DeKalb adjusts to new-look roster during summer rebuild

DeKALB – After a fourth straight 20-win season and graduation of the winningest class in school history, DeKalb is officially in rebuild mode.

Needing to replace 98% of their scoring and rebounding, the Barbs have spent the summer breaking in a new group of underclassmen – a process that head coach Mike Reynolds knows carries a steep learning curve.

“We’re certainly a work-in-progress, but we know that we have a lot of belief in the guys coming back, even though they don’t have a lot of experience,” Reynolds said. “It’s their job to kind of train the young guys, and hopefully we can have some sophomores and juniors step up and be good contributors.”

Last winter, seniors Sean Reynolds, Jackson Kees, Marquise Bolden and Justin O’Neal and junior Davon Grant powered the Barbs to a 27-7 record (second-highest win total in school history), a share of the DuPage Valley Conference title and a trip to the sectional round of the playoffs.

That team – minus Grant – combined for 3,183 career points. By season’s end, DeKalb was ranked No. 39 in Illinois by MaxPreps.com.

Sean Reynolds was one of the most prolific players to wear a Barbs’ uniform, setting school records for points (1,761), field goals (614) and 3-pointers (360). Kees and Bolden were dynamic scoring guards, each eclipsing the 500-point mark. O’Neal’s 6-foot-4, 200-pound frame made him a formidable big man on the floor.

But they’ve all moved on.

The writing is also on the wall for Grant, a 1,000-point scorer who posted several double-doubles last season. The incoming senior has shifted his focus to football, having committed to Illinois as he weighs early graduation.

With so much inexperience on the roster and only so much time to work during the summer, Mike Reynolds said he’s trying to baptize his newest players by fire.

DeKalb hosted its annual DeKalb Live Summer Tournament in late June. The Barbs went 2-2 against Class 4A competition, picking up wins over Streamwood and Wheeling.

“It’s a good opportunity for our guys to test themselves against teams we normally wouldn’t play,” Reynolds said. “That, to me, is what the summer is about – developing our team and also trying to see which kids are going to take their games to the next level.”

Meanwhile, returning seniors Bryan Miller, Myles Newman and Derrion Straughter have stepped into larger leadership roles. Each of the three contributed off the bench a season ago, fully aware of the responsibility they’d soon need to shoulder.

“After the season, I knew we were going to lose a lot of key players,” Newman said. “I knew it was going to be a big role for me to step up as a senior that got good minutes last year, and I knew that we had to lead a younger team to be better and try to be better than last year.”

The 2024-25 Barbs predicated themselves as a tough, defense-driven team able to punch above their weight class. After summer ball, Reynolds said the varsity newcomers have started buying into that culture.

For veterans like Newman, an equally important offseason objective has been enhancing the team’s chemistry and trying to reach full power.

“We’re always going to be good-skilled, but being a team together is always what’s going to get us through the hump,” Newman said.