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Jacobs' Orange lived up to expectations

When former Jacobs coach Jim Hinkle announced his retirement in August of 2012, he made a point of saying he wasn't leaving the proverbial cupboard bare for the next coach.

Though his time to retire had arrived, the hall-of-fame coach lamented the fact he would only coach then-up-and-coming sophomore Chrishawn Orange for one varsity season, saying he expected the talented point guard to "have a big impact on the Fox Valley Conference" before his three-year varsity career was through.

Fast forward three seasons and the 17-year-old point guard from Algonquin has made those lofty predictions come true.

Orange was the leading scorer for Jacobs' first FVC Valley Division championship team since the 2007-08 season. He entered the postseason averaging 15 points, 4 rebounds and 1.6 assists for a team that finished 22-6 after falling to Bartlett in a nip-and-tuck regional semifinal on Wednesday.

"Chris is awesome," said Jacobs senior guard Cory Boeckh, a friend since Orange transferred to Westfield Middle School in seventh grade. "He's a good teammate on and off the floor. He's our point guard because he makes good decisions."

Orange is as valuable to the FVC Valley champs in the locker room as he is on the hardwood.

"Talk about leads by example. He leads with his voice," said second-year Jacobs coach Jim Roberts, who inherited Orange and Northern Michigan-bound guard Kenton Mack from Hinkle. "He's there every single day. I can't recall one day where he hasn't been at something that we've done.

"He's just that guy who you can tell our young kids in the program, our Jr. Eagles kids in the summer, 'Be like him. Do what he does.' He's our best player, our hardest worker. We have other guys who work hard, but nobody works harder. He's just all those things for us. He's just that dream kid to have in your program."

For his excellent season as a leader on and off the court, Jacobs senior point guard Chrishawn Orange has been named the honorary captain of the 2014-15 Daily Herald's Fox Valley All-Area team for boys basketball.

"It's everything," Orange said when asked what the sport means to him. "I play it all the time. It's a part of me. And I love playing with these guys."

Orange has been playing basketball since "as soon as I could hold the ball," he said. He was growing up in Hampshire and was part of the Hampshire High School feeder program until his family moved to Algonquin when he was in seventh grade. That's when he met future friends and teammates Mack and Mike Canady, among others.

Hinkle recognized Orange's talent early on and invited him to play with the Jacobs varsity team in the summer before his freshman year of high school. He would play on the sophomore team that season.

He joined the varsity as a sophomore and began to have an immediate impact. By the time he was a junior, Orange developed into one of the finest players in the area. In his second varsity campaign he averaged 15.6 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.1 steals for a team that won 17 games.

However, he was unable to gain traction on the college recruitment front. The reason? Scouts said he was an average shooter.

"That's been his thing, his knock, that he can do all these things but can he shoot it well enough, especially to play at the next level, at a scholarship level," Roberts said. "He's put in a lot of work. I think those comments and those questions were valid. They were. Even through last year I think they were valid.

"But the work the kid has put in has paid off. He's a shooter now. If you watch him go through his shooting progressions (in practice), he can shoot the basketball. I started videotaping him shooting and sending them out. I think those things are debunked, especially the latter part of this year. He's really shot it well."

Through the end of the regular season, Orange had connected on 127 of 275 field-goal attempts (46.2 percent) overall and was shooting 34 percent from 3-point range (25 of 74).

His improved shooting touch was on display on Feb. 17, when Jacobs defeated Cary-Grove 66-57 to clinch the FVC Valley title outright. Orange scored 11 straight points in the second half of that game, a personal run capped by consecutive 3-pointers. He shot 8 of 15 from the field and 4 of 6 from 3-point range to finish with 27 points.

So much for not being a shooter.

"He worked very hard on his shooting over the summer so you can't really sag off him," Mack said. "If you get too close up on him, he's going past you. He's the fastest guy around."

That quickness and ability to drive past opponents has drawn plenty of fouls. As a result Orange does much of his damage from the free-throw line, where he has canned 126 of 147 attempts (85.7 percent).

Though Orange was hoping for a longer postseason run to showcase his talents to prospective college coaches, he can't complain about the success his team enjoyed.

"We've completed a lot of goals," he said. "Getting 20 wins this season was a first for our coach, so it meant a lot to us. And then going undefeated in conference was really good, too."

As for college, the 1,000-point scorer remains uncommitted. He is actively being recruited to join his friend and teammate, Mack, at Northern Michigan. He can also play at "his choice of Division-III colleges," according to his coach.

Orange himself said he is still holding out hope for an offer from a low Division-I school that needs a guard with handles and an ever-improving shooting touch.

"I hope this game takes me to college," said Orange, who holds a 3.7 grade-point average and has a qualifying test scores. "It would be a great opportunity to get a full ride at a place I feel comfortable in. Basketball can take me pretty far, hopefully."

No matter where the game takes him, Orange will always be welcome in Algonquin as long as Roberts is coach.

"He's the kind of kid that you hope to coach in your whole career," Roberts said. "He's the kind of kid who, after he's gone, you sit and wonder if you'll ever have a kid like him again in your career. He's special."

Images: Daily Herald All-Area Team Captains, Basketball

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