DeAndre McCamey

By: Illinoishsbasketball contributing writer John Schultz
April 15th, 2008

 

Many people just know him as the younger brother of Illinois’ star freshman guard Demitri McCamey, but to those who follow high school basketball in Illinois, he is much, much more. The sophomore guard at St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois had a stellar season in leading the Chargers to a 21-7 record and an East Suburban Catholic Conference title, as well as being named to the all ESCC all-conference team.

 It is still too early to tell for sure, but DeAndre McCamey has a chance to have an even better career playing for legendary coach Gene Pingatore than his older brother did, and could end up being the better college player as well. The 6-1 guard has a body like a rock, top-notch athleticism to match it, and very good all around game. He took the reigns from his brother at the start of his sophomore season, after playing on the sophomore team his freshman year, and he adjusted well to the varsity game despite the pressure of being deemed “the next great thing” to come out of the storied program at such a young age.

 “It’s a tough place to take over when you’re a sophomore,” said McCamey of his school that has produced the likes of William Gates, Jon Peoples, Evan Turner, Isiah Thomas and more, “and it’s hard to know what coach Pingatore wants, but I love new challenges. I really adjusted quickly because I’ve really been playing with people my brother’s age all my life, but I had to, because all my coaches expect highly of me, and most of our players I grew up with.

“I'm one of the few sophomores that ever started for Coach Ping,” he continued, “and its always big shoes to fill because my brother was the star here, so not only do I have to live up to the hype, I have to hold the torch of all the great guards from St. Joes.”

McCamey comes from a family flowing with talent.  His brother Demitri just came off of a huge freshman season at Illinois, his cousin Jacob Pullen was the third leading scorer for an NCAA tournament team (Kansas St.) as a freshman, and his teammate/cousin, Diamond Taylor who recently committed to play under Coach Bo Ryan at the University of Wisconsin.

“Whenever you play with family it’s always great, and Diamond being as good as he is it really takes a load of my back with our team. He's just a flat out outstanding player,” said McCamey. “Of course my brother’s taught me everything about being the guard I am now. I learn new things from him everyday. Then I get to learn from Jake, and those where two of the best guards in the state. My brother pushes me because he wants me to be better then him, and I have to do that for my little brother as well.”

When it comes to recruiting, he said he is interested in Kansas, Michigan State, Kentucky, SIU, and Notre Dame. His only offer so far came from SIU, but that doesn’t seem to bother him as Southern Illinois is one of his favorite schools at the moment. “They really like my game and I love coach Lowery and his staff,” said McCamey of SIU.

McCamey will be hoping to add to that list of offers this spring and summer when he hits the court with Mike Mullins’ 16u Illinois Wolves. Last year McCamey played up an age group and made it onto a number of all-tournament teams, and this year he should really open some eyes playing alongside a number of big time prospects includuing highly regarded 6-5 SG Alex Dragicevich.