Markese Peoples heads into his senior year at St. Laurence with four Division I offers in hand, but he’s far from satisfied.
The 6-3 guard is leaner, having dropped 14 pounds since last summer. And he feels stronger and faster as he prepares to lead a Vikings team with some big dreams.
The Vikings are coming off a 27-7 season that ended with a Class 4A sectional semifinal loss to Curie. They went 12-0 this summer with perfect showings at Riverside-Brookfield, Romeoville and Ridgewood.
“It’s my first year stepping up as being a point guard,” Peoples said during a break at last month’s Ridgewood Live Event. “Being a senior on the team, trying to lead our team — because we’re a very young team. So I’m working on that a lot.”
Being slimmed down, “that helped me a lot,” he said. “I recently just started dunking more, staying in the game longer. It just builds my character up more. Being a point guard, I gotta stay in the game a lot, trying to lead my team. So I’ve gotta be in the best shape.”
St. Laurence coach Roshawn Russell expects more colleges to jump into Peoples’ recruiting before it’s over. His current offers are Central Michigan, Toledo, Iona and Ball State.
“Yeah, Markese is 100% a Division I basketball player,” Russell said. “I think he’s the best player in the state. He’s been leading, showing he can guard. He’s just doing everything, whatever it takes for us to win.”
Another Viking to watch is guard Noah Corro, who figures to be a potent scoring option when opponents pay extra attention to Peoples.
“He stepped up big time, him being a junior, having to lead the team next year, ” Peoples said. “… Me drawing a lot of people is getting Noah open, giving him an open shot, getting him more looks and getting (everybody on) my team also more looks.”
“Noah Corro has been great,” Russell said. “He’s gotten stronger, he’s guarding — everybody knows he can really shoot it. He’s getting to the paint, making plays. (I’m) really happy with his growth.”
Offers flow in for Lyons’ Smith
Lyons’ two-sport star Grant Smith is only halfway through his high-school career, but already has Division I offers as a basketball wing (UIC, Green Bay, Ohio, Toledo) and football wide receiver (Northern Illinois).
The 6-6 rising junior has had a productive summer, according to Lions coach Tom Sloan.
“He’s handling the ball, rebounding and bringing the ball up the court, making good decisions, attacking the basket or finding an open guy,” Sloan said at the Ridgewood Live Event.
“Now that he’s a year older and he played a season at the varsity level and a club season in the spring, his defense on and off the ball is better. … He’s getting better in lots of phases.”