Kahlil Whitney let the city know he was a different type of star basketball player even before he took the court. He isn’t following in the footsteps of Derrick Rose at Simeon or Jahlil Okafor at Young.
“I wanted to start my own legacy at Solorio,” Whitney said. “A lot of kids from the south and west sides like to go to established schools. I wanted to start my own thing. When people look at Solorio they will think of Kahlil Whitney.”
Elementary school basketball stars are the subject of intense recruiting battles between the city’s powerhouse high school programs. Whitney’s father is former Marshall and Seton Hall star Kelly Whitney. With that lineage and a 6-4 frame, Whitney had his choice of any high school in the city.
Solorio plays in the Public League’s Blue-Central conference. The Public League uses a promotion/relegation system, so the best teams are in the Red, followed by the White, the Blue and the Green. It’s unheard of for a player with Whitney’s options to chose a school in the Public League’s third level.
“The rumors were out there that he was going to Young before he came here and they are out there that he’s going to leave,” Sun Warriors coach Alonzo Crowder said. “All I know is he’s enrolled here and he was in his seat the first day of school.”
Crowder has a plan. If Solorio wins the Blue-Central conference this season they will move up to the White-Central next season. If they win the White-Central they will be in the Red-Central for Whitney’s junior and senior seasons.
“(Whitney’s mother, Chanel Tilmon) wanted him in a program where she trusts the coach,” said Crowder. “She told me that she thought I was the most genuine person in the process and that she felt comfortable sending him here where he is going to be safe and get the best from an academic perspective.”
Whitney lives with his mother in North Lawndale. His father lives in Newark, N.J.
“We talk all the time,” Whitney said. “He just wants me to be great, to be better than he was. He wants me to play hard, try to be a dog out there, try to be the best in the country.”
Whitney led the Sun Warriors to a 55-52 win over Hubbard on Tuesday at Solorio. He scored 29 points, grabbed eight rebounds and shot 9-for-20 from the field and 3-for-6 from three-point range. He’s one of the best freshman shooters in the Public League in recent memory.
“Kahlil is a hybrid athlete,” Crowder said. “However he still needs a little bit of improvement on his ball handling, he needs to get it on a string. In terms of shooting the long ball, shooting the mid-range and being a slasher and a guy that plays around the rim he’s really good. He’s one of the best I’ve seen and I’ve been around the game a long time.”
Whitney’s biggest challenge is on the defensive side of the ball, which is typical for young players.
“He still has a lot of work to do with his perimeter defense,” Crowder said. “He has it in him, he just has to commit to it. Just getting physical, right now he’s a finesse guy.”
Whitney doesn’t have a college scholarship offer yet, which is surprising. Iowa State came to watch him last week and he’s received a lot of interest from New Mexico State, Stanford and UIC. He said schools getting in on him early isn’t important.
“I just want more schools to get involved,” Whitney said. “It doesn’t matter who I talked to first. I’m going to make my decision after junior year or before my senior season.”
