PREPS ALCOVE

New York state of mind: SJNMA has major promise for the future

JR Radcliffe
jr.radcliffe@jrn.com

New York is the city that never sleeps. So perhaps it's not quite accurate to call the St. John's Northwestern Military Academy boys basketball team, a program chock full of New York natives a "sleeping giant." But it's definitely a growing giant.

The Lancers have taken their lumps this year and will continue to face challenges, but the talent level is starting to raise some eyebrows. Even though a three-game winning streak went by the wayside Feb. 7 in an 83-81 loss to University School, a 41-point performance by freshman Brandon Weston is a harbinger of things to come.

"He was drawing the fouls," first-year coach Duane Mlachnik said afterward. "He was doing a good job of attacking with real good body control. He was absorbing the contact and getting the ball up to the rim. At the beginning of the game, he was doing the same thing. He was getting there, but he wasn't finishing, and he wasn't getting the calls. As the game wore on, he was getting better. He was pretty special tonight."

SJNMA fell to 7-10 overall and 3-9 in Midwest Classic play. This is not a team that's going to compete for the state championship in March. But the expectations are getting higher.

"There were tears in the locker room afterward, so it hurt," Mlachnik said. "To me, it's a sign of growing. It's really starting to mean something to them."

New leader

Mlachnik's roots at the military academy run deeply. He played at the academy before attending St. Leo University — where he once played against future NBA Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing of Georgetown — and Mlachnik has been an assistant in the program for some pretty strong SJNMA teams. He was on the bench assisting Tim Richert with the 2011 squad that went 20-4 overall and won the league at 15-1. That team was led by another New York product, Kevin Mays, and Mlachnik's youngest son, DJ, who now works alongside his father in the SJNMA offices and as an assistant coach for the varsity team.

But for those who know the recent history of SJNMA, the name that most greatly represents the connection between the Delafield academy and New York is 2006 SJNMA graduate Trevon Hughes, the four-time conference Player of the Year who led the Lancers to the state tournament and whose high-profile recruitment landed him at the University of Wisconsin.

"It started back in the 1970s by a gentleman Joe Bostic, who passed away a couple years ago," Mlachnik said, referring to a New York City AAU coach. "Joe started the connection with St. John's and then-coach Gary Richert (Tim's father), bringing kids from New York to give them a better opportunity academically and just to help kids out. It's something the academy is very big on for all the young men that come here. It went through the early '80s, and then it started up in the early 2000s when Trevon came here.

"After Joe had passed away, some of the guys that Joe brought out here, they've all come out on campus at one time or another and talked about the life-changing time they spent here at the academy and how beneficial it was to them. They kind of wanted to continue Joe's legacy a little bit and been actively involved in trying to identify and direct young men and families from New York out to the academy."

Fresh faces

Weston is one of nine New Yorkers in the program. Freshmen Gerald Gittens and Kwaheem Brown are regular members of the rotation from New York. Sophomore Dikim Teel is new to the school, and freshman De'andre Curtis comes off the bench. Two seniors (Allen Watson, Nigel Matthews) and a junior (Denzel Legree-Simmons) already at the academy last year also hail from New York, and another is a freshman on the JV team.

"There are times during games when we have four freshmen and a sophomore out on the basketball court," Mlachnik said. "It's part of the learning process we have right now. We have a tremendous learning curve. Guys who have been at the school lead very well, but as far as our top players, the guys we count on in the basketball games, a lot of times that's the young guys. As they adapt to playing to other 17- and 18-years-olds, being 15-year-olds, they're definitely making progress. Things are definitely close to turning for us."

Senior Kenny Seo (second-leading scorer at 10.0 points per game) and Watson still play key roles for the Lancers. Many have zeroed in on Weston, appearing at No. 3 in the initial Wisconsin Class of 2020 rankings posted at Wissports.net.

"He's a pretty dynamic player," Mlachnik said. "He's 6-4, he has the ability to play all the positions on the floor, on the offensive end and defensive end. He is already somebody who is on the radar, being looked at by some colleges. In the fall, he went to a Pangos All-American camp in Illinois and performed very well there. He does come in with some notice-ability already. The unique thing right now with Brandon, being a freshman and kind of taking on the role of being a go-to guy, is that it's challenging for him being 15 years old. He's taken that responsibility on. There were some bumps in the road early, just emotionally and getting adapted to everything that goes on here at St. John's, but he's doing a really nice job with hat. He's a fine young man and has tremendous upside."

Mlachnik has seen firsthand what happens at the academy when the basketball program is humming along. After that 2010-11 season, the school elected to part ways with Tim Richert (older brother Brian served as head coach for several years, as well, and played a prominent role in Hughes' recruitment process). The Lancers won 10 games in 2011-12 and 22 total over the next four seasons before this year's squad, which has an uphill battle to avoid a sixth straight losing season.

But this may be where that skid stops.

"Fridays and Saturdays when the whole corps is there (in the stands), the atmosphere is great," Mlachnik said. "It's been down a little bit the past three or four years, but you can really feel the good buzz happening. They see the young talent, they see a different style represented out there. They're waiting for it. There's a really good relationship developing with the players, the basketball program and the rest of the corps. It's definitely simmering right now and ready to take off the way it was back to Trevon's era and then when Kevin and DJ were here in 2011."

Hear the full conversation with Duane Mlachnik on the Initial Reaction podcast at LakeCountryNow.com.