MSL Basketball: Bright Future for Fremd Boys Basketball Comes to Fruition Under Widlowski
Palatine Experiences Both Sides of MSL/Postseason Success; Prospect Boys Volleyball Creates Glen "Elmo" Elms Scholarship; Jim Pardun Splashing Success at Vernon Hills
Turnovers can drive basketball coaches nuts.
And the instability from frequent coaching turnover can drive athletic directors crazy.
Few high schools can boast of the limited amount of turnover among the leadership of its boys and girls basketball programs like Fremd. Two girls coaches in Carol Plodzien and Dave Yates, who will be returning from Normal with another trophy this weekend.
The boys will be looking for just their fourth head coach since the school opened after Leon Kasuboske, Mo Tharp and Bob Widlowski, whose career came to an end last Friday with a regional final loss to Barrington.
And in the beginning, a 58-48 win over Carmel in a Thanksgiving tournament it hosted, Mike Brown (no relation to Widlowski’s assistant and former Schaumburg star) foreshadowed what might be ahead in his coverage of the game for the Daily Herald.
Brown wrote: “If Widlowski’s head coaching debut is any indication of things to come the future looks very bright for the Fremd basketball program.”
Bright indeed as Widlowski heads into retirement as one of the most successful boys basketball coaches in Mid-Suburban League history. He finished at 397 wins along with Ed Molitor, his head coach at Palatine, and behind only Tharp and Conant’s Tom McCormack, according to records from myself, the Daily Herald and IHSA. If it wasn’t for a COVID-shortened 2021 season Widlowski would have finished with more than 400 victories.
But Widlowski’s fourth-place Class 4A finisher in 2017 gave the Vikings a second top-four state trophy to go with the one Tharp’s 1993 team brought home. Schaumburg is the only other MSL school with two boys basketball state trophies.
Safe to say then-Fremd athletic director Jack Drollinger was on the mark when he said after promoting Widlowski to the top spot: “He works extremely hard and he gets along well with the kids and the coaching staff. I think he’s a good fit for what we’ve got going here and I’m looking at the whole athletic program when I say that.”
That appreciation for what he did beyond the wins and losses was evident in a video Zach Monaghan shared on Twitter/X. Monaghan followed his brothers Pat and Matt as Fremd standouts on the 2010 team that went 24-2 and the 2011 team that won a regional before playing collegiately and overseas.
The video had tributes from many players - including ex-NFL quarterback and current Dallas Cowboys assistant Scott Tolzien - and Molitor. Widlowski was influenced by some of the MSL’s premier coaches in Molitor, Tharp, Schaumburg’s Bob Williams when he was an assistant at Palatine and the late Glen Elms, who coached with Widlowski’s dad at Forest View.
When Widlowski got the job he also shared a sentiment that would hold true throughout his career.
“I’ll take the best of what fits my personality and combine it into my own style,” he said. “I’m comfortable about the way I want to go about doing things.”
Comfortable and consistent.
“The first one feels real good,” Widlowski told Brown after his head-coaching debut.
I would suspect Widlowski also meant it felt good to get it out of the way and move on to the next challenge. The majority of which were met with tremendous success.
Palatine’s MSL Championship Split Decision
Does winning the Mid-Suburban League boys basketball title game come with a postseason jinx? Retired Barrington athletic director and basketball coach Mike Obsuszt posed the question as it seemed quite a few recent MSL trophy winners did not enjoy a similar celebration a little more than a week later in regional play.
Palatine’s last two seasons are a perfect synopsis of how MSL champions have fared in the postseason since 2002. This year the Pirates are playing for an Elgin Class 4A sectional title Friday night against Stevenson. Last year they had to watch on their home court as Prospect celebrated an upset victory in the regional championship game.
Of the last 22 MSL championships that led to a postseason, half of those teams did not make it out of a regional. There was no IHSA postseason during the COVID-truncated 2021 season where Rolling Meadows and current Los Angeles Lakers’ second-year player Max Christie won the league title.
