff Photographer)

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Certain schools in the East Suburban Catholic Conference have access to the deep talent pools in Chicago. And the Benet boys basketball program knew that breaking into its top-tier would be difficult. The ESCC isn't the easiest place to adjust to game speed.

The Redwings lost nearly 84 percent of their scoring from last season, and almost 75 percent of their rebounding. After a 14-12 campaign, the attrition included long-time coach Marty Gaughan and two all-conference performers, one a Division I talent.

They subtracted from point guard -- perhaps the game's most important position -- with the graduation of the coach's son Brian. And Ryan Haggerty, a 6-foot-8-inch forward, is now redshirting at Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

"At the beginning of the season, it was a struggle a little bit cause we didn't have much experience," Benet senior guard Phil Hayes said. "People said this year was just gonna be a rebuilding year. ... Once we all started to get a little more varsity experience, get in games a little more, we started to calm down a little bit."

First-year Benet coach Gene Heidkamp definitely knew the ESCC landscape when he accepted the job last May. In three seasons at Nazareth (2002-05), he compiled a 24-57 record before returning to his Alma mater. As a former player and assistant at St. Patrick, he received this warm introduction last Friday at the Shamrocks' gym on Chicago's Northwest Side: "Gene 'GENO' Heidkamp!"

So Heidkamp, who turns 39 on Monday, is on a nickname basis with some in the conference. That night the Redwings hung with St. Patrick for the first half, trailing 32-30 at the break. In the locker room, the Benet staff identified the first four minutes of the third quarter as the most important of the game.

"(Heidkamp) gets down to business, no politics. (He'll) tell you straight-up when you're playing good or tell you when you're playing bad," Hayes said. "He's not gonna dance around anything."

The Shamrocks then put together an 11-2 run. Bryant Smith and Tim Traversa -- two guards once tutored by Heidkamp who figure to play on the next level -- scored 15 of St. Patrick's 17 third-quarter points. They combined for 47 points in a 66-51 victory.

Right now Benet is 8-12 overall, tied for fifth in the ESCC at 4-6, with three games in five days beginning Friday at Nazareth.

"That's not necessarily where we want to be, but we feel like we're playing better," Heidkamp said. "And if we could ever put together four quarters against one of these good teams, we feel like our best basketball is in front of us."

Since the 1990-91 season, Benet has earned one conference championship. During that period, St. Joseph has won or shared 13 ESCC titles, including an active streak of five consecutive that will likely extend to six. The Chargers are 10-0 in conference, even after the league's most valuable player last season -- Wisconsin recruit Diamond Taylor -- transferred out of St. Joseph to Bolingbrook for his senior season.

In Heidkamp, Benet hired someone who has scouted the league for years. Hayes mentioned how the coach installed a new press break specifically for Nazareth, and told his players that flare screens are going to create open shots against St. Patrick. Guard Dave Sobolewski then went out and hit two 3-pointers off that in the first quarter.

"He was my right-hand man," St. Patrick coach Mike Bailey said of Heidkamp. "We knew when he came here (after Nazareth), that it was just gonna be a year or two, (a) stopover before he became a head coach again.

"He was up-front with us -- (that) was his goal. And (we) wouldn't want you to come back here unless your goal was to be a head coach somewhere. (When) I hire assistant coaches, that's what I'm looking for - guys who want to be head coaches."

Benet will grow with Sobolewski, a sophomore who tore an MCL during preseason practice but has returned to average about 16 points per game. He pointed to Benet's 30-10 record during the summer, and Heidkamp counts three players taller than 6-7 in the program's class of 2011.

"We know what we can do and we've lost a lot of close ones this year," Sobolewski said. "We know what we're capable of and we're just trying to build on it every day and get there."

Benet will lose 6-8 center Joe Meyerhoff after this season, and won't automatically pull the best players out of Naperville and its surroundings. Heidkamp's old boss stresses this to all his assistants exploring new jobs: Don't compare the situation to St. Patrick, and make sure the next school values basketball.

"Out in the suburbs, it's a two-edged sword. You compete against good public schools for students," Bailey said. "Now some people will say, 'At St. Pat's you don't necessarily have to do that, you're in the city.' But you got to compete against so many other good Catholic high schools that just attract students, much less basketball players. Each school (has) its own challenges.

"With the tradition that Benet's had in basketball, I think (that) was a good match for Gene right there."