Hey this is Hayden Hoerdemann from the Class of 2011 dropping my first journal for illinoishsbasketball.com. I would like to start off by saying that this year’s Bloomington Central Catholic High School basketball team will be one of the best to come out of Bloomington in many years, because of our depth and our knowledge of the game of basketball.
To start our season, we played in the Intercity Tournament in Bloomington. We went 3-1 and won a share of the title with Bloomington, whom we beat 65-63. Central Catholic hadn’t won an intercity title since 1999. We were playing without four football players because they were participating in the state 4A title game. In my first varsity game I contributed 10 points and 10 rebounds and played all 32 minutes. My first defensive assignment was to guard Dmitri Riggs. We played a mix of man to man and zone defense and we held him to 12 points. I worked hard this summer and hoped to play a lot of minutes and was happy to be able to play 32 minutes in all four games. We have a new coach that really runs us hard and our first two weeks of practice were more like a boot camp. But, it really prepared us for the season. I really like his style and how he knows the game of basketball. I averaged 10 points and 7 rebounds per game over the course of the tournament.
We played Rantoul this past Friday and won by 21, 60-39. I contributed 14 points, 10 of the first 13 in the game, and we all played well together. It was a hard fought game, but we blew it open in the second half.
I have made adjustments in my game to contribute in other ways besides scoring. We have a great group of seniors and juniors that can contribute points to the team. During the Intercity Tournament, I had to move from guard to forward because our big guy was still playing football. Now that we have our football players back, I will be playing a mix of different positions on the court, but I think I will be playing more guard.
I really have enjoyed the first high school action I have played. I am looking forward to the rest of the season because we have a good chance of making it far in the playoffs this year. Our next game is Tuesday versus Eureka, Jordan Prosser, one of the top ranked forwards in the class of 2009, is on that team. I think if we play hard and play the game like we can, it will be a very competitive game and I know we can come out victorious. We will also play them later on in the season.
As of now, the schools that I have received letters from are Northwestern University and the University of Illinois. I also attended Northwestern’s elite camp I will be starting up playing my first AAU season with The Peoria Irish organization this summer and I am really looking forward to that opportunity. I am really looking forward to playing against the top players in the country.
Lastly, I would like to thank Dan Poneman for this opportunity and hope everyone has a great season on the hardwood!
Thanks, Hayden Hoerdemann