MSL and regional champions by seed since 2002:
No. 1 - Hoffman Estates (2004), Conant (2016), Fremd (2017), Barrington (2022)
No. 2 - Conant (2007), Fremd (2014), Fremd (2019), Palatine (2024)
No. 3 - Conant (2005), Schaumburg (2012)
No. 4 - Prospect (2009)
MSL champions that didn’t win a regional by seed since 2002:
No. 1 - Barrington (2015 - F)
No. 2 - Conant (2008 - F)
No. 3 - Elk Grove (2002 - F), Schaumburg (2003 - F), Fremd (2010 - S), Palatine (2022 - F)
No. 4 - Hersey (2006 - F)
No. 5 - Schaumburg (2020 - F)
No. 7 - Prospect (2011 - S), Prospect (2018 - F)
No. 11 - Schaumburg (2013 - F)
Note: F - lost in regional final; S - lost in regional semifinal
Prior to 2002, winning an MSL title was almost a guarantee of also winning a regional as 25 of 31 league champions advanced to sectional play. Prospect, however, seemed to have an MSL championship/postseason jinx as it won two of the first three titles in 1971 and 1973 but didn’t make it out of a regional. In 1971, the final season of one-class basketball in Illinois, the Knights lost their regional opener to Timothy Christian, which had to win a district tournament.
As for Eric Millstone’s current Palatine team, not only did it set the school record for victories in a season at 26 with its sectional semifinal win over Lake Zurich, but it also joins Ed Molitor’s 1981 and 1982 teams as the only ones from the school to play in a sectional championship game. Both of those teams advanced to the Class AA supersectional - which was the Sweet 16 before the IHSA expanded to four classes.
The 1982 team also won the sectional at Elgin when it beat St. Charles 56-43 as John Mosack and Rick Brandt scored 16 apiece and Todd Peterson added 13. The big challenge came in the sectional semis when Mosack scored 17 and hit a 15-footer with one second left in overtime for a 37-35 win over Elk Grove and future big-league pitcher Dave Otto, who had 14 points.
The 1981 team ended Crown’s 26-game winning streak 49-46 in the Fremd sectional final as Joe Schager had a tiebreaking layup at 1:03 and John Kelley scored 22. Kelley (18) and Joe Cole (16) led a 54-49 win over Elgin in the sectional semi.
MSL Boys Basketball Trivial Pursuits
Palatine became the ninth MSL boys basketball team to win consecutive championship games when it beat Rolling Meadows 56-44. The others:
Buffalo Grove (1976-78), Arlington (1982-83), Prospect (1984-86), Rolling Meadows (1989-91), Fremd (1997-98), Schaumburg (1999-2001, 2012-13) and Conant (2007-08).
Maine West (1964-65) and Wheeilng (1968-69) won consecutive MSL titles prior to the beginning of division play in 1970-71.
The Palatine-Meadows matchup was also the fifth time the same two teams met in successive years in the MSL title game. Palatine won 54-52 last year. The others:
Prospect and Hersey split in 1971-72
Arlington beat Prospect in 1982-83, Prospect won the matchup in 1984
Conant swept Buffalo Grove in 2007–08
Barrington and Rolling Meadows split in 2021-22
Palatine’s win gives the West a 20-6 advantage over the East since division realignment. The North-South matchups ended at 14-14.
Prospect Boys Volleyball Creates “Elmo” Scholarship
The gruff demeanor of Glen “Elmo” Elms was a facade for a wonderful sense of humor and caring for students during his time as a math teacher and coach at Forest View and Prospect. Just before he passed away from pancreatic cancer at 70 on Dec. 13, 2008, Elms briefly awakened and saw his family at his bedside and said, “What the hell are you all staring at? Waiting for the chicken to be cooked?”
Elms was best known around the MSL for his success as a basketball coach and use of a matchup zone as he won 314 games and led Prospect to its only supersectional appearance in 1991. But he was also instrumental in starting a boys club volleyball program at the school and was a longtime assistant for Mike Riedy.
The boys volleyball program has created the Glen “Elmo” Elms Scholarship of $1,000 to honor the life and legacy of “Elmo.” For the link to donate you can contact Daria Schaffeld at Prospect via email at daria.schaffeld@d214.org.
“The thing the public didn’t see was how student-centered he was,” Riedy told me for a column after Elms passed away. “He had a unique ability of working with and coaching kids other people would have given up on. The kids just loved him.”
