WAUKEGAN, Ill. – Bob Bestgen’s goal is to make his opponent’s life miserable for 40 minutes.
The coach of the Northwest Iowa Stars 17 Black squad aims to keep the pressure so white-hot that the opponent looks like an overheated dog on an August afternoon: tongue hanging out, looking for a place to lie down.
“We want to create havoc and chaos,” Bestgen said. “And all I’m trying to do is manage it.”
The Stars play at what Bestgen describes as a “frenetic” pace. That’s an apt description. When a player grabs a rebound, there is only one option: Push the ball up the court. And if the Stars score, they’ll apply fullcourt pressure.
“We’re trying to get them to speed up,” Bestgen said of his foes as Day 1 of USJN’s 10th annual Summer Final wound down in the Chicago area. “We’re trying to get them to throw the ball off the wall. And if we tip it out, that’s great. That makes them nervous. We’re trying to find their weak ballplayer to make them shoot the ball.”
Bestgen has the type of players who can make that an effective style. Most suited to an uptempo game is guard Ellie Herzberg, a Class of 2014 guard who has committed to Northern Iowa. Herzberg knows something about speed: She placed second in the 100 meters and was runner-up in the 200 at the Iowa state track meet in the spring.
“I enjoy doing that kind of thing,” Herzberg said. “We like to push it. I’m mainly the point guard for our high school team, so we try to push it as much as we can.”
Herzberg is a lanky 5-foot-9 lead guard who thrives in the open court. Though she has had success in track and field, she said basketball was always No. 1.
She won’t compete in track at Northern Iowa.
“I’d rather just focus on basketball there,” she said. “I never really thought about track until this season. I improved a lot this season, so then I kind of thought about it. But I enjoy basketball a lot more.”
Bestgen said the Stars’ approach has several benefits for his players.
“At the college level, you have to pressure the ball,” Bestgen said. “If you don’t, you’re not going to play. That’s what we’re trying to convince them.
“I have kids that may never play college basketball. I understand that. But (this) gives them the opportunity to learn to play. If they can learn to make a layup, they can play.”
It also means that his entire roster gets plenty of time on the court.
“I want to use a lot of players,” he said. “I’m not a coach that wants to use seven players and have the other three or four cook on the bench. If you practice hard, you’re going to play. If you don’t put forth the effort, you’re out.”
Bugg, Ekhomu lead Bolingbrook Panthers
The talent-laden Bolingbrook Panthers 17 roster includes Pittsburgh commit Aysia Bugg and 2016 guard Nicole Ekhomu, who this summer participated in USA Basketball’s U16 National team tryouts in Colorado.
They form an imposing backcourt, which led them to two Day 1 victories. Bugg plays an all-around game that features an ability to get to the rim, while Ekhomu is a pass-first point guard who can defend.
“I love playing with her,” Bugg said. “She’s a great player, and she’s going to do great things.”
Bugg, a 5-foot-7 2014 grad, already does. She battled through injuries to average 17 points, five rebounds and four steals during her junior season at Bolingbrook High School. She began the summer season with the Illinois Dream Team – alongside standouts Faith Suggs and Nia Flowers – but moved to the Bolingbrook Panthers squad for July.
“I’m happy to be a part of a good team like this,” Bugg said. “They’re very welcoming. They’ve got good players and they’re not afraid to share the ball.”
Bugg committed to Pittsburgh after taking a visit last month. New Pitt coach Suzie McConnell-Serio had recruited Bugg when she was the coach at Duquesne.
Bugg also considered Vanderbilt, Bradley and Missouri-Kansas City.
“I might be done in a sense, but not really,” Bugg said. “I have a lot more work to do. It’s a big weight lifted off my shoulders. I’m not playing to impress (someone), I’m just playing to help my team and to get better.”
Ekhomu, meanwhile, is playing with a plastic face mask to protect a broken nose suffered in the USA Basketball trials in May. But it doesn’t appear to have hampered her play.
“She has so much potential,” Panthers coach Sam Quigley said of Ekhomu, who will be a sophomore at Joliet Catholic. “She’s got all those skills that you try to coach people to get when they get in college as a freshman.
“She’s a teammate. She’s going to look to get other people the ball, and she’s pushing for other people to be successful.”
Strong leading by example
Verbosity doesn’t come naturally for Katherine Strong. The 2015 guard for the Illinois Wolverines 16 Elite squad portrays a quiet confidence, which rubs off on those around her. But there’s more to being a leader, and Strong’s summer has been spent trying to show that she’s making strides in that area.
“I wanted to start being a leader and talking to my team more because I haven’t been talking,” she said Saturday.
In some ways, Strong’s play on the court does her talking for her. Ranked 165th among Blue Star’s top players in the Class of 2015, Strong is a terrifically athletic wing whose scope of potential is limitless.
“I’ve been working on my ball handling this summer,” said Strong, who has a scholarship offer from Toledo. “It’s gotten way better than last year; I couldn’t go to my left. It’s looking better but I have to continue to work on it.”
Strong’s high school teammate (Bloom) and Illinois Wolverines teammate, Danielle King, has no worries in that area. King is a fearless 2015 point guard who can handle and distribute the ball at a high level. Together, they helped Bloom reach the Class 4A sectional semifinals.
“She sees the court well,” Strong said of King. “She handles the ball well, she knows when to attack, when to bring it out. She gets us involved a lot.”
