The IHSA State Finals are complete with four new state champions crowned. Here is a little this and that from what went down in Champaign.
Four-peat?
Yes, we’ll give DePaul Prep and coach Tom Kleinschmidt some time to revel in winning a third straight state championship, something that’s only been done three times in the long history of high school basketball in this state.
But a four-peat?
There’s only been two programs in state history to accomplish the rare feat.
Peoria Manual did in the mid-1990s with that all-time famed group of Sergio McClain, Marcus Griffin, Frank Williams and others. Simeon and Jabari Parker did it with titles in 2010-2013. And that’s it.
Orr and coach Lou Adams were on the brink of winning four in a row in 2020. Set to play in the Class 2A semifinals and just two wins away from joining a select group of programs before Covid shut down everything.
The great East St. Louis Lincoln teams of the late 1980s came close. The Flyers won three in a row in 1987, 1988 and 1989 before losing to King in the 1990 state semifinals.
Now DePaul will get a crack at it in 2025-26. That’s the question that will be looming over DePaul’s head over the next 11 months. Can the Rams win four in a row?
The only reason it’s even a question right now is because the Rams do return three key players in big man Rashaun Porter and guards Rykan Woo and AJ Chambers.
If Kleinschmidt’s program was to do so it would make history in this regard: DePaul will have won the four titles in three different classes. That’s because the Rams will likely be bumped up to 4A next season.
Stealing the show
There were some big names playing in Champaign this past weekend.
Peoria Manual’s Dietrich Richardson, a Bradley recruit, is regarded as one the state’s top seniors. Warren’s Jaxson Davis is a super sophomore lauded as one of the very best players in the state regardless of class. Benet, Brother Rice, DePaul Prep and Belleville Althoff all boast present or future Division I talents.
But a no-namer when the state tournament began — and one of the smallest players in the smallest class — put on arguably the best show. That’s how impactful Hope’s Tyjuan Hunter was in leading the Eagles to a Class 1A state championship.
There was the 80-foot buzzer-beating launch at the halftime buzzer in the state semifinal win, a game where Hunter went for 17 points and 10 assists. He followed it up with 26 points, five rebounds and 11 assists in the state championship win.
Hunter, a wispy 5-7 point guard who averaged 23.4 points and 5.4 assists a game, returns next year to lead coach Ronnie Fields’ team. He will be one of three returning starters returning and five rotational players back next year.
Defensive Benet
It didn’t take long for Benet to prove itself as an offensively explosive team this season. The Redwings scored 62 or more points in each of their first 12 games this season, averaging 70 points a game in starting 11-1.
But it’s been the Benet defense that’s been an even more instrumental part of coach Gene Heidkamp’s successful run over the past 17 seasons. They’re an annual postseason contender because of it as Benet consistently thwarts the opposition with its disciplined, often physical, team defense in the halfcourt.
Last season? Not so much. The Redwings didn’t possess all of the traits of a typical Heidkamp-coached team. The offense bogged down and was stagnant at times. And defensively, there were constant leaks and stretches of ineffectiveness on that end of the floor. The season ended with giving up 65 points to Bolingbrook in a sectional loss.
It’s a credit to the returning players to turn the page and buy all the way in this season, although it was a bit of a slower transformation.
When it came to defense, it really was a tale of two teams. There was the one that gave up 70 points in a loss to St. Ignatius and another 66 in a win over Marist in December. Simeon scored 66 and Bolingbrook 64 on the Redwings in January.
But in winning 15 of its final 16 games, which included seven postseason wins, Benet allowed just 44 points a game.
In particular, in a sectional win over Waubonsie Valley, supersectional victory over Quincy, and in the state semifinal win over Evanston, Benet’s defense shined.
Warren’s Jaxson Davis delivers
Warren’s Jaxson Davis was billed as the player to watch heading into the state tournament weekend. The sophomore has already done so much in just two years of playing high school basketball and was the best prospect, regardless of age or class, playing in Champaign.
He didn’t disappoint and absolutely looked the part in the semifinal win over Evanston and with how Benet prepared for him in the title game. That’s the type of star high school player fans enjoy watching.
Davis has two more seasons to add to his résumé. Already off to a stellar start in terms of one of the more accomplished young players in state history, he’s a player who has the potential to go viral when it comes to stars in this state.
Remember, a couple of other north suburban stars, Glenbrook North’s Jon Scheyer and Stevenson’s Jalen Brunson, fell short in their first trip to the State Finals.
Scheyer led Glenbrook North to state as a freshman in 2003, finishing third in Class AA.
As a sophomore, Brunson and Stevenson finished second in the state in 2013 as he averaged 21.8 points a game. The Patriots fell to Simeon as the Wolverines won their fourth straight state championship.
Marcos Gonzales’ Brother Rice legacy
Brother Rice won 92 games the past three years. That’s a significant number right there for any team over a three-year period. Front and center for all of that was Marcos Gonzales, the senior guard who ends his career as the winningest player in program history.
Trophies, trophies, trophies.
The combination of Benet’s Gene Heidkamp, Rich’s Lou Adams and Evanston’s Mike Ellis have accumulated quite the trophy case as coaches for their respective schools.
Heidkamp now has brought home three second-place trophies and this year’s state championship trophy to Benet.
Ellis also has three state runner-up finishes — two at Peoria Richwoods and one at Evanston — while also finishing third in 2018 and again this season.
Adams has collected the most. In addition to his three state championships at Orr, Adams also finished third in 2014 and fourth twice in 2013 and 2020 at the West Side Public League power. His fourth-place finish this season at Rich gives him seven state trophies. He would have an eighth one if not for the Covid shutdown.
Combined, the three veteran coaches have won a combined 16 state trophies between them.
Dyett’s memorable run
Simply put, the Dyett story was one to remember for this 2024-25 season. You would be hard pressed to find a team that came out of nowhere more to win a state championship than the Eagles.
No one was aware of the Class 2A state champs before the season began.
Interestingly, Dyett grabbed my attention in a pair of two holiday tournament losses at Centralia in December. Coach Jamaal Gill’s team competed and played well against two 4A teams, one in Evanston that reached the 4A semifinals, and the other to a 31-win Marist team.
State Finals schedule
A change that certainly works that was adopted recently by the IHSA is playing the four state championship games together on Championship Saturday. The problem is the clunky, awkward format in getting the title game teams to Saturday.
Do whatever needs to be done, I don’t care — get rid of the third-place games, play the third-place games at the crack of dawn, whatever it takes — but get the 3A and 4A semifinals together again on Friday.
While there were at least meaningful games played on Friday night, which was a step in the right direction from a year ago, playing just two meaningful games on the middle day of the three-day state tournament weekend is a dud.
A change that certainly works that adopted recently by the IHSA is playing the four state championship games together on Championship Saturday.