The biggest spring weekend of the travel basketball season is in the books.
The combination of last weekend being the only “live” evaluation period for college coaches and major shoe-sponsored events being played provided a significant platform for many players across the state.
The primary focus was action in Nike’s EYBL, Under Armour Association play and the Adidas 3SSB Circuit.
Let’s get to the news, notes and storylines from a busy weekend.
• While 6-10 Nick Allen of Bradley-Bourbonnais is universally regarded as the top big man prospect in Illinois in the Class of 2025, Lane’s Dalton Scantlebury is climbing fast.
The 6-9 Scantlebury continues to shine for Team Rose in Adidas play, regularly putting up double-doubles. He’s big, moves well, possesses offensive tools and competes. The comfort level has improved in so many aspects of his game.
Combine all of that with his legit 5-man size and Scantlebury, who added an offer from Toledo and Ohio earlier this week, will continue to have the eyes of college coaches on him. Big men are so hard to find and Scantlebury is a hot new name for mid-major programs to monitor and evaluate.
• The Illinois Wolves 16U team wrapped up spring play in the Under Armour Association as the only unbeaten team. The Wolves are now 8-0 after two weekends of play. They’ve proven to be a group that really seems to sacrifice for the good of the team.
There isn’t a hot shot prospect, but there is no denying DePaul Prep’s Rashaun Porter is the biggest name. The 6-6 sophomore is fresh off a state championship season where he averaged a modest 6.2 points and 4.6 rebounds a game. Porter, a blue-collar, still developing forward, has continued his productive ways with the Illinois Wolves and is one to watch in the Class of 2026.
A pair of rising sophomores in the backcourt, who both were instrumental in their respective high school team’s success this past winter, have been so steady: Benet’s Jayden Wright and Mount Carmel’s Noah Mister. It’s a small guard tandem but Mister’s feel and poise with the ball and Wright’s scoring and shooting are a troublesome combination for opponents. Wright is a threat shooting the basketball and a floor spacer every time he touches it on the perimeter.
The Wolves 16U team also features a much-improved Rykan Woo, the point guard from Young. He’s a hustler who is about the right things and is a pesky defender.
• The struggles for our prominent Illinois teams in Nike’s EYBL action remains. The Mac Irvin Fire and Meanstreets are a combined 3-17 in EYBL play. The 16U teams are faring just a little bit better.
• Despite the spring struggles of the Mac Irvin Fire 17U team, the team’s best player, Homewood-Flossmoor’s Bryce Heard, has been a constant force. The 6-5 Heard has shown enough self-creation on offense and three-level shotmaking ability to elevate his stock while continuing to play with the right mindset.
Remember, this is the leading scorer of a state championship team just over two months ago. And he has solidified himself as one of the top two or three prospects in the Class of 2025.
• Zion Gross of Joliet West is a player poised for a big senior season. Gross, who is now pushing past 6-5, has always been a tantalizing talent and a threat to becoming an offensive force. He showed that scoring potential again with Team Rose with a 24-point effort this past weekend. Gross has that size and bucket-getting feature that will always attract coaches.
He picked up recent offers from Mid-American Conference schools, Northern Illinois, Toledo and Kent State, and has arrived as a Division I prospect. His list of offers also includes Western Illinois and Radford.
• There is still a long way to go for Benet’s Daniel Pauliukonis. The 6-9 junior who is playing for Meanstreets in EYBL action put up very modest numbers this past season for Benet. But he continued to make strides and did come on later in the season. Pauliukonis will be a very important piece and a focal point for what will be a strong Benet team. The slender but skilled Pauliukonis offers a “down-the-road” projection but is one to watch as he develops over the next year. He’s a bonafide Division I prospect.
• There are certainly some big names when it comes the Meanstreets 16U team. But there was no denying who the best, most productive player was this past weekend. Young’s Marquis Clark, a powerful downhill guard, put up four double-digit games with point totals of 14, 16, 19 and 25 points in five weekend games. The fact Clark made 6 of 13 from beyond the arc is another good sign in his development. He recently picked up a scholarship offer from Illinois.
• Last November the City/Suburban Hoops Report labeled York’s Kyle Waltz as a player who will burst on the scene. It’s now happening.
Following a rock solid senior campaign as a key player for a York team that reached a sectional final, he’s now using that experience and confidence to raise his stock this spring. Playing with Breakaway in Under Armour Association play, the 6-7 Waltz averaged 11 points a game while looking the part this past weekend. Since the weekend he’s added offers from Western Michigan, American, Vermont, Miami (Ohio) and Fordham.
Breakaway has gone 5-3 in two weekends of action as Waltz has led his team in scoring with 13 points a game while shooting 18 of 34 from the three-point line.
• You want production? Lake Zurich big man Anton Strelnikov keeps providing it. He did it consistently all winter for the Bears and has kept it up with his play with Breakaway, averaging 14 points a game over four games this past weekend.
• The Breakaway 16U team continues to impress. Chris Bolte, the 6-5 lefty from St. Ignatius, led the way this past weekend with 16 points and 8 rebounds a game. Bolte is a relative unknown but continues to stick shots off the catch and has proven to be an effective finisher around the basket.
Bolte is quietly putting together an outstanding spring, while Loyola sophomore Trey Williams, a complete no-namer at this point, is a stat-sheet-stuffing point guard. Both Bolte and Williams will build their respective résumés quickly with bigger opportunities ahead of them.