You always knew where you stood with Elms. Sugarcoating things wasn’t his style. Rolling Meadows coach Kevin Katovich was an assistant for Elms at Prospect and said it was a big moment this season when he passed his mentor on the MSL’s career victory list.
One of Katovich’s early teams was struggling so he got together with Elms and expected to get some advice. After Elms talked about all sorts of other topics, Katovich asked if they were going to discuss his basketball team.
“What do you want to talk about,” Elms said. “Your team stinks.”
One of my favorite Elms moments was during a game that had to be moved to his old Forest View stomping grounds after a fire damaged the Prospect (now Jean Walker) Fieldhouse. As one of his players unsuccessfully tried to get a handle on a loose ball headed out of bounds, Elms shouted, “It’s the orange thing!”
No Need to Beg Your Pardun for Vernon Hills Swimming
The Pardun name has been a big part of swimming in the Mid-Suburban League and north and northwest suburbs for a part of seven decades.
Phil Pardun was instrumental in building the foundation of boys swimming programs at Elk Grove and Rolling Meadows during his 33-year teaching career in District 214. He also coached girls swimming and track and field at Meadows before starting the boys program at Vernon Hills when it opened in 2000.
His son Jim, who swam at Fremd and Harper College, followed his dad’s path to the pool deck. Jim was the first girls coach at Vernon Hills and he just led the boys program to its best season in his fifth year in charge.
This year’s Vernon Hills boys team won its first conference title in the Central Suburban North. The Cougars also had their highest postseason finishes in history as they took second in the Libertyville sectional to eventual state runner-up New Trier and were 19th with 36 points at the state meet in Westmont.
And the future looks bright for Pardun’s crew as 12th-place medalists return in junior Dan Berke (50-yard freestyle) and freshman Yury Plaksin (100 free). Plaksin and Berke teamed with seniors Eli Spivak and Edward Zhao on a sixth-place finish in the 400 free. Junior Will Rendall and sophomore Edgar Chan also got state-meet experience on qualifying relays.
Vernon Hills’ last boys swimming medalist was Jason Mitchell in 2005 when he took fifth in the 100 free and 10th in the 50 free when Phil Pardun was still the head coach. Alex Zuniga also medaled in diving by taking ninth in diving in 2013.
Jim Pardun’s brother Joe was also the head football coach at Hersey and is currently an assistant in football and baseball.
Paul Returns Wheeling Swimming to State Meet
Wheeling junior Van Paul, who qualified for this weekend’s state meet in the 100 fly and 100 breaststroke, became the school’s first swimmer to make the final weekend of the season since Nick Konstantos went in the 100 breast in 2017 and 2018. Junior Ostap Mykhalevych was also one of 32 at-large state qualifiers in diving.
“It’s about time we’re going back,” said Wheeling coach Tod Schwager at the Libertyville sectional.
That was after Paul swam a 50.88 in the 100 fly to exceed the qualifying standard by 1.1 seconds. It also broke the school-record 51.03 by Nate Reiff in the 2016 state preliminaries, where he finished 13th and missed the Saturday medal finals by one spot.
Paul said “I felt this was a chance to redeem myself” after battling back injuries this year, an illness the day of sectionals as a freshman that kept him out of the 100 fly and swimming club last winter. He goes into Friday’s prelims seeded 22nd. Wheeling’s last state swimming medalist was Eric Maczko in 2008 in the 100 fly (11th).
“His back seemed to be doing much better,” Schwager said of Paul. “He has great form and he’s great underwater. He had that there. It was a matter of can he do it at this time with the limited practice.”
Paul was 27th in the prelims in the 100 fly and 36th in the 100 breast and got valuable state experience to try and join the school’s other swimming and diving medalists - Aaron Kahn in 1996 (5th in 200 IM, 11th in 100 free), Don Secor in 1993 (12th in 50 free) and Tim Mattson in 1985 (4th in diving).
Giusti Makes Powerful Transition to D-I Baseball
Fremd graduate Connor Giusti made the big leap from Division III Wisconsin-Oshkosh to Division I Valparaiso for his fifth and final year of college baseball. It didn’t take long for Giusti to show he was ready for the step up in competition.
