Before the season started, Loyola boys basketball coach Tom Livatino handed out an index card to each player.
Written on the cards were the specific roles the coaching staff expected each player to fulfill. Eddie Trapp’s responsibilities consisted of bringing energy, being a lockdown defender and making open shots.
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Trapp, a 6-foot-1 senior guard, posted the card inside his basketball locker. It’s a daily reminder of his roles, he said.
“Every time I open my locker, I see it,” he said. “Before practice, before games. It gets me into the mind-set of what I need to do.”
Last season as a junior in his first year on varsity, Trapp rarely got off the bench during games. After Loyola’s 51-36 loss to Evanston in the Class 4A regional semifinals last year, he said he committed himself to earning more minutes.
With four games remaining in the 2015-16 regular season — the Ramblers play at St. Ignatius at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 29 — it’s safe to say Trapp has done just that. And according to Livatino, he has succeeded in fulfilling his assigned roles, too.
“He’s a great success story,” Livatino said. “He’s a great example of someone who put in the work and had good things happen.”
Loyola’s strength this season has been its defense, and Trapp’s biggest contribution to the Ramblers (9-10 overall, 4-2 Catholic North) has been on that end of the court.
Trapp often guards the other team’s best player, although there are some exceptions.
In a 46-31 loss to Evanston on Tuesday, Jan. 19, Trapp drew Evanston junior Nojel Eastern, a 6-6 guard and one of the top recruits in the state. On Friday, Jan. 8, in a 38-26 loss to De La Salle, Trapp matched up with George Willborn, a 6-3 senior wing.
“He does a good job of containing the ball, chasing through screens and is a good off-the-ball defender,” Livatino said. “He did what we asked of him against those talented guys.”
Trapp is part of a defense that has surrendered an average of 40 points in Loyola’s last four games. After being held to a season low by the Ramblers, Evanston coach Mike Ellis remarked on how well the Ramblers play defense.
“They don’t have any holes,” he said. “They always are there on the next pass. They are where they need to be. They work in concert, helping, rotating. They are very gritty and disciplined.”
Livatino said his man-to-man defense relies on individual efforts within the team concept, and nobody is a better example of that than Trapp.
His teammates agree.
“He has the will to get a stop every possession,” Loyola senior Will Plodzeen said. “His effort has turned him into our best defender.”
Trapp said he didn’t consider himself the Ramblers’ best defender at the start of the season. Rather, he’s improved with each practice and each game.
“For me, it’s about giving that extra effort all the time,” he said. “I’m always focusing on making each rep better than the [last], each game better than the [last].”
Relentless is a word Livatino and Plodzeen both used to describe not only Trapp’s defense, but his overall basketball attitude. It also defined his offseason workouts and prepared him for his increased role on the team. Livatino said Trapp won every offseason challenge, including posting low times in all of the competitive foot races, such as the mile run.
“Being relentless was a big emphasis in the offseason, and it still resonates with us now,” Trapp said. “The coaches always talk about a relentless will to win. It’s something I’ve really gravitated toward, both mentally and physically, this year.”
Matt Harness co-hosts a weekly golf podcast called Teeing Off. Find it on Twitter (@Teeing__Off) or at www.facebook.com/teeingoffpodcast and on iTunes.
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Twitter: @harnesspreps