It’s the height of the 2019-2020 Libertyville boys basketball season and senior forward Patrick Graham has finished the annual Wheeling Hardwood Classic with a 2-2 team record, an average of 12 points and 10 rebounds and a place on the all-tournament team. When his senior season comes to an end in the regional finals against the Zion-Benton Zee-Bees, Graham, also a soccer and volleyball player, has made quite a name for himself.
Now, four years later, the former forward is a senior and finance major at the University of Iowa. A member of the school’s “gray squad,” Graham is one of several men who practice against the womens basketball team in preparation for their games. This has, of course, brought him into a coveted position of playing one of the best collegiate athletes: Caitlin Clark.
Graham said that Clark gives 100% no matter what day it is.
“You can really see how that translates to her game,” Graham said. “She’s breaking records left and right and those shots that she takes in practice are the same shots she’s taking in the game that’s wowing everybody.”
The University of Iowa is a popular college destination for graduating seniors all across Illinois. In fact, according to College Factual, about 33.7% of the school’s undergraduate students hail from the Prairie State. Graham is just one of these undergraduate students, but his time as a three-sport athlete at LHS has made him an asset for the Iowa program.
“Patrick Graham was a very aggressive basketball player on the court,” Mr. Brian Zyrkowski, the Libertyville varsity boys basketball head coach, said. “He was our best rebounder, the most athletic guy on the court, I think because he played three sports.”
Mr. Kevin Thunholm, who has been the varsity boys soccer coach since 2017, said that Graham was an excellent leader.
“He could just control a room,” Coach Thunholm said. “Everybody listened to him. Coaches had his respect, players had his respect. He was an unbelievable athlete.”
Another of Graham’s coaches, Ms. Jenny Smith, who has been the varsity boys volleyball head coach for 10 years, said that Graham was a phenomenal athlete who shone during a sophomore year game against the Lake Forest Scouts.
“We were playing a really great Lake Forest team,” Coach Smith said, “and they had a Division I [commit] on the outside. We threw him on the right side, first time he was on the court on varsity, first time ever, he got two block kills against this kid, Kevin Lamp.”
Coach Zyrkowski said that Graham came back over winter break to play with the alumni.
“He was the best basketball player on the floor,” Coach Zyrkowski said. “He’s playing against a high level, one of the best basketball players in women’s basketball of all time.”
Graham is one of 19 men on the gray squad, seven of whom are managers who can double as practice players. Graham is one of 12 full-time players and regularly plays against the Hawkeye women, now Big Ten Tournament champions after a 94-89 overtime win against the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Sunday, March 10.
A current senior, Caitlin Clark recently announced her intent to enter the WNBA draft, making this season as a Hawkeye, currently ranked second in the Big Ten behind the Ohio State Buckeyes, her last.
Graham has many stories from his time with Clark and the Iowa women that range from funny to inspirational.
“I was on offense running a play for the Indiana game, so I was one of their players,” Graham said. “I didn’t shoot all day and [on the] first shot, I bricked a three off the side of the backboard and she made a comment, saying, ‘You should go play with the fives again to be a big.’ I was like, ‘Oh my God. The best women’s basketball player in the world just said that.’”
Graham, who was noticed by some of the program’s coaches three years ago and is now a valuable member of the gray squad, said that Clark has adapted well to all the fame.
“I think that’s something everyone can learn from,” Graham said. “She also just doesn’t take everything so seriously. No one knows what it’s like to be in her position, but it’s cool when I see her just joking around at practice. Not everything is, ‘She’s the most famous women’s athlete right now.’ She’ll never make you know that she is and I think that’s pretty cool as well.”