French on a roll

With the start of the NAIA Division I tournament Wednesday in Kansas City, Phil French will see his basketball career at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais dwindle down to its final moments.

After redshirting during the 2003-04 season, French began his college career the following season, when he was honored as the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year. Over the ensuing three seasons, French was named to the All-CCAC First Team. In addition, the Richton Park resident was tabbed an NAIA second team All-American for the 2006-07 season.

French prepped at Illinois Lutheran in Crete. During three years on the varsity, his teams went 50-23.

After graduating from Illinois Lutheran in 2003, French enrolled at Olivet to continue both his basketball and academic pursuits.

"I could not have picked a better place," French said. "It has a good Christian environment like I enjoyed at Illinois Lutheran. I have loved the people here. God put me in the right place.

"It has been great to play for coach (Ralph) Hodge and his staff. He teaches the game beginning with the fundamentals. We come in here as freshmen, and he develops our basketball skills. He is a coach who sticks with players and not one looking for transfers."

French will graduate at the end of the this semester. He majored in criminal justice with minors in social work and sociology.

"On May 3, I will be so proud when I walk across that stage," French said. "I can hardly wait for that day."

In addition to the thrill of graduation, French also had many fine moments on the basketball floor. The 6-foot-8 center is 11th on the all-time Olivet scoring list (1,531 points). Over his junior and senior seasons, French scored in double digits in 54 of 56 games. His high game was 34 points against nationally ranked Point Loma Nazarene (Calif.) when he was a junior.

French also ranks ninth in Olivet history with 752 rebounds. In the Tigers' upset win over Robert Morris, he grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds.

This season, French is leading the Tigers in both categories. He is scoring at a 15.9 click while hitting 56 percent of his field-goal tries, and averaging 9.7 rebounds per game. He has accomplished 18 of his 27 career double-doubles this season. French also leads the team with 45 blocked shots and is second in assists with 66.

The Tigers (17-14) will be making their third consecutive trip to the NAIA Division I Tournament. In 2006, Olivet went reached the quarterfinals.

"That was a great tournament for us," French said. "In the second round, we beat the best NAIA team in the nation. It is a memory I will never forget."

In that game the Tigers downed Mountain State University (W.Va.) 79-65. French had 16 points and six rebounds, and he duplicated those numbers the next game, a 91-75 loss to Oklahoma Baptist.

Olivet will open this year's tournament vs. Mountain State (28-2), the fourth seed.

"We knew that we were going to get a tough seed," French said. "But, we will be ready. We have played a very demanding schedule. We have gone up against top competition."