After the Notre Dame basketball team’s season-ending 75-63 loss to Waukegan in the Class 4A Waukegan Sectional semifinals, Dons coach Tom Les told his players to walk out of the locker room with their heads held high.
The Dons finished 25-6 and captured the Libertyville Regional title with a memorable late comeback against Niles North.
Seniors Jeameril Wilson and Matt Stritzel completed their three-year varsity careers as two of the most decorated players in school history, winning three straight regionals, a 2016 sectional crown and multiple in-season tournament titles.
Les also had a message for his non-seniors on March 8.
“The sophomores, juniors and one freshman have to understand that time goes by quickly and you have to make the most of it,” said Les, relaying his comments to reporters after the game.
With the attention shifting to the future, Les admitted there are “a lot of gaps to fill.” The Dons will lose most of their key players, including their entire starting lineup, to graduation.
A team featuring Notre Dame’s expected returnees and players from this year’s sophomore and freshman teams, which went 9-19 and 16-20, respectively, will not enter next season with lofty expectations.
But Wilson said don’t write off the team’s current young players just because they might be unproven on the varsity level.
“Even though we play a lot of older guys, there are a lot of young guys on the bench, learning and working hard,” said Wilson, who lives in Chicago.
Notre Dame’s first player off the bench in the sectional semifinal was junior Dusan Mahorcic, a 6-foot-8 forward who arrived in Chicago two years ago from his native Belgrade, Serbia.
While Mahorcic was primarily used on the interior because of his height, teammates say he also has shown an ability to score from the perimeter.
“Dusan is a monster in the post and he’ll be good next year,” said junior Adi Tagani, from Chicago. “But, not only can he play in the post, he can step out and shoot and really make it difficult to guard him.”
Tagani and sophomore Robert Pryor are combo guards who appear most likely to take over in the backcourt. Both are good ballhandlers. Tagani is a good shooter, while Pryor’s defensive abilities might be slightly ahead of his improving offensive game at this point.
Les said he expects the 6-foot Tagani to be one of the team leaders, and Tagani said he’s up for that challenge.
“I feel like I can (be a leader),” Tagani said. “We don’t have a lot of returning juniors and we’ll have a young team. I feel like I can step up and get them on the right track to work hard, and if they’re slacking, pick them up.”
The 5-9 Pryor is the nephew of former Notre Dame standout Rodney Pryor, who spent this season as a graduate transfer and starter at Georgetown.
The younger Pryor is from Evanston, and he grew up playing with the Wildkits’ talented sophomore trio of guards Lance Jones, Jaheim Holden and Ryan Bost. But Robert Pryor said he likely had an opportunity to gain more playing time earlier at Notre Dame. Rodney Pryor’s positive experiences at Notre Dame also helped convince his nephew to follow in his footsteps.
“It was hard picking between (going to school) with friends or with people I didn’t know,” Robert Pryor said. “But it would be hard working through (the Evanston trio) to get a spot on the floor. (Rodney and I) talked through that and I made my decision. Also, seeing how much coach Les and the other coaches helped Rodney improve his game (was a key factor in the decision).”
Robert Pryor added: “I’m very happy with my decision.”
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Talented freshman Jason Bergstrom, who is 6-3, and juniors Nick McMananon (6-0) and Ethan Funk (6-3) are the only other varsity players expected to return next season.
Robert Pryor said there almost certainly will be people outside of the program who will not expect much from next year’s team. But he said that will serve as motivation in the offseason and next winter.
“A lot of people will doubt us and say we don’t have that much talent,” Robert Pryor said. “But we just have to work hard over the summer and come back and prove people wrong, get back to (sectionals) and prove people wrong.”
Dan Shalin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press