‘Big man’ Filewich commits to Illinois school

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/05/2020 (2247 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A former Vincent Massey Trojans basketball star has committed to play with a university team in Carbondale, Ill, this fall.

Kyler Filewich recently signed a letter of intent to play with the Southern Illinois University men’s basketball program. 

“I graduated from VM in 2019,” Filewich said. “My final year there was great. We won the provincial championships.”

In fact, he was a two-sport star at Massey, where he was named the No. 1 player in Manitoba by the Winnipeg Sun in 2018 and 2019. He led the Trojans to a provincial championship in 2019 with 26 points, 16 rebounds and six assists in the title game.  He also starred in football, playing defensive end, tight end and offensive tackle.

A 6-foot-9, 250-pound post player, Filewich went on to play this past year with the Orangeville Prep basketball team at the Athlete Institute Basketball Academy (AIBA) in Mono, Ont., competing in the Ontario Scholastic Basketball Association (OSBA) league.

The institute was founded in September 2010 by Jesse Tipping and Adam Hoffman. Tipping followed the dreams of his father, James, who wanted to create the best basketball facility in Canada. Along with housing two more basketball teams, the AIBA has a scholastic side, for students who need to complete their high school education.

Filewich said that while he already has a high school diploma from Massey, he took a few courses from the Orangeville District Secondary School in order to remain eligible to play on the team. “Art and health sciences course, and co-op education,” he said, adding that he stayed in a dormitory at the school.

“We practised Monday to Friday, if there weren’t any games in a particular week,” he said. “As most of the kids were from Toronto, they’d go home on weekends. That meant I got in extra work-outs with the coaches. We usually played in our league twice a week.”

During the year, the team also toured the U.S., playing in tournaments against top prep school competition.

“Between the workouts at the school and the competitions, I improved my game a lot,” he said. “I was playing against the best basketball players around at my age level, both in Canada and the States.”

It was at a playoff game in Kentucky that he met Southern Illinois men’s basketball coach Bryan Mullins. “We were about an hour away from his campus, and he was on a scouting tour,” Filewich said. “I developed a relationship with him. I was supposed to visit the campus in April, but that didn’t happen (due to the pandemic).”

In a press release, Mullins said he’s excited to have Filewich join his program, whose team nickname is the Salukis (a type of hound dog). “Kyler is one of the most competitive kids there is, and plays with great passion every time he is on the court. A common theme of all the teams he has played on is that they have won championships.”

Filewich nearly averaged a double-double with 11.4 points and 9.9 rebounds in OSBA games last year, including a season-high 23 points during the regular season and a 21-rebound performance in a Final 8 Championships game against TRC Academy on March 7. His team finished undefeated and won the OSBA.

“He has a great skill-set with different low-post moves and a feel for the game that allows him to make everyone else around him better,” Mullins said. “He is a tireless worker that will continue to improve over the next four years.”

Filewich will major in business at the university, which is giving him a “full ride”, with a scholarship covering his tuition, residence and other fees. “There are 15,000 students there, so it will be comfortable for me. They’ve sent videos and articles on the town and campus, and that’s helping me get familiar with it,” he said.

Filewich credits his mom Arlyn and dad Keon with supporting him in reaching for his dreams.

“They’ve got me into a position to get where I am,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to the next four years with the Salukis, if the pandemic doesn’t change things.”