AUBURN – There is just something about this Bishop Luers boys basketball team. I, for one, would call it a calmness amongst a chaotic pace.
They sit above .500 and it feels like it has been a long, long time since the Knights program could say that. They went 4-18 last season, 1-21 the season before. Now, at 8-4, they are winners of five of their last six games after Tuesday night’s 79-64 win at Lakewood Park. In that stretch was a win over former conference unbeaten Carroll and also a win at Marion against former Bishop Luers coach James Blackmon Sr.
This team is calm, therefore they click.
“We’ve been picking it up in practice and bringing it every night,” Luers senior Jalen Causey said. “We just have to respond, people are going to give us our toughest matchup every night. We have to get guys in the roles they need to play and a getting them in the best position to score.”
It is easy to say that there was unrest in the Luers program prior to this season. Blackmon led them to unparalleled heights before leaving after the 2013 season. They went below and then at the .500 mark in J.J. Foster’s first two years at the helm before righting the ship and making a semi state appearance in 2017. Those years were not without controversy though. When Will Hubertz took over after Foster left for his current job at South Side, the program was looking at completely different direction; it turned out to be a bad one, a one win season with just a victory, like Tuesday, at Lakewood Park.
Skeptics would tell you when Fonso White took over to start last season that the Knights weren’t closer to turning things around. No knock on White, he was sensible yet passionate and advancing with his coaching methods from day one. But a third coach in three years? No program wants to see that.
Something was just different about White though and his presence felt right when games started being played. There were times when guys were still doing their own thing, wanting their touches. But as that mentality started to fade, the Knights were often right in the game: 3 point loss to Homestead, 2 point loss to Wayne, a point away from Bellmont, an upset win against Norwell. Things were flowing right with a mix of how it was done before White and how it was done for him.
I’d love to say it had media split on Bishop Luers heading into this season, but it didn’t. At six in our preseason breakdown, Bounce has no issue pointing out that Outside the Huddle was the only ones giving Bishop Luers much credit. As it stands today, they are in a four way tie for first place in the conference nearing this Friday’s midway point. Bishop Luers is ranked fifth in Outside the Huddle’s most recent power poll. According to White, a big part of that has come in a true team mentality, cliche or not. His players don’t care about how many touches they get on the ball as long as they are winning.
“The biggest difference is, we bought into being a family first and foremost,” White said. “We understand that everything we do, there is a consequence we are going to face and we have a shared fate. Everybody has bought in that we play to win now.”
Because nobody, not even this frog, knew that the Knights would be this good right now. Their weekend last weekend reads like a dream to most teams: beat Carroll AT Carroll and then go toe to toe and blow for blow with one of the state’s best teams and best players regardless of class in a 67-63 loss to Blackhawk Christian.
“We came into the new year 2020 saying that we wanted to be the best we can be for us. The guys, they bought into, once we won those first three games coming back, that we can play with anybody and be successful if we just come in, work hard and do what we do,” White said.
So what does make this Bishop Luers different than last year or even a season under Hubertz? When they beat Marion on January 7 to move to 4-3, they went above .500 for the first time since March 18, 2017. But it is no coincidence that this group is doing it.
Depth has been crucial in the run. Eight players are seeing regular minutes nightly. On Tuesday at Lakewood Park, those eight all contributed to the scoring output. Early on at Lakewood Park, when the Panther 2-3 zone was extending Bishop Luers possessions, it was Landon Moore who really took the aggressive edge in getting to the basket and creating for himself. Once the Knights got comfortable, their leading scorers followed suit. Naylon Thompson and Demarcus Hudson each scored 16 along the way, both being able to tuck the ball and weave through Panther defenders at the rim. Causey also added 13 points, often as the front man in a press, leading to easy layups after Knight steals.
While Lakewood Park had their moments, it was Luers who could really dictate pace all game long. Their defense was getting in passing lanes, aggressive in being a fire starter for their offense. Bishop Luers’ best basketball played on Tuesday night, and all season for that matter, has come from getting out on the break. All of the players run the floor and that just isn’t something you see often enough. The Knights get out, they spread the floor, run their lanes and make sure to strengthen each other. It was on that break where Nick Thompson really thrived and showed his advantages with his speed and second gear when getting at the rim.
On Tuesday, the Knights thrived even in a traditional inside game. Despite the size disadvantage against the length of Lakewood Park’s Caedmon Bontrager, the way Bishop Luers was able to attack the rim from different angles helped senior John Peterson be able to pick his spots and get clutch baskets to slow Panther runs. He finished as the fourth Knight in double figures with 11 points.
That defensive pressure starts it all, they challenged Lakewood Park in the full court from start to finish. When Bishop Luers have to play half court, they are still decent, but in the full court they are able to take more risks in their traps and flying into passing lanes. Their length and speed in those passing lanes makes it difficult for opponents, including Lakewood Park, to get clean passes. It forces other teams to throw bullet passes, sometimes difficult to handle ones, just to get the ball through the Bishop Luers press.
White says that in practice, the Knights will sometimes go 6-on-5, 8-on-5 or even 10-on-5 to create the worst possible scenario for themselves so that come day, things are a little easier for them.
“A lot of teams are going to try and stop us from transitioning, pack the box and everything,” White said. “We are going to continue to do what we do. We get to the paint, we get to the free throw line. And long as we continue do what we do well, we are having success.”
And with that success, White will tell you, the target continues to grow. Bishop Luers has gone quickly from a team a year ago that would have loved to be hunting down bigger teams to being that hunted team at the top of the area standings. Lakewood Park took pride in making runs and pulling back into the game. Luers wasn’t going to have an easy game in Auburn, a sample of how the rest of the season is going to go no matter what court they are on.
The Knights seem to be thriving in that right now and having fun in the process. The energy and enthusiasm of Bishop Luers on Tuesday ran through their crowd and their bench. When Lakewood Park’s Josh Pike connected with a second half alley oop to Bontrager over the top of Luers’ Hudson, the team reacted as fans including a big reaction from Naylon Thompson before sprinting back on defense and immediately getting back to work. They later joked with Nick Thompson after a phantom charge call. The Knights just had fun, smiles across their faces far more often than scowls.
This team in full of closers. They never let Lakewood Park full in the door. And although the Knights’ big second half lead dwindled down to two points early in the fourth, they turned it up down the stretch and finished the game. That means right now, there is really no reason to not believe in Bishop Luers and the calmness they bring amongst the chaos they can create.
These opinions represent those of Bounce and Outside the Huddle. No opinions expressed on Outside the Huddle represent those of any of our advertisers. Follow Bounce on Twitter at Bounce_OTH
Be the first to comment