There is so much to digest following the summer months of high school basketball, time used to heavily evaluate prospects while playing with their high school team in June and on the club basketball circuit in July.
Here are the players who made their presence felt in some way or fashion and the storylines that followed.
• You can start the Most Improved Player in the Class of 2027 conversation with Tommy Donahue, the 6-4 wing who averaged 6.8 points a game in helping Deerfield to a state runner-up finish last March. Donahue, a proven, space-the-floor shooter who shined all summer, will be one of the breakout players this season.
• Neuqua Valley’s Cole Kelly is an established marquee name in the sport. He’s already a two-time Sun-Times All-Area selection, boasts high-major offers and has scored over 1,200 points all before his junior year.
But digging a little deeper, there might not be a bigger stat-sheet-stuffing star in the state. While playing on the Adidas circuit this past offseason with Breakaway, the 6-6 Kelly averaged 16 points, seven rebounds and 5.2 assists in 18 games. In a win over Mike Brown Junior Elite, Kelly went for a triple-double with 20 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists.
• Grant Smith of Lyons is a player in the Class of 2028 who will continue to be talked about more and more. The athletic 6-6 junior caught the eye of college coaches this summer.
• There are a bevy of players with college potential up and down the St. Laurence roster, including recent Central Michigan commit Markese Peoples. But 6-5 rising junior Logan Brown is ascending quickly and is arguably the best prospect in the program. He offers size on the perimeter, his scoring range has improved steadily and he competes at a very high level.
• We will learn a lot more about plenty of players in the incoming freshman class over the next year, but the first impressions left by Joliet West’s Chad Carter and Bloom’s Larry Ellis were impressive. They will be a dynamic young pair to watch in the upcoming 2026-27 season.
• DePaul Prep will once again be very good as roles expand and production is added from one very improved player: Blake Choice. Already a defensive stalwart, the 6-3 guard’s versatility now expands to the offensive end of the floor after averaging just 5.4 points a game last season as a junior.
• Orlando Bohlen, a shooting guard with a scorer’s acumen and who effortlessly buries threes for such a young player, has so far toiled in obscurity. The Public League secret buried at Payton is about to change that. The fun-to-watch Bohlen, who has grown to 6-2, put together a heck of a summer and is among the top sophomores in the state.
• The Mount Carmel tandem of Ronald Johnson and DK Heard receive the fanfare as players at or near the top of the Class of 2029, but don’t forget about Logan Wessell, an effective and versatile perimeter threat at 6-4 who is poised for a breakout senior season.
• As a productive big man at 6-7 with skill, the impact of Wheaton Academy’s Hayden Schroeder continues to be felt. Schroeder took a recent visit to Elon and now has offers and interest from the likes of Toledo, Penn, Buffalo, Illinois State, Yale, Valparaiso and Northern Illinois.
• While Lockport twin brothers Nedas and Nojus Venckus recently received a Division II offer from Winona State, there should be more recruiting traction at that level for the 6-2 guards.
• With a ton of experience back from a 27-win season, Evanston will be a top five team when the season opens in November. The catalyst, though, will be Ben Ojala. The 6-1 guard not only makes tough shots as a scoring combo guard, but he plays with an edge, and provides a toughness that can flood into a team.
• Best player and prospect in the state: Bolingbrook rising junior Brady Pettigrew. The 6-3 guard will be the hottest thing in Illinois on the recruiting trail.
• A rising player in the junior class is Kayden Turner of Peoria High. The 6-4 guard led the Illinois Wolves 16U team in scoring and knocked down 42 three-pointers in 17 games. With Turner and Nigel Moore, a small but dynamic point guard, the Peoria Lions are a team to watch in Class 3A over the next two seasons.
• He came into high school with some attention and battled some injuries early in his career, but the strides Lincoln Park’s Alvin Robinson continues to show are noticeable. This upcoming season could be the year the 6-3 rising junior elevates his game.
• Although he plays outside the Chicago area, Moline’s Brady Welch deserves a mention. He is a point guard who truly understands the position he plays. While he can scoot by defenders with quick feet and has range beyond the three-point line, the point guard acumen is what you appreciate when watching the 5-11 rising senior.
• Oswego has a proven and bona fide scorer in Ethan Vahl, a guard who surpassed 1,000 career points during his freshman and sophomore seasons. Vahl remains one of the top players in the Class of 2028. But the continued improvement of another junior, 6-10 Cole Jansons, is what can push the Panthers to another level. While still an infant in his basketball development, the strides and potential Jansons showed this summer led to offers from SEMO and Northern Illinois.
• Pound for pound there won’t be many players who impact the upcoming high school basketball season more than Glenbrook North’s 5-9 Nate Fridman. The floor general with elite academics will be a Division III dream for some school and coaching staff.