Big Ben - Ben Rand stars for Rochelle

Committed to Iowa, Rochelle's Ben Rand passed the 2,000 point mark
for his high school career on Saturday.

By Frank Rusnak
Many players eagerly anticipate the love and adulation that comes along with going through the college recruiting process. Ben Rand, on the other hand, already is a veritable superstar in his own hometown and wasn't counting on using the recruiting process as an ego booster.

"The way our season goes is basically how Ben goes. He has a lot of pressure from teammates, fans and coaches because he's so good."

Jason Harper
Rochelle senior guard

Rochelle's 6'6" wingman has been a four-year varsity starter and at the center of the town's attention since day one.

On Thursday night, in front of about 3,000 fans, Rand was once again in the spotlight as he passed the 2,000 point mark for his career.

The basket came in the middle of the first quarter, but it was only the start of a stellar night for the senior in guiding his Hubs past visiting Rockford Guilford, 107-80.

The Iowa-bound Rand torched the nets for 45 points with an array of three-pointers, pull-up jumpers, backdoor layups and a miraculous 19 points from the free-throw line. The total was second only to his 48 points he had against Princeton last season.

Averaging 23 points and nine rebounds on the season, the 2,000-point marker was just another milestone reached in the culmination of his four-year career as a varsity starter.

“It was pretty cool,” Rand said. “It’s one of those things you dream about as a kid. You always look up at the record on the wall and want to get up to that. It’s nice to be a senior and kind of leave your mark here.”

Rand already passed former Rochelle alumnus and Western Illinois player Brandon Creason’s mark of 1,740 points earlier this season.

While the team advanced to 13-11 with the win Saturday, they are a far cry from the sectional final squad that the Hub-faithful adored so much last season. And Rand knows this, as he feels the burden of every loss harder than anyone else.

“The way our season goes is basically how Ben goes,” senior guard Jason Harper said. “He has a lot of pressure from teammates, fans and coaches because he’s so good. That’s a lot of pressure for a high schooler to have because he has the weight of our whole team and a lot of the town, too.”

The pressure of the town is immense in Rochelle. Each home game fills up to about 3,000 fans with theater seating stacked on one side and pull out bleachers on the other. The town has it’s own newspaper, the Rochelle News-Leader, and it’s own radio station, WRHL, which both cover Rochelle, and more specifically Rand, with a microscope. Walking into the Rochelle gym, you see nothing but a big purple haze of rowdy Hub fans.

“This is a close-knit town; everybody kind of knows everybody,” Rand said. “It’s just what you get used to growing up, but once you get to a certain point there’s things you have to learn and how to behave in certain situations and stuff like that.

“It’s more better than it is worse. Ninety-five-percent of it is good, then there’s that five-percent that gets annoying. I saw some things this year where people just want to see you fail, but that’s part of the game and something you have to deal with to get to the level of where I want to be at. The majority of people in this town are great and I wouldn’t want to grow up anywhere else.”

That is why there is no plateau on the horizon in Rand’s vision. Headed to the Hawkeyes, he likes the small-town atmosphere in Iowa City similar to Rochelle, and is excited about playing in the Big Ten.

“I think there’s no doubt he’ll be very important to Iowa,” fifth-year Rochelle coach Russ Zick said. “I think Coach [Steve] Alford is going to like him a lot. Ben’s the best I’ve ever coached, there’s no doubt about that. As of late, he’s came on like gangbusters. He’s the leader of the team, he and Jason Harper, and they do good things for us.

“He’s consistently gotten better, consistently been the hardest worker and consistently been a winner, and that’s a pleasure for me.”