Sophomore Emmett Van Dellen is listed on Chicago Christian’s boys basketball roster at 6-2 and 135 pounds.
How accurate is that weight?
“I always tell the players that they could use a little fudge on that,” Knights coach Kevin Pittman said after his team finished 2-1 in Reavis’ Jim Tracy Thanksgiving Classic on Nov. 26. “But to me, he looks like he’s a buck oh five.”
“He’s joking, he’s joking,” Van Dellen said of Pittman. “I’m really around 135. But I’m working on it. It’s hard during the basketball season but my main focus is gaining weight. But this Thanksgiving, I hope to add some pounds.”
Van Dellen and the Knights finished second in the four-team, round-robin tournament. They opened with a 69-43 loss to eventual tourney champ Sandburg and recovered to beat Reavis 66-63 and Kennedy 58-41.
Van Dellen and senior guard-forward Casey Lenarz were named to the all-tournament team.
Emmet is the fourth Van Dellen to play for Pittman. The Evergreen Park family has been a mainstay in recent years for the Knights athletic program.
The oldest is Otto, who played football and basketball and weighed more than 240 pounds when he played in Palos Heights.
He was followed by AJ, Ed and Emmett.
“One was a lineman and the other three were beanpoles — tall and skinny,” Pittman said.
And talented.
Emmett said being the last of the four brothers has both good and tough moments.
“I got shoved around a good amount,” Emmett said.
But it turned out to be all good as he got to play varsity as a freshman.
“Because of my brothers, I’ve been around these guys since kindergarten,” VanDellen said of the Chicago Christian program. “I’ve been looking for this moment to play on varsity. We all always knew where we were going to play in high school.
“It’s a blessing.”
Van Dellen was dialed in when the Knights beat Kennedy in their final game in the tournament. He drained four 3-pointers in a 21-point performance, which included scoring 10 in the second quarter.
Guard Garrett Murphy added nine points in the second quarter and 17 overall. Lenarz added nine points.
Chicago Christian started the season with three seniors on its 13-player roster but it is down to two after forward-center Josh Sedakis tore his ACL in the second game of the tournament. He tore the ACL on his opposite leg the year before.
“That’s a tough break for us and a tough break for him,” Pittman said. “His No. 1 sport is baseball and he’s probably going to miss his baseball season. He’s a big, solid guy and we are young and we don’t have a lot of size.”
Pittman is hoping that someone like Van Dellen can get the job done leading the team on and off the court. The coach is also hoping Van Dellen’s quickness and shooting ability will help equalize the Knights’ size disadvantage.
“Emmett’s a player we have watched through grade school and he was up with us last year as a freshman,” Pittman said. “He picked up some valuable minutes.
“The first couple of games so far, he stepped up and has done some good things that we want him to do. We have to sometimes temper our expectations because we forget he only is a sophomore.”