Giusti homered in his second at-bat last weekend and went 5-for-16 (.313) with 3 doubles and 4 RBI as Valpo split a four-game series at Alabama State. Giusti went 4-for-8 with his 3 doubles and a sacrifice fly in a Saturday double-header sweep. He started all four games at second base and handled 20 chances flawlessly.
Giusti, the son of longtime Prospect head coach Ross, hit .333 with 4 homers and 25 RBI last year at Oshkosh and had 10 homers in 117 career games. His head coach at Valpo is Brian Schmack, who pitched at Rolling Meadows and Northern Illinois and got in 11 games with the Detroit Tigers in September 2003. Schmack’s son Kyle is entering his fifth year and fourth year as a starter and he hit .322 with 9 homers and 38 RBI last year.
Freshman Lucas Foley, who was the North Suburban Conference pitcher of the year last season at Lake Zurich, also had an impressive debut in an 8-1 win where Giusti drove in 3 runs. Foley scattered 5 hits in 7 innings with 11 strikeouts and no walks before Huntley grad Jake Jakubowski finished up with 2 perfect innings.
Valpo headed back to Alabama this past weekend and was swept in a three-game series by the Crimson Tide. Schmack (.333, 2 HR, 7 RBI) and Giusti (.304, 4 2B, 5 RBI) have started all 7 games and are the top two hitters for the Beacons.
Copeland Gets First Win for Huskies
Ryan Copeland got on the board with his first victory as head coach at Northern Illinois as it won the finale of a four-game series at Abilene Christian 14-7. Copeland came to NIU after a successful four-year run as head coach at D-II Illinois-Springfield.
"For our guys to battle back after three tough games, I'm very proud of their toughness," Copeland said on the NIU athletics website. "Toughness is something we talk a lot about in our program and that's the epitome of it, to get a win on get-away day and enjoy it on the way home. Abilene Christian is a good team and they're going to win a lot of games this year, so it's a good first step in a really tough non-conference schedule."
Freshman center fielder and leadoff man Charlie Parcell (Maine West) played a big part in Copeland’s first win by going 3-for-5 with a double, homer and 2 RBI. In 3 starts, Parcell went 4-for-11 and also had 2 doubles.
NIU had a big challenge last weekend as it went to Baton Rouge, La., for four games that included two with defending NCAA champion and fourth-ranked LSU. The Huskies lost twice to LSU, but the second game was just 5-2, and split with Northwestern (La.) State. Parcell leads the team in hitting (.385, 4 doubles, 1 homer, 4 RBI).
Dello Continues Success at Rochelle Zell
Marty Dello, who was the head boys basketball coach for six years at Barrington and three at Crystal Lake South, has built a successful program at Rochelle Zell in Deerfield. Rochelle Zell won the Chicagoland Prep Conference regular-season title and its Class 1A regional title before falling to Aurora Christian 64-56 in Tuesday’s Harvest Christian sectional semifinal to finish the season at 21-6.
The regional title was the fourth for Zell under Dello and he also won regional titles at Crystal Lake South and Barrington.
Kleinschmidt Becomes 30/30 Man at DePaul Prep/Gordon Tech
DePaul Prep improved to 30-2 with a 46-32 win over host Carmel for the Class 3A regional title Friday night for the school’s fourth 30-win season and first under head coach Tom Kleinschmidt.
The last time the Rams reached 30 wins they finished 30-2 under the late Steve Pappas and Kleinschmidt was starring on the court when the school two miles west of Wrigley Field was known as Gordon Tech. They lost to King in the Class AA championship game but win No. 29 was a memorable 72-70 quarterfinal win over Rolling Meadows in Champaign where Mike Lipnisky scored 43 for the Mustangs and Kleinschmidt finished with 26.
The Rams matched the program record for wins in a season with their 46-16 romp over Notre Dame in the St. Viator sectional semifinal. They were 31-5 in 1970-71 and 31-3 in 1971-72 under the legendary and flamboyant Dick Versace when Chicago Catholic League schools were not part of the IHSA. Versace, who passed away two years ago on Feb. 25, became a prominent national figure during his successful tenure at Bradley and as an NBA coach and broadcaster.
Great stuff, Marty! A veritable potpourri! 😃