With the recent commitment of Benet’s Ed Stasys to Yale, it’s another reminder of just how pivotally important recruiting the state of Illinois has become for Ivy League basketball programs.
While defections of high-level talent has led to Stasys becoming the state’s top-ranked prospect in the Class of 2027, this is still a monster commitment for the two-time defending Ivy League champs.
“The academic piece for my decision was definitely a factor, although I believe that Yale had some of the strongest basketball as well from the schools that I was considering,” Stasys said. “My family values academics. But that, along with basketball, were both even priorities.”
Stasys is just the next in line of top Illinois players who have opted for the combination of elite academics and Division I basketball. Buffalo Grove’s Alex Sirbu and Wheaton Academy’s Hayden Schroeder, both among the top 10 players in the senior class, are headed to Columbia and Penn, respectively.
This year’s current Ivy League freshman class has a whopping five Illinois products: New Trier’s Christopher Kirkpatrick at Princeton, DePaul Prep’s Rykan Woo at Brown, Deerfield’s Jake Pollack at Dartmouth, Loyola’s Trey Williams at Cornell and St. Ignatius’ Chris Bolte at Yale.
The impact in recent years is endless when it comes to local players propping up Ivy League basketball.
Glenbrook South’s Cooper Noard led the Ivy League in scoring last season in his final year at Cornell. New Trier’s Jake Fiegen was the conference’s third leading scorer.
Penn, the Ivy League’s NCAA Tournament qualifier, had four Illinois products on its roster, including leading scorer Ethan Roberts of Hersey and key contributors Dalton Scantlebury of Lane and AJ Levine of York.
John Poulakidas of Neuqua Valley was the Ivy’s leading scorer in 2023-24 while helping Yale to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 2024 and 2025.
Glenbard West’s Caden Pierce was the Ivy League Player of the Year in 2023-24.
The list goes on. New Trier’s Jackson Munro, Evanston’s Blake Peters and Niles Notre Dame’s Louis Lesmond all recently completed outstanding careers at Dartmouth, Princeton and Harvard, respectively. And current Ivy League players like Benet’s Niko Abusara at Dartmouth and Princeton’s tandem of Downers Grove North’s Jack Stanton and Young’s Dalen Davis continue to make their mark.
Bolte, who led St. Ignatius to 27 wins last season and is now a freshman at Yale, certainly noticed the local prep stars heading to the Ivy League and thriving once there.
“When it started to get real during my junior year, I did start to pay more attention to the Chicago area pipeline to the Ivy League,” Bolte said of his recent recruitment. “I started to want to be one of those names. I saw what John Poulakidas did when he went to Yale. And even Caden Pierce with what he did at Princeton and how he’s able to go to Purdue now. I definitely wanted to be in a pipeline like that with all that success and the degree too.”
While the local players have thrived on the court, it’s also what an Ivy League school brings after they’re done playing basketball that’s so enticing. Whether it’s elite social networking, the prestige that comes with the degree or higher starting salaries in the workforce, the opportunities that present themselves are endless.
“I really wanted to be in a spot where it’s not just a four-year decision but a 40-year decision for me with the degree,” Bolte said. “So I did get lucky with Yale and the perfect balance with basketball and beyond.”
