Eckert has Bluejays on semistate brink

Updated: March 23, 2011 3:48PM

There was never a doubt about where John Eckert was going to be when he showed up at North Judson as a freshman for the basketball team.

Well, OK, maybe North Judson coach Ryan Bales had a moment where he thought it might not be wise to start a ninth grader. It didn't last long.

Eckert is the kind of player that just makes it so easy for the coach to decide to put him in the starting lineup.

He practices hard. He plays hard. He's versatile and he pretty much produces, whether it's in a game or a practice.

"It was easy to put him the starting lineup," Bales said. "He has always been head and shoulders above everyone else. Things came pretty easy for him at middle school. His work ethic is great. He earned the respect of the older guys right away because of how hard he worked."

Since his first game three years ago against Knox, Eckert, at 6-7, has made the kind of steady upward progress that coaches expect but don't always get.

His scoring average his risen from 11 points per game to 15.7 to 18 this year. Just recently, he eclipsed the 1,000 point mark for his career with more certainly to come.

He is only a junior.

He is also averaging 14 rebounds per game.

"He is very consistent," Bales said.

And he has good genes.

North Judson has had its share of good basketball players. Kirk Manns, a 1986 graduate, scored over 1,900 points before going to Michigan State, following a another Indiana native, Scott Skiles.

Bales was pretty good himself, leading the Bluejays to a regional title back in 1995 when that really meant something because there was only one class.

And Eckert's dad, Frank, was also a pretty good player.

Frank, a 1975 graduate, is second on the all-time scoring list at North Judson with 1,680 points. He played in college for a year at Dayton before he wrecked his knee and had to give it up.

John is not your typical post-up, back-to-the-basket player.

He is whatever the Bluejays need him to be on a given night, which means he can run the floor or step out and hit a mid-range jumper if needed.

For the most part, he has played close to the basket this year because that's his role. It wasn't exclusively that way last year.

"He's versatile, " Bales said. "He can post up and get offensive rebounds. He's good defensively at getting steals and deflections. He's very smart. He has an understanding of what the other team is trying to do."

Eckert is part of a four-headed monster that will take on Westview Saturday in the North Judson Regional.

Winston Yergler, Kendall Hochstedler, Eckert and Andrew Frasure are all averaging in double figures.

Between the four of them, they dish out 18 assists per game with Yergler averaging just under eight and Eckert right around three.

That sort of offensive chemistry has made it a fun season for the Bluejays, who have just lost once.

"We're having a blast," Eckert said. "We've won all these games and everybody is just so unselfish. It's been fun."

There should be even more fun for the Bluejays next year. Among their top five players, only Frasure, who is averaging 13 points per game, leaves. John's brother Brian, who is an eighth grader, is 6-3 and growing. He expects to join John next year on the team.

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