Kankakee High School hosts 1st NCAA Live event

Over the month of June, dozens of schools will host scores more for several different summer basketball shootouts, but only two of those events had college basketball coaches on hand.

In addition to the longstanding Windmill City Shootout hosted by Batavia, Kankakee’s Genevra Walters Community Center was the other site, where the Kays hosted their inaugural Kankakee Live.

A total of 19 schools from all corners of the state flocked to Kankakee for three days of summer shootout action on the four-court community center last Thursday-Saturday. Those are the three days that NCAA coaches are allowed to have communication with prospective high schoolers during June.

Kankakee girls basketball coach Kurt Weigt said that while they hope to see plenty of growth as the years go by, the inaugural effort was well worth it as they look to establish a yearly college connection right at home.

“We’re trying to get it off the ground … we wish we would have gotten a better showing from college coaches, but it will continue to grow,” Weigt said. “We’re gonna stick with it and once people get the hang of this being one of the sights, we’ll start to get more traffic. We’re hoping to have more Central Illinois flavor.”

There will be four NCAA live periods for women’s basketball in July, which is essentially prime AAU season. That means that over the course of June, high school coaches are attempting to get their teams to as many shootouts and other events as possible to lay the foundation for the 2025-26 season.

For the Kays, although All-State and All-Area junior forward Ava Johnson highlights a team that will have a good bit of talent returning from last year’s 18-13 squad, there are no seniors in the program. That makes June even more vital for the Kays, and after winning the Braidwood Shootout and a 5-0 showing at their host event for a perfect 9-0 week, there couldn’t be a much more promising start.

“It’s been a great week,” Weigt said. “Our kids are starting to get it. You’re trying to gel some new freshmen in the group, and for us, the nice part is we’re starting to reap the benefit of my assistant coaches coaching at the junior high. It’s the same terminology and it takes some time. This is year five, so now we’re starting to reap some of the benefits.”

The Kays’ last win of the week was a nail-biter of a 37-36 win over Joliet Central, who had a 2-2 showing at Kankakee Live. For head coach Laura Brumfiel, those two losses could prove to be good teaching moments for the defending Southwest Prairie Red champions as the upcoming team gets in place. As they prepare for the upcoming season, the Steelmen will have a trio of four-year seniors to lean on in guards Elliana Fowler and Nevaeh Wright and post Taneisha Robinson.

“I think really for us, teaching them how we want to compete,” Brumfiel said was the summer’s primary objective. “For them, teaching them to play hard and also getting them comfortable on offense. Whatever we’re gonna run, throwing them out there and getting them comfortable shooting the basketball and getting to the rim. And team bonding of course. They get along really well.”