Mike Ellis has taken three different teams to a state championship game — twice while at Peoria Richwoods and once at Evanston.
There have been 15 different seasons where the veteran coach has won 20-plus games. He’s captured seven sectional championships. He was the City/Suburban Coach of the Year in 2018.
But this 2023-24 season might be his best job of coaching yet.
Evanston didn’t return a single starter from a year ago. There were no hot shot, big-name young players in the pipeline. But the Wildkits (19-9) are again on the cusp of another 20-win season while getting better and becoming a bigger threat by the week.
There is no further proof of the improvement needed than what they’ve done in the second half of the season. The win over rival New Trier this past weekend, a team they lost to 50-37 back in December, is one prime example. They also beat Rolling Meadows 66-43 in January after losing to the Mustangs at Thanksgiving.
Last week the Wildkits not only took care of New Trier but also beat a pair of quality teams in St. Patrick and De La Salle.
Ellis’ team was not only inexperienced coming into the season but also a young group. It was going to take time to acclimate to playing major minutes at the varsity level. But the Wildkits are competing and defending.
Evanston is led by junior guard Theo Rocca, who averages 14 points a game. Morgan Brown, last year’s sixth man, and point guard Brandon Watson average eight points apiece.
While they won’t crack a top four seed in the sectional, this will be a dangerous team come state tournament time. They’ve played all the teams that will be seeded above them tough, including a three-point loss to Loyola two weeks ago.
Don’t discount Lane
With a Super 25 ranking and the return of a Division I talent in Shaheed Solebo, Lane was receiving plenty of preseason hype back in November.
These were to be unchartered waters for a program that has been building under coach Nick LoGalbo.
Lane, however, lost promising 6-8 big man Dalton Scantlebury to injury for the entire month of December. He slowly returned in January. But as they passed the midway point of the season, the Champions were 11-10 and a bit of an afterthought.
But now Lane has won six of its last seven games, including recent victories over Lincoln Park and Young.
Solebo, who surpassed 1,000 career points in January, has been his stat-filling self as the 6-5 uncommitted senior is averaging 15.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and two assists a game. Also, the return of Scantlebury (11.1 ppg, 9.3 rpg) has been a major difference. He’s a big 6-8 threat who is averaging close to a double-double. Senior guard Parker Williams is chipping in 6.1 points a game.
There isn’t a top four seed in the upcoming Maine South Sectional that wants anything to do with playing Lane in a potential regional game in a couple of weeks. Lane hasn’t won a regional championship in more than 75 years.
