On March 15th, for the third year in a row, the boys varsity basketball team won the state championship, this year in division 3A. The game, played at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus went into double overtime; the final score of the game was 55-52 . This was a historic win for DePaul Prep and the team has moved from the Class 3A to class 4A for the next season.

Tom Kleinschmidt has been coaching the team for the past 11 years starting at Gordon Tech and then transitioning to DePaul Prep. Before he was a coach he attended Gordon Tech for high school and went on to have a successful career playing basketball at DePaul University. He played for 12 years professionally, and when he couldn’t play anymore, he still found he had the longing to compete.

This longing led him into his coaching career, where he decided to go back to where it all began: at Gordon Tech.

Kleinschmidt said, “I started coaching right away, I started thinking about the men who helped mentor me, and I wanted to take that role on.”  He also said that it’s not just about winning for him, and his most important obligation is to help the kids in the program.

Kleinschmidt described the feeling of seeing the hard work put into the team pay off for the third year as “indescribable.” He said that while every year there is a new obstacle his main focus is to build up the team and make sure that they remain confident in themselves.

Kleinschmidt has also built a wonderful “culture” around the team and the values he instills in his players. He accredits this culture to a former player by the name of Raequan Williams. He said that Williams “helped build the program, the culture we have of selflessness, hard work, consistency, and what’s best for the team.”

Manuel French is a senior and has been on the team for the last two years. Outside of DePaul Prep, he played for eight years. French said that this year’s win was “ a culmination of all the hard work we put in over four years.”

French said that this past June, the team set the goal to win at state again. He said “I knew this was going to be my last shot with my teammates, with my closest friends and I knew I wanted to put in the most work possible so we could accomplish our goals, which we did.”

French has made it to state the last two years and won, but said  that this year’s win felt different. He said, “As much as I’d won I knew it was over.” Although he was sad for this era to be over, he was happy because of the memories he was able to make with the team.

French said that his biggest takeaway from this season was a sense of brotherhood. He said “You go into every game and you don’t know what’s going to happen…we play for the name on the front, not just the one on the back.”

Senior Jonas Johnson has been on the Varsity team for the last three years; he also played during his freshman year at the sophomore level. Johnson said that he began playing basketball when he was three years old.

Johnson said that this year’s win was special, not because he was able to play with his closest friends, but because his younger brother was playing on the team alongside them. It was also special to him because it was the last chance in his high school career to play alongside the teammates he’s had for the last four years.

He said “We’ve been working on this all year round, basically and to finish our high school careers with a win is special.”

Johnson said he believes that the team was able to maintain their level of success because of their coaching staff and the mentality that the players have when going into games. He said, “We’re all skilled in our own ways.. there’s only five of us that can play at a time, and we are never angry with who’s in the game as long as we’re winning.”

Johnson is moving on to play Division I basketball at DePaul University as a preferred walk on. He said that he hopes to work on being stronger, faster and quicker within his college career.

Senior Rob Walls started at Kenwood playing on varsity in his freshman year and transferred to DePaul Prep, playing on the varsity team for the past three years. He also has been playing basketball since he was very young.

Walls said that this year’s win was special for him because he was able to see the younger members of the team’s reaction. He said “Being able to give that same experience that I had my sophomore year when we first won, it felt amazing to see that on their faces.”

Walls said that the team’s success “is what really brings us together and makes us push past our limits.” He said that he hopes that the next team will be able to “come in and have fun with it as well.”

“You don’t want to think of it as a job everyday just come in, have fun, get closer with your boys and just continue to work hard.” Walls said.

Walls’s biggest take away from the season was being able to reflect on his past seasons and everything that led up to the game. He said, “Halftime came around and I was at the half court just looking around at the crowd and just appreciating all the people coming out to support..it’s a one time experience to have that.”

Walls is currently undecided on where he will be attending college but he hopes to improve his shot, dribbling, and overall IQ of the game.

Senior Makai Kvamme has also played on the varsity team for the past three years. In freshman year he played at the sophomore level. Outside of DePaul Prep, he began playing when he was around four years old.

Kvamme said that this year’s win felt different to the last two years because “It was a three-peat and not many have done it before, I think three other teams have done it which made it mean even more.”

He said that their continued success starts with practice and listening to their coaches instructions. He said, “We can count on our hand how many bad practices we have, we‘re constantly working hard, we push each other, we work well with each other and we all get along.”

Kvamme’s biggest takeaway from the season was leaning to never give up. During the championship game the team was down by several points with only a couple minutes left and was able to push ahead, tying up the game and then winning in double overtime. Kvamme said “We just kept working.”

Kvamme is going to Western Illinois University where he has been recruited to play D1. He said,  “I hope to improve my shooting and my jump shot.”

Kleinschmidt, while sad to see the seniors on the team who have won at state the last three years move on, still is excited to see what the next year’s team will bring, and how his players’ careers will advance in college. His main goals remain to continue winning the Catholic league and, more importantly, helping the players be the best that they can be.