Players on a Mission - Mitch Gilfillan & Brian Randle

Mitch Gilfillan (left) will be headed to Lehigh next year
and junior Brian Randle has his choice of colleges.

By Frank Rusnak
It just doesn't make sense. This equation of two plus two is coming out to five.

Peoria Notre Dame is a team led by its two stars, Brian Randle and Mitch Gilfillan, that is looking to change a lot of people's opinions on the Irish. They are on a mission and don't blame they if they have a chip on their shoulders in looking for the every so important, respect.

Why is it that one of the nation's top juniors and a Division One point guard teamed together, are fighting for respect where they are predicted to be waltzed all over on in their own conference?

The Mid State Six conference is a famed conference based out of Peoria. There have been many statewide powerhouses that have strolled through the MS6, most recently the Peoria Manual Ram's unprecedented four straight state titles in the late '90's.

This year's caliber of teams do not hold a dominating squad like the Rams of the past, but the conference is having a strong year from top to bottom with a lot of balance.

“The [Mid State Six] is awfully tough,” said fifth year Notre Dame coach Mike Bonczyk, who started on Thornridge’s 1971 undefeated state title team along with Quinn Buckner (Indiana University/NBA). “If you don't come to play, you get beat. It's a tremendous league.”

In elite company

What does Notre Dame have in common with Springfield Lanphier, Proviso East and Farragut?

Its not a number one ranking in the state that those teams have all achieved by at least one publication throughout the year, as Notre Dame has not come anywhere close to the top 25, let alone a spot at the top.

Its definitely not the tradition. “Notre Dame is not known for a basketball school and they will not give us respect until we go out and win games,” said Gilfillan, who has signed with Lehigh University.

"People ask me that question a lot...They say you have a D-1 point guard and one of the best juniors in the state and you didn't get any votes?"

Mitch Gilfillan
Peoria Notre Dame H.S.

Its not a certain swagger that great teams have with an abundance of conviction. “We didn't have much confidence starting off in the beginning of the year,” said Randle, a 6’8” junior being recruited by every top program in the country.

With Gilfillan and Randle spending a week of their summer at the Nike All-American Camp (by invitation only) they, along with, Springfield Lanphier’s Andre Iguodala (Arkansas) and Richard McBride (junior), Proviso East’s Dee Brown (Illinois) and Shannon Brown, and Farragut’s Elliott Poole (unsigned) and Marquettas McGee (unsigned) were the only four high schools in Illinois to have two players at the prestigious camp.

“I don't know if we'll ever be on a level of a Proviso East or a Manual and have these great, great runs, but Brian and Mitch say a lot about where our program has started and where it hopefully eventually is going to go,” said Bonczyk.

With two great stars, why is it that Peoria Notre Dame is overlooked as a team.?

“People ask me that question a lot, about Brian and I, and PND in general,” said Gilfillan. “They say you have a D-1 point guard and one of the best juniors in the state and you didn't get any votes? I know we play in one of the best conferences in the state, so night in and night out its a dog fight, and you have to win a lot in the city to get the respect you want. That's one of our main goals this year, is to take care of Peoria. Because we know, to get to State in Peoria, you got to go through Peoria.”

Currently with a 9-7 record, Notre Dame has started the year with more peaks and valleys than the Grand Canyon.

“We started off 5-0 and we were feeling good and everything, then Brian gets hurt the third game (sprained ankle), and we won a couple of games without him, but he went down and we lost to a few state ranked teams: Peoria Richwoods and Moline on a last second shot.”

After Randle came back from the injured list, the team still wasn’t clicking. However, after some soul-searching, the team is slowly starting to get back on the right track.

“We knew we were struggling a little bit with Brian out and then with him coming back we really didn't have the chemistry,” said Gilfillan. “But now we've bounced back and our chemistry is back where it should be, and we are looking for it to continue on into February and March.”

On a three game winning streak, Notre Dame topped Bloomington then defeated Peoria Manual for the first time in school history at Manual on Friday (1/11/02). They followed that up the next night with a win against a Chicago Von Steuben team who just upset nationally ranked Mt. Zion Academy from North Carolina.

“I think Brian Randle will be a good player, he handles the ball well for his size,” said Von Steuben coach Vince Carter. “I like his game a lot. I think the Mitch handled the ball well for his team, and did a good job against our zone and man-to-man defense. He has a bright future, as well.”

Gilfillan, a 6’0” point guard, is coming off a junior year that he averaged eight points and four assists for a 15-11 team. Headed to the Patriot League to compete with the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania university, Gilfillan is averaging 13 points, six assists and four rebounds this season with a 3.6 GPA and a 22 ACT score.

A solidly built floor-general with the ball, Gilfillan rarely commits turnovers and is crafty about setting his teammates up with easy buckets.

“Mitch has finally learned that he doesn't have to carry the whole load by himself,” noted Bonczyk. “If he does what he did like he played at Nike--that's the reason why he got the Division One scholarship to Lehigh. If he does that, he'll be very successful and that's what's starting to make us very successful.”

Also, a star on the soccer field, Gilfillan was a first team all-state performer as a center-halfback. He will not, however, pursue soccer at Lehigh as basketball is his only “true love.”

While having the all-world Randle on his team, Gilfillan is conscious of all that he has brought to his game in regard to publicity.

“I don't think there is any other player in this state I would rather play with than Brian,” said Gilfillan. “He has been my best recruiter. Because of him I get put in the eyes of many people all the time, which helped me earn a spot on the St. Louis Eagles [AAU team] and then playing well there and getting to go to Nike. Yeah, he's the man.”

Apparently, all of the major colleges throughout the country also think Randle is “the man,” as Bonczyk notes that there is not a college that is not recruiting him. While Randle says that he is still very much undecided, four schools that he mentioned that he’s particularly interested in are Kansas, Illinois, Notre Dame and Iowa, in no particular order.

Averaging 14 points and nine rebounds a game last season as a sophomore, Randle received second team MS6 all-conference.

“Brian is just a tremendous athlete,” said Bonczyk. “The ankle has slowed him a little bit, but its made him realize that now the God-given talent that he has, he has to be a little bit more fundamental. So its really a blessing in disguise.”

While Gilfillan will be attending a top-notch academic institution, Randle matches his success in the classroom with a perfect 4.0 GPA, which has Bonczyk singing their praises.

“They are both tremendous young men and they have really made a commitment to playing basketball, and want to carry it on above and beyond high school ball,” gushed Bonczyk. “Its easy to coach when you don't have to worry about a lot of outside influences to a certain degree.”