Boys basketball: Sycamore adjusting to new coach Ethan Franklin’s up-tempo style of play

DeKALB – New Sycamore boys basketball coach Ethan Franklin said the Spartans definitely have been experiencing growing pains learning the new system he’s installing so far during summer ball.

But, he said, it’s better to go through the growing pains in June as opposed to November.

“They’ve had flashes where they look really, really good,” Franklin said. “I know it only happens in small doses at this point, but I see it, and it’s there, and we’re going to continue to build on it so by the time November comes, we’ll be locked in and ready to go.”

Franklin was named the new Sycamore coach in April, coming over from Genoa-Kingston. The Cogs were 11-19 in his first year but 22-10 this year. The Spartans are coming off a 13-16 season.

The Spartans are loading up with summer league games across the region, including at DeKalb, where they’ve been every Tuesday this month, and Rockford East.

“We’re having some growing pains in these games so far, but that’s what summer’s for,” Franklin said. “We have a great group of guys, and everybody at Sycamore has been wonderful to me. I imagine us getting better and better as we go.”

Franklin is trying to install an up-tempo pace of play on both sides of the ball, similar to what he ran in Genoa. There haven’t been a lot of upperclassmen at the scrimmages, he said, meaning younger players have been stepping up.

Incoming sophomore Carter York said considering how new everything is, the team is putting in the work and adjusting how it needs to.

“We just have to get used to it,” York said. “New things, all new things, but we’ll be used to it by the time the season comes around. I think we’re still adjusting, but when the season comes around, we’ll be ready.”

York said seeing other teams and how fast they are also is helping some of the young players, and he said he thinks it will pay off by the start of the season, which is traditionally for Sycamore its home tournament the weekend after Thanksgiving.

“I don’t want to handle that in the winter, so those young guys getting the opportunity now is good,” Franklin said. “It lets us see the differences in the speed of the game by playing other teams and that we want to play faster than they are typically used to.”