By Michael Wojtychiw

The art of defense isn’t something that many high school basketball players are interested in.

In the day of players looking to score as many points as they can, put up crazy stat lines and produce highlight reel after highlight reel, it seems as if the defensive aspect of the game can often go awry.

Not when it comes to Lake View rising senior Frank Fregoso, however.

In fact, the Wildcats’ point guard loves it. So much so that he had one of the greatest defensive seasons in Chicago Public League and Illinois state history.

Fregoso compiled 168 steals during the 2023-24 season, good for a third-place tie all-time in the Illinois state steals list for a single season. His 5.6 steals per game were the most in Illinois and 26th nationally. His 5.7 assists per game (170 assists overall) were fourth overall in the Public League this season, first in the White North and ninth in Illinois.

“It hit me in the middle of the season, when I reached 100 that it was pretty good,” Fregoso said. “I remember my freshman year, Coach Patterson was talking about having his name on a brick and I knew that I wanted something like that. I wanted to get something in the record books, so in the future my kids can look up to.

“Ever since I was younger, people have been telling me I’ve got a lot of hustle. I’m one of those players who dives for everything. I love putting my body on the line in a game.

“My dad was more of the one who kept track of the stats in a game, but for me, I just wanted to win the game.”

“I talked to these guys about making their mark,” coach Todd Patterson said. “Lake View is not known for basketball. It never has been since 1933 when they went downstate. They haven’t won 20 games since about 1935.

“These guys are trying to make it in the best way they can and Frank has done that by becoming the best defender on the team. As good as he is now, it’s all born out of hustle and now has an opportunity to be a student of the game and take his defense to a new level.”

That wasn’t always the player he was though.

Prior to this past season, Fregoso had a different role on the team and saw his role expand as the season started and even more so went along.

It was something that both he and Patterson knew would be coming during his junior season.

“Freshman year, I was getting to know to know everything after Covid because that really messed everything up,” Fregoso said. “So my role was to get to know all the players, the plays. Last year, my role grew because we put in a lot of work. We were all devoted to the team and played for each other.

“For me personally, I feel like I was more of a passer and getting the players open. I was also the defensive captain, getting everyone energized on defense.”

“Part of the first two years was about developing and getting to a certain level,” Patterson said. “It wasn’t about offense, it was about if you get to this level, you’ve got to be able to defend.

“We noticed in practice how scrappy Frank was, how he’s a pest, how guys didn’t want him to guard him. And that’s what you want from a defender. And so when we were watching tapes and seeing where we wanted to put certain players, we knew we wanted Frank pressuring the ball.

“It was something that developed naturally, Even this year with the steals, we didn’t come out and say ‘Let’s get this many steals per game.’ But as the season went on and he’s getting more steals, we saw it was something special.”

Fregoso isn’t the only one that had an improvement this season, however.

He and his Wildcats had their best season in nearly 100 years, compiling over 20 wins for the first time since the 1930’s. One of the big reasons for that is the continuity that the team has experienced.

Eleven of the 15 players on this year’s roster were upperclassmen, including Fregoso and fellow rising senior Daniel Loza, who is on track to break the 1,000 career-point barrier next season.

“The biggest thing coming here was getting the kids to buy in,” Patterson, who has also coached in the Quad Cities and at Evanston, said. “Before I even came here, I would sit outside this school and dream about having an experience for these kids. So when I came here, that’s what we talked about.

“Last year we knew we were going for 20 wins this year. Nobody outside here knew, but we did. We knew that because they bought into the hard work, into the offseason commitment.”

“During the beginning of the season, coach kept telling us it’s going to be a short season and it was,” Fregoso said. “We took the season three games at a time. Soon it kept adding up. We didn’t lose two games in a row.”

In their time in in the program, the Wildcats have won 11, 7 and now 21 games in those three seasons. Not bad progression for a group of players who come from schools all across the area and very few, if any, played together at any point before stepping into the halls of Lake View.

The trick for Patterson, Fregoso and the rest of the program is to keep that upward trajectory and continue to build on this past season’s successes.

“What we’ve seen is the natural progression of the program based on the commitment of the kids,” Patterson said. “Nobody in the past has come to Lake View for basketball. We don’t have a reputation for that. When I came here, I wanted to change that.

“Now you have more people coming to the games with Lake View pride. We just have to work hard. We set goals that are realistic. It’s a process.”

“We hope to win the White next season. We think it’s the natural progression. But conference is tough, that’s where the rivalries are. We love that it’s tough, but what we really love is we’re in the conversation now.”