BURR RIDGE — For the fifth year in a row, the Burr Ridge Middle School boys basketball team competed downstate.
Players point to solid coaching, and the coach credits his driven, talented players.
“We’re just coming up and hungry,” said JV player Chamill McGee.
Burr Ridge fifth, sixth and seventh grades make up the JV team (24-1), while the varsity (12-7) is eighth-grade players.
The JV competed in the Illinois Elementary School Association Class 2A state quarterfinals last weekend, beating Decatur-Robertson 35-20 in the first game Feb. 7, controlling the game well, according to head coach Michael LaCassa, in his fifth year.
The team lost to Assumption Central A&M 42-34 in the second game. The JV now plays Ottawa at 6 p.m. Thursday at Clinton High School for third place.
The varsity team lost the regional championship Feb. 5 to Cottage Grove in Ford Heights.
LaCassa, also the school’s athletic director and a physical education teacher, attributed the young team’s consistent success to driven players and a focus on fundamentals.
“My kids are really motivated to always learn and make themselves better,” LaCassa said. “They’re eager to learn and they’re coachable.”
The team holds intense practices and LaCassa stresses to his players, “We’re here to compete against each other and make each other better.”
It’s a talented group that’s learned each other’s strengths and weaknesses and how to work together, he said.
LaCassa said he spends a lot of time picking things up from high school coaches and clinics, and focuses on fundamentals like passing, shooting and ball handling during his team’s frequent practices.
LaCassa always tries to have players thinking, What if?
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“You know, for me, I always put them in situations,” like putting them on the losing team, he said. “The kids really buy into our system.”
The team’s family feel also contributes to its success, LaCassa said. Varsity players act like big brothers to the younger players, and quality time spent at practices has led players to develop close bonds.
“I think it’s very important to build a relationship with our kids,” he said.
Seventh grade players McGee and Jamir Truman attributed the team’s success to hard work, good chemistry and solid coaching.
“We work hard in practice, and the teammates are great and just a great coach,” Truman said.
“It shows up with our record and our game,” McGee said.
LaCassa also credited seventh graders Aaron Tims, Jason Williams and Ahmad Thompson, and sixth grader Kendall Martin as being steady players who have been strong performers for the JV team.
Truman said LaCassa taught him how to move the ball and how to take the right shots at the right time. McGee added that their coach has taught them to take the lead off the court, too.
“He pushes us,” McGee said. “He’s not, like, just a coach. He’s like a father figure.”
LaCassa is hoping most of his players go on to play at Hinsdale South. That’s where Truman said he’s likely to attend, while McGee isn’t sure yet.
Caitlin Mullen is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press