R'ville, Plainfield S., Plainfield N. show wares
MORRIS -- Plainfield North High School was king of boys basketball in the Southwest Prairie Conference a year ago but lost much its foundation.
Meaning, the opportunity may be there for someone else to take the reins.
That someone may have been in action this week at the 24th annual Morris Boys Shootout, which concluded Wednesday.
Minooka was there and looking good, while Romeoville, Plainfield South and Oswego also demonstrated the ability to compete against strong competition. North also was on hand, but with a short roster.
"I really think our conference is going to be wide open," Romeoville coach Jeff Bambule said. "Oswego has looked good here. Plainfield South and Minooka have done a good job, and I've seen Plainfield Central this summer, and they look good, too."
Bambule's team finished 12-15 a year ago and graduated Demarius Miller, who averaged 18.0 points per game, and Earl Bell, who averaged 13.9.
But the cupboard is not bare, beginning with Devon Hodges, a 6-foot-7 junior who was an early commitment to Wisconsin and appears ready for a banner season.
"Devon is playing very well this summer," Bambule said. "He will be a go-to guy. He is stepping up and trying to be a leader."
Hodges, who averaged 7.8 points and 6.5 rebounds as a sophomore, will improve those numbers if hard work has anything to do with it.
"He's trying to develop his post moves more and get stronger in the weight room," Bambule said. "He will get plenty of attention from our opponents. He's 6-7, and after that, we are pretty small."
The Spartans also return 6-3 senior Donte Fuller and a pair of juniors who saw significant playing time on the varsity last season, Bo Goshorn and Sam Yi.
"Goshorn and Fuller have stepped up," Bambule said. "And Sam (Yi), I just love having him. He works hard, and his shot is improving. I wish I had five of him on the floor at the same time.
"The way he plays, it rubs off on the other guys, too."
Bambule said he has changed things up this summer to prepare for the winter season.
"I've taken a different approach," he said. "We're working on our shooting and on developing strong fundamentals, and we're not worried about strategy as much.
"We have to shoot better, and shoot better from the free throw line, and we have to get stronger if we want to be successful."
"Ed is a basketball player," Cougars coach Ken Bublitz said. "He works extremely hard on his game. He is showing everyone that in the summer."
Bublitz said South is making progress.
"Sometimes the tendency is to overemphasize the competitiveness in the summer when what you really want is team and individual development," he said. "We always want to play well, defend consistently and take good shots on a regular basis.
"Sometimes you do that and lose, and sometimes you don't do that and win. But all you really want is that consistent performance."
South, 10-16 last season, always has been known for its defensive pressure -- and lack of size -- in the Bublitz era. "We'll be a little taller this year," he said.
The Cougars lost forward Luke Gundersen and guards Brandon Bonds and Todd Franklin to graduation, but Bublitz is happy with the summer to date.
"We have seen a lot of quality teams to this point," he said, "and our team seems to have a grasp of what we are trying to do.
"Our two objectives are to be a consistent defending team and have good shot selection. Those are two priorities we set up in June and overall I've been pretty pleased with that."
Still on the injured list is senior center Scott Vachon.
Plainfield North, 26-5 in its banner season last winter, played Wednesday in the shootout with six players.
"Every day this summer is different," Tigers coach Nick DiForti said. "Yesterday we had 8-9 guys, today six.
"We have struggled here, but this does give us an opportunity to see what individuals can do. Maybe we'll see if a guy who is in one position can be versatile enough to play somewhere else."
Vachon is among the top returning players in the area, assuming he makes a full recovery from a serious knee injury suffered late last season. In 24 games a year ago, he averaged 11.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and led the area with a .630 shooting percentage.
"We anticipate that Scott will be able to play, and that will be good," DiForti said. "He is a big part of our team, and he will be getting a lot of college looks as well."
DiForti said Vachon, who would have been one of the top starting pitchers on North's baseball team this spring had it not been for the injury, will get his knee brace and begin running this month.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, his is not the only injury.
"Alex Abbott, a 2-guard and a junior, was a good player for us last year and went down last week with a dislocated ankle," DiForti said.
Football 7-on-7s occupy some of the time of other Tigers, "but I don't mind that at all," DiForti said. "The thing is, there hasn't been one time this summer where we have had all our guys together."
Senior Devonta Davis is a football standout who also brings experience to the basketball team. He averaged 3.7 points and 2.6 rebounds last season.
Chris Whitehead and Ben Daniel, who backed up Lemon at point guard last season, will help form the nucleus this time around.
"Ben came in against Neuqua Valley in the sectional when Reggie (Lemon) was hurt and had a good game," DiForti said. "He has improved a lot."
Jake Ready is a junior who DiForti said has been playing well.
"We will be young," he said. "But we had some success on the sophomore level last year. It's just that we will be different than the last couple of years. It will be interesting to see how our guys mesh."
