Zo Much Hype - Lorenzo Thompson to DePaul

Shouldering more hype than the average teenager since he was in junior high,
Crane's Lorenzo Thompson is staying in Chicago to play with DePaul.

By Frank Rusnak
Pressure, hype, stress and buildup every since he was a pubescent basketball player in junior high.

Crane senior center Lorenzo Thompson has seen it all since being hyped as one of the nation’s top basketball players for his age as a seventh grader at Bethel Christian.

Possessing a man’s body before he hit his teens, the current 6’8”, 240-pound Thompson has never fit in physically. The Chicago newspapers continued the hype the summer prior to his freshmen year in high school: “This week Thompson is playing at Prosser, now it’s Crane, and then he’s at Farragut.”

"He's one of the biggest guys in the city and one of the most skilled. What is it he can't do with the ball?"

Anthony Longstreet
Crane High School Coach

Eventually deciding on the Crane Tech Cougars, Thompson stepped into the limelight from the beginning, despite stars already on the Cougars roster.

The talent was seeping out of coach Anthony Longstreet’s ears with Oklahoma State’s Tony Allen, Bradley’s Jabbar Battle and Georgia Tech’s Will Bynum, and now a nice assortment of talented freshmen, led by Thompson.

Throughout Thompson’s career, media and fans alike said that Crane was underachieving. Thompson’s junior year, he helped Crane to the City title game, where they fell to Morgan Park. His senior year, along with his fellow low-post banger Florentino Valencia, he helped surge the Cougars to the top, being crowned champions of the city.

Powered behind Thompson and Valencia, Crane did not get an automatic bid to the Class AA Elite Eight after the format was changed this year with the Chicago Public League teams being put into regionals.

“Four-year varsity players and three-year starters,” said Longstreet, of Thompson and Valencia, “both career double-double in scoring and rebounding; they are the best two players in the Public League. Who is better? Who has put up the kind of numbers they have for their career?”

Thompson averaged 19 points and 12 rebounds a game for the Cougars who finished the year with a 26-1 mark and fell only to St. Ignatius in the regionals.

One of the reasons it was so difficult to guard Thompson was because of his versatility. Able to put the ball on the floor and pass with good court vision are always a plus when it’s the biggest man in the city who can do them.

“He’s one of the biggest guys in the city and one of the most skilled,” Longstreet said. “What is it he can’t do with the ball? He’s got great footwork down low. Most guys his size can’t do half the stuff he can do with the ball.”

When the time to make a college decision came, certainly Thompson would want to leave Chicago and escape the pressures and extreme hype that have been as much a part of him as LeBron James is a part of SportsCenter.

When Thompson made an early verbal commitment to DePaul, some people questioned the move. Longstreet insisted that he take his official visits before he came to a conclusion. But, when the spring signing day came on April 16, there was Thompson’s John Hancock on a Blue Demons’ Letter of Intent.

“I look forward to more hype here in Chicago,” Thompson said. “If there is a lot of media and the cameras are flashing and things like that, that’s what gets you pumped up.”

Relishing the attention he’ll receive by deciding to stay home for the next four years, Thompson had a preview of what is to come on Easter Sunday. The stage was set at DePaul’s Athletic Center for the Chicago versus New York Wendy’s All-Star Shootout.

Despite a loss and sub par performance, Thompson is excited about what is to come with his career.

“The crowd got into it,” he said. “If there is a big crowd there, that’s what I like to see. I got more support here.”