A pair of the state’s biggest stars did something in the past week that all high school basketball stars typically do: surpass 1,000 career points.
It’s a milestone that is being reached more and more these days with the 31-game schedule — for decades the regular-season schedule was 25 games or fewer — and with more younger players playing at the varsity level than ever before.
Still, the majority of the time that career mark is surpassed at some point in a player’s senior year, sometimes as a junior. But Bolingbrook’s Davion Thompson and Warren’s Jaxson Davis have done it at the midway point of their sophomore seasons.
What joining the 1,000-point club this early in their career has done is put them both in play to do something so historically rare in this state.
There is still a lot of work to do for both Thompson and Davis, but there have only been five players in the long, illustrious history of high school basketball in this state to have scored 3,000 career points. The most recent was Jon Scheyer of Glenbrook North nearly 20 years ago.
Barrington junior Oliver Gray steps up
The junior class has fallen short in distinguishing itself this season. But don’t put Barrington’s Oliver Gray in that category.
Gray has been remarkably consistent and productive. He’s averaging 24.2 points, five rebounds and three assists a game while shooting 41 percent from the three-point line.
The 6-5 Gray was a distinguished shooter early in his career. He shot an impressive 48 percent from the three-point line as a sophomore with 51 made threes while averaging 16.9 points a game. But it’s the well-rounded and added polish in his overall offensive game that has elevated him as a player — and prospect.
What could have been for Young
Young is playing the typically strong schedule it always does. With junior standout guard Marquis Clark and senior Antonio Munoz leading the way, the Dolphins are 12-7 after beating Fenwick over the weekend.
But the look of the Dolphins would be considerably different without the exit of five players, particularly Rykan Woo, one of the season’s breakout players, and super sophomore Howard Williams.
Woo is a junior guard and leading scorer for the No. 1 ranked team, DePaul Prep, averaging 17 points a game. The 6-7 Williams headed to powerhouse Oak Hill Academy in Virginia and is a top 100 prospect nationally.
Payton’s Patrick Irvin, Maine South’s Rico D’Allesandro and Morgan Park’s Nasir Rankin also transferred out and are enjoying productive seasons.
Irvin is leading the way for Payton in the Public League’s second-tier Red Star Conference. The 6-5 junior is averaging 17 points, 10.2 rebounds, three assists and 2.4 blocks a game.
While Maine South has struggled a bit in the first half of the season, D’Alessandro was an all-tournament choice at Thanksgiving and Christmas. He’s put 18 points and six rebounds a game for the Hawks.
Rankin is a two-sport star and a decorated football prospect. Following a breakout season on the football field this past fall, Rankin made his mark with a 54-point performance against Harlan in December. Morgan Park, however, has fallen to the Public League’s White South.