Straight to the point

Updated: January 5, 2012 10:32PM

There was some anxiety.

But mostly, it was positive energy.

Oak Lawn, Ill., resident Dean Danos couldn’t wait to walk through the doors at Bishop Noll and become acquainted with the Warriors’ basketball tradition.

He had spent his first three years playing basketball at Richards High School and Aurora Christian and was interested in playing basketball in Indiana following his family’s move.

He couldn’t have come at a better time -- fresh off the school’s first state championship appearance.

“I always wanted to play Indiana basketball,” said Danos, who has been a varsity starter since his freshman year. “And playing at Bishop Noll looked like a perfect fit.”

Perfect is a convenient word since the Warriors are a perfect 8-0 this season. In fact, Bishop Noll didn’t lose a regular-season game last year en route to a 26-1 record overall.

The returning members of last year’s team thought Danos was the perfect fit to their system, too, considering the squad lost its senior point guard from last year’s team.

“From a personal standpoint, the kids loved him right away,” Bishop Noll coach Drew Trost said. “From a basketball standpoint, it’s kind of funny because through the preseason the guys had a hard time getting used to him. Guys like (Larry) Crisler, (Jose) Rosario and (Ronnye) Beamon would drop a lot of his passes.”

Last year’s point guard, Adonis Filer, who recently committed to Clemson, had a similar style to Beamon (16 ppg, 3 spg) and Crisler (9.2 ppg, 8.3 rpg). They were slashers to the basket. Danos is a pure point guard, who brings the added dimension of outside shooting, opening up the inside game.

Beamon said he had played in some Brother Rice basketball camps with Danos and knew what he brought to the table even before he donned the blue and gold for the first time.

“I was really excited because I knew this guy was good,” the four-year starter said. “And he’s such a different style of player. He will catch you off-guard a lot. He’s got a hard catch and rhythm and you don’t see it the way he does out there.

“I think he holds us together. He helps us in our tempo and he pushes the ball with a purpose. He also helps control the offensive flow. He can set a simple ball screen for example; he gets us going all at one time.”

Trost even gushed over his new point guard and said he adds a new element that the team lacked last season — and that’s a team that lost just one game by one point.

“Obviously Adonis (Filer) was an incredible talent,” Trost said of his former point guard, who was named all-state last season. “But I think Dean might be better for our team. Although Adonis was better than Ronnye and Dodson (12.4 ppg.), the three of them had such similar styles so other teams could pack it in on zone against us.

“We didn’t make a single 3-pointer in semistate or state last year. That was a huge weakness in our game not being able to shoot from the outside. So finding a kid to distribute the ball and to shoot (from outside) makes a big difference.”

But Danos isn’t the only one having success from outside this year. Dodson, who spent hours in the offseason working on his outside shot, knocked down the game-winning 3-pointer with 31 seconds left in the team’s win over North Judson on Monday night and Beamon is shooting 47 percent from beyond the arc this year.

“John being able to shoot this year is a big help to the team,” Trost said. “Beamon is shooting over 40 percent and when (Jonathon) Bock comes back (the opposition) definitely won’t be able to pack it in like they used to.”

Then there’s Danos (16.4 ppg.) who can shoot or pass it off without any hesitation. He could be the X-factor if Noll hopes to make it to Indy and complete their mission: a state championship.

That would make quite a Hollywood Ending for the Illinois kid.

“I love playing basketball in Indiana because the atmosphere is so much better,” Danos said. “Indiana basketball just has a certain vibe that Illinois basketball doesn’t. Every game feels like a dogfight and you take pride in every one of them. It feels just like the movies with the crowds, it’s just something you have to experience.”

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.