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Sports
Super summer : Sports : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisSuper summer
| Simelton prepares for standout year with OHS boys' basketball team
| by Kristin Sharp
| 8/9/2012
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Miles Simelton's high school basketball career has been a work in progress at Oswego High School.
As a freshman, he made an immediate impact on the varsity squad and broke into the starting lineup for the second half of the 2009-10 season. As a sophomore, Simelton earned Southwest Prairie All-Conference honors after helping the Panthers get out to their best start in program history.
The junior saw a few different roles on the court last winter, but earned Second Team All-SPC honors as the team's second-leading scorer, averaging 15.2 points per game.
This summer, the senior has taken his game to another level in preparation for the 2012-13 season, and college teams are taking notice.
"Miles had a super summer," Oswego head coach Kevin Schnable said. "He has taken his game to the next level. He took over the team this summer and he's our leader. He was just explosive this summer. He was dunking against contact and in traffic. It shows his maturity in the areas of competitiveness and toughness. He's really worked at his game. I could not be happier with Miles."
According to Schnable, Simelton currently has scholarship offers from Chicago State and Miami (Ohio) and has drawn interest from Loyola, Southern Illinois, Valparaiso and Darmouth.
"He is becoming the player we thought he could be and it's been a process. He broke through this summer, as evidence by his recruiting stock rising," Schnable said. "He went to elite camps at Loyola and Eastern Kentucky. He picked up in July where he left off in June with the AAU circuit. I can't wait for people to watch him play."
Oswego's summer schedule included a two-day shootout at Riverside-Brookfield as well as the Oswego East Shootout while also playing at the University of Illinois-Chicago and traveling to Lincoln where the Panthers went 4-0 in pool play.
The Panthers also played at Addison Trail, Illinois Wesleyan and the Morris Shootout to cap out the summer. In between, Oswego won the eight-team SPC Shootout.
"We played well in the SPC tournament and won out, so that was a highlight," Schnable said. "We played well the first day at Lincoln and went 4-0 in our pool, we beat Pekin at the Morris Shootout. Pekin has a young man going to Northwestern."
Oswego graduated just one starter from a team that finished 18-11 during the 2011-12 season, and the returning veteran group holds high expectations heading into the upcoming season.
"We played a lot of games, but more important than the games is the practices. In the summer, we expect to have conflicts and we want the guys to have balance in their life. It seems like for whatever reason we had more absences than we have in the past. That caught us off-guard. We didn't win as much as I thought we would, but it forced me to shift my lineup. The summer is more about player development. When guys aren't there, the guys who are get more practice reps and get more playing time."
The Panthers' senior leadership extends beyond Simelton, and three players impressed Schnable this summer, with a 98 percent attendance rate to lead the team in Panther Pride points accumulated by participation.
"We had a core group of seniors - Trevor Hamman, Danny Mangers and Josh Oros. Those three kids really cashed out on their summer opportunities. They had the want-to and the work ethic that we're looking for and that we need," Schnable said.
"Danny added an element to his game on the offensive end. He became more of a complete player. Last year he was more catch and shoot. In an open court, he's quick with the ball. Josh came into summer hungry and he worked his tail off. He gives us a legit post presence and if he can continue to play like he did this summer, we can do some things differently at both ends," Schnable added.
The 2012-13 season officially opens on Nov. 5 with the first day of practice.
"I feel confident. There are some answered questions, but that's part of team building," Schnable said.
"With the number of two-year and three-year players that we bring back, and the continued improvement of the other kids, we need to prepare ourselves for the grind. I'm excited."
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