St. Francis de Sales' Micheal Woods is the next breakout freshman

The Class of 2027 is the story of the season. Warren’s Jaxson Davis, Bolingbrook’s Davion Thompson and Kenwood’s Devin Cleveland all stepped into the spotlight at various moments.

The trio of highly-regarded freshmen lived up to the preseason hype and will begin playoff runs on Wednesday with major expectations.

There is another burgeoning freshman star in the area, over on the East Side. Tiny St. Francis de Sales, the home of Erik Anderson and Sean Lampley, has Micheal Woods.

Cleveland, Davis and Thompson are friends. They’ve known each other and played against each other for years. Woods lives in Indiana and grew up in a different youth basketball world.

The 6-1 guard is well-known in Indiana. Both of his brothers are college athletes. Harold plays college basketball at Northeastern in Boston. Jordan is on the football team at EIU and was the Post-Tribune boys basketball Player of the Year in 2023 while at Hammond Central.

That’s the connection with St. Francis de Sales. Former Hammond Central basketball coach Larry Moore Jr. took over the Pioneers’ program in May. Moore was an All-State player at St. Francis de Sales, graduating in 1995.

“I’ve been connected with the family for years,” Moore said. “So it was an easy transition to come over here when I made the move. I’ve been around Micheal since he was in fourth grade.”

Woods started to generate some buzz early in the season but then went down with an injury. He missed a month and a half, finally returning on Monday to play in the Pioneers’ Class 1A regional quarterfinal win against Tilden.

“It was great to be back and get a win and get started on the playoffs,” Woods said. “It was rough watching me teammates lose. I could have helped us succeed so that wasn’t easy.”

Woods averaged 14 points and six assists before he was injured.

“If [Woods] didn’t get hurt we would have won some games that we weren’t supposed to and that would have elevated him,” Moore Jr. said. “But I told him to keep his head up and focus on his grades because he can play. The attention will come. He can play the game and he’s a competitor.”

St. Francis de Sales (10-19, 3-5 Catholic League White) struggled against the larger schools in the Catholic League but was competitive in close losses to St. Ignatius, St. Francis and Lindblom.

“Our goal is to get down state,” Moore Jr. said. “If we play solid defense and play well as a team we can do something. We went through a regular season gauntlet and now is the time to take advantage of that.”

Woods showed his ability to get to the basket against Tilden and made the only three-pointer he shot. But the game was never competitive. The Pioneers led 37-6 after the first quarter and won 89-21.

Woods, who will play with the Mac Irvin Fire club team this summer, described himself as a player who likes to get to the basket and is good at finishing at the rim but says he has an all-around game.

“He competed every night right from the start as a freshman and wasn’t overmatched by any of the guards we played against,” Moore Jr. said. “He’s going to be good.”