Hollywood Shines
by Andrew Force, Future150 (11:36 PM CT, Wed March 4, 2015)

BRADLEY, IL (Future150) -- There are stars everyone knows like Polaris and Sirius.  Because eyes are fixated upon them so frequently they are considered better stars.  Sure they are solid, but there are less frequently acknowledged star formations capable of inspiring awe. 

Bradely Bourbonnais High School teammates Micah Bradford and Zachary Hollywood are those stars.  If Micah is Rigel, Hollywood is Vega.  The two bright, blue stars are wonderful and captivating.  You just look at them less often, so you don't get to appreciate the beauty.  Any observer instantly recognizes Bradford's and Hollywood's capacities for improvement along with their currently high level of skill. 

Bradford's father, Barry Bradford will coach the pair all spring and summer with Example Sports.  The outfit should make waves on the AAU circuit.

Family Matter

My dad really pushes me a lot to work on different aspects of my game.  We work out in my driveway honestly. 

"I will have practice after school," said Hollywood.  "In the summers, when he has work during the day I will do drills by myself and when he comes home you do drills together.  I worked on my ball handling a lot this summer.  After we do that we play one-on-one."

It is a former D1 college player teaching a future D1 college player in a private driveway, a metaphorical passing of the torch.

Like Hollywood, Bradford gets lots of encouragement from his father.  In addition to running the Exchange Sports AAU program, Barry Bradford operates an entire basketball league!

A League of his Own

Bradford is the Founder and Commissioner of the Independent Basketball Association, or IBA.  Since the league's inception in 2011 it has grown from six to 14 teams.  The epicenter is Kankakee County and the Chicagoland area, but there are teams as far east as NY/NJ and as far south as St. Louis, Missouri.

"I started it because I played minor league basketball," said Bradford.  "After playing I wanted to give guys an opportunity to expand their basketball careers.  Also, I use it to get our players to give back to the community." 

Quick study

Hollywood has both the skills and the basketball acumen to adapt to any new situation. 

"He played five games as a freshman and then he got moved up to varsity," said mother Susan Hollywood.  "I know (Coach) Alex had been looking at him to bring him up."

Where will Hollywood continue his studies? 

Though his father played for Youngstown State and Oliviet Nazarene, Hollywood has a few Midwestern recruiters after him.

"Loyola (IL), Western Illinois, Lehigh," said Hollywood.  "Notre Dame was interested in  me, but I haven’t heard from them in awhile."

According to his mother SIU-Edwardsville has reached out too. Illinois State evaluated both Micah and Hollywood in practice.

"We did the Western (Illinois) University and we were just up at Loyola on Wednesday," said Mrs. Hollywood.  "We didn’t get to see the campus yet.  They invited us up to the basketball game and the coach talked to him.  And then the coach came down Friday night to watch Zachary play.  We are going to go back up in the spring when it is a little bit warmer.  It was -20 wind chill."

Though WIU resides in Macomb, Illinois.  Macomb is a smaller town in west central Illinois.  Hollywood has no qualms about the town's size because he will go to school for two big reasons.

"That is not really the most important thing to me," said Hollywood.  "The most important thing is my education obviously.  The second thing is what kind of offense they run."

Hollywood does have dreams of La La Land. 

"I definitely want to hear from some schools out west like UCLA and USC."

Out there live a different kind of stars.

Diagnosing the Game

Bradford is an unheralded star, much like Rigel.  Rigel is that blue star in Orion, not the belt rather the left foot of Orion as he faces you.  Check it out tonight.  It is high in the south as March hits. 

Micah and Rigel are going to have a big spring.  Bradford's is climbing as he deservedly gains high major observations.  Iowa and Bradley are very intrigued.  The Braves from Peoria, Illinois have offered a scholarship to the Class of 2016 PG.

Micah glides around the court doing his best impression of a perpetual motion machine, while Hollywood is the perfect pick-and-pop guy.  Standing 6'8" Hollywood would ordinarily be shoved down onto the blocks, but his high school coach understands the value Hollywood has 10'-15' from the tin.

"Naturally, even when I was younger, I was taller than everyone," said Hollywood.  "But my strength was mid-range game."

Hollywood has a glorious shooting touch and his mechanics are sound.

Hollywood will also have a productive screen.

"(Loyola) said to come back up in spring when it is warmer," said Mrs. Hollywood.

When the murky, overcast spring skies clear college coaches will see these two for what they truly are.  Unheralded before, the brilliant stars are ready to shine.