'Brook lands a gem

Bolingbrook High School basketball coach Rob Brost was on his way back home to Iowa when we made connections Wednesday.

His dad, who lives in Cedar Falls, had lost most of his house, where the future basketball coach had grown up, in the recent flooding.

"Dad lives on a little acreage farm, and he is about 5 miles from the river," the 34-year-old Brost said. "You would think the river would not overflow that far. But it did.

"He is just getting all the water out now. I'm heading back to help with the cleanup, to go through things and see what is salvageable. I had all my basketball memorabilia in a room in the basement, and at one point, the water was up to the ceiling.

"The whole thing is, we just have to deal with it and move on."

More often than not, life leaves you no options. You take the bad with the good.

The flooding and house cleanup represent the negative right now for Brost. However, there is a positive at work as well.

If I were to suggest Bolingbrook will be ranked among the best basketball teams in Illinois when the season begins in November, your first thought may be to order a saliva test. The Raiders finished 18-9 last season, Brost's first at the school, and figured to be pretty good in Year 2.

But "pretty good" took a giant leap forward recently when 6-foot-3 senior guard Diamond Taylor officially transferred in from East Suburban Catholic Conference and state power Westchester St. Joseph.

Taylor, who averaged about 17 points last season, already has committed to Wisconsin. Depending on which service you prefer, he is among the top three or top five prospects in Illinois. Since he is tranferring from a private school to a public school, he will be eligible immediately.

He did not land at Bolingbrook by accident. Taylor's dad, Kimrossi, is Brost's assistant coach. He was his assistant last season, when Diamond was at St. Joseph. The Taylor family moved to Bolingbrook from the Bellwood area after school had begun last year.

Brost and the elder Taylor worked together for years at the Bulls training facility in Lisle. Diamond formerly played on Brost's AAU team.

This is anything but a meeting of strangers.

"The convenience is important to the decision," Brost said. "Diamond will be going to school and playing five minutes from home. What it really came down to is what is best for the family. The opportunity for him to play for his dad had a lot to do with their decision."

The fact that Bolingbrook appeared on the verge of something special did not hurt, either.

"Diamond knows the momentum we had going from last year, and him coming here wound up being a natural fit for everyone," Brost said. "Our guys are excited to have him, he is excited about it and I am certainly excited about it."

What Taylor will bring to the Raiders is a 6-3 guard who can play the point or the off guard, and play either one well. "His decision-making and ability to score are his strengths right now," Brost said. "Obviously, if he is going to Wisconsin, you know he has Big Ten talent. His skill set will allow us some flexibility in what we do."

Taylor will wear his Bolingbrook uniform for the first time next Tuesday and Wednesday in the Morris Shootout, where the Raiders figure to be under the microscope.

Make no mistake, Bolingbrook will be much more than the Diamond Taylor Show. For evidence, how about last week's NIU camp at Moody Bible? Playing without their new all-stater, the Raiders beat Leo, Curie and Hillcrest and lost by one point in overtime to Martin Luther King of Nashville, which some consider the best team in Tennessee.

"Sometimes you can take a lot from what happens in the summer and sometimes you can't," Brost said. "With the guys we have, the wins and losses will take care of themselves if we do what we are supposed to do. So far the kids are.

"Last week we showed we can compete against the best teams in the state. We just have to keep getting better."

The ring leader of the returning Raiders is Troy Snyder, a 6-4 senior who averaged 11.9 points and 6.8 rebounds while shooting .495 from the field as a junior. He has scholarship offers from Northern Illinois and UIC, with Northern Iowa, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Bradley, Illinois State and Loyola among those who are interested.

"Troy played very well last weekend," Brost said. "He was one of the top 2-3 players there. He has been working tremendously hard to bring his game to the next level. He already has his qualifying score in the ACT, too, so he is all packaged and ready."

Any team with Taylor and Snyder would project to be good. But there is enough otherwise in the Bolingbrook camp that we should not be shocked if the Raiders are ranked among the best in Illinois when the season rolls around.

Russell Burns, a 6-4 senior wing, joins the Big Two in giving the Raiders three long, athletic types. He averaged 5.0 points and 3.8 rebounds last season. Alan Farmer, who started seven games last season, is a quality 5-10 senior point guard. Senior center Brandon Stanciel is 6-7 and post player Chris Lawson is 6-5, 210, so there is size.

Plus depth. Don't forget the depth that last season's 22-2 sophomore team affords.

"Lewis (University representatives) came out to watch a workout, and they offered Antoine Cox (a 6-2 wing) a scholarship right there, and he's only going to be a junior," Brost said. "He is one of the best athletes I have ever seen. He will dunk at every opportunity."

"Ryan Walker (brother of Will, the former Bolingbrook all-stater who is at DePaul) is coming up off the sophomore team. Delorean Weatherall is 6-3, long and athletic as well. Anthony Greene is 6-3 and a real strong post player. He will be a wide receiver in football. Kevin Henry (5-10 guard) is a player."

All of which creates a nice problem for the coach.

"We have 10-12 players who can really play," he said. "We have depth at every position, and our guys want to compete against each other every day. If they keep up the work ethic they have shown so far, good things will come."

Besides, there's that newest Raider whom fans can see at next week's Morris Shootout.

"We figured to be a strong team without Diamond (Taylor)," Brost said. "With him, we will be even stronger."

e-mail: dgoss@scn1.com