DePaul Prep has something to prove.
The three-peat thing is not a thing. Winning 2A and 3A twice doesn’t mean much when one is in 4A now. It sure seemed like business as usual as the DePaul Prep Rams came out against Niles North.
Well business as usual as it can be against a Glenn Olson coached Niles North squad. The Vikings came ready to fight as usual. All fired up and playing fast in the first half taking a lead into halftime. Niles North dropped in six three-point shots. A little unusual for the Rams to give that up.
“We were very upset about it. We made a change in our line up at half time. It wasn't the kid's fault that we took out. But we couldn't play with three bigs against that offense. They had one three in a second half,” said DePaul Prep head coach Tom Kleinschmidt.
The second half was a different story. All Rams. The Rams put up almost twice as many points in the second half as they did in the first half. Rashaun Porter and Ryan Woo lead the Rams with 26 and 20 points respectively.
It was a good look at this year’s Rams. We are going to see a larger rotation this year. We will see quite a bit of Blake Choice, Pat Lovell and others. Tom Kleinschmidt likes the four guard line-up but he has a bigger squad this season. We will still see plenty of four guard line-ups.
Toledo commit DePaul senior forward Rashaun Porter was matter-of-fact after the game.
“We just came together as a team [in the second half]. We realized that is simple to be a good defensive team if we just speak. Just saying“switch” can like go a long way to change the game. We did that as a team. We came together and we were able to pull out a wind against a very good team,” said Porter.
The No. 1 rank, the start of a four-peat season just didn’t seem to be a thing to this team. At least not in second half or after the game.
I think it’s because they were playing the why they play, which happens to be championship basketball.
Maybe it’s a little more. Maybe they still have something to prove. 3A is not 4A. It’s just strange to be writing about a team working on a fourth straight state championship at any level, let alone three different levels.
Something to prove is good thing.
