Family Tradition: Logan Kohrmann is Central’s sixth BND Basketball Player of the Year in last eight seasons

The Kohrmann house in Bartelso has always been the place to be for basketball and a slew of other sports.

“We played in the backyard every single day after school at my house,” said Central High senior guard Logan Kohrmann, voted Belleville News-Democrat Small-School Basketball Player of the Year by area coaches. “Every day after school we’d have 15 or 20 kids come over and we’d do a bracket every single day in the summer.

“You didn’t even have to invite them, they’d just go there every day.”

The son of Gigi and Glenn “Big Arm” Kohrmann learned a lot about basketball while playing in his backyard. He had two older sisters to help in Shelby and Torre Kohrmann, both of whom starred at Central before playing at Lindenwood University in Belleville.

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Logan Kohrmann began playing basketball “probably as soon as I could walk. It’s always run in our family and I remember I would play two years up with my sisters, I would play on their teams, too.”

More help came from the Central players who came before him, including several friends that played on the Cougars’ 2012 state championship team.

Those young grade school players sitting in the stands at Central games the last couple seasons certainly had their eyes on Kohrmann as well.

“They all wanted to be like Logan,” Central coach Jeremy Shubert said. “He just played the game right, that’s going to be the best thing I remember about him. He just went out there and played the game right.”

Family tradition

Kohrmann is the sixth News-Democrat Basketball Player of the Year from Central in the last eight years, a run that is both dominant and truly remarkable.

He is joined by Jacob Timmermann (2014), Brandon Book (2011, 2012), David Wiegmann (2010) and Garrett Gaffner (2009). Kohrmann finished his career as Central’s No. 2 all-time scorer with 1,645 points, just ahead of Wiegmann (1,643 points) and behind all-time leader Book (1,848 points).

“He’s up there with the Central greats of all time,” Shubert said.

“It’s just good to keep it in the Central tradition,” said Kohrmann, whose 18.5 points per game, 61 3-pointers and 4.9 rebounds per game helped Central (31-5) to a third-place finish at the Class 2A state tournament. “I know a few of the guys that won state before, they’re the ones that pushed me to get to where I am now.”

Shubert, who won BND Small-School Coach of the Year honors, said Kohrmann is the finished product of years of hard work.

“He really was just a complete package player,” Shubert said. “He could shoot it. He could handle the ball and pass it, was the second-leading assist guy for us and that says a lot. He had a nice jumps shot, a nice fadeaway shot and he shot close to 40 percent from 3-point range.

“Our team need that complete player this year and he was it.”

Kohrmann had the kind of game that opposing teams feared. Try to guard him tight with man-to-man and watch him beat defenders with strong moves to the rim.

Back off him and watch him beat you with 3-pointers or those acrobatic fadeaway shots that became his trademark. All the defensive attention pointed his way allowed him to find wide-open teammates for easy buckets as well.

“He was able to figure out ways and be creative,” Shubert said. “He always drew a good defender and sometimes they would use gimmick defenses against him.”

That didn’t stop Kohrmann from pouring in 75 points in his final three high school games, including the super-sectional win and two games at state.

“You’re averaging 25 points a game on high school basketball’s biggest stage and that says a ot right there,” Shubert said.

Kohrmann said the state tourney trip was a fitting finale to his high school career.

“I’ve dreamed about that since I was in grade school and I remember eighth-grade year going up there watching them play and win state,” he said. “I just wanted to get the chance for myself and I did. It was awesome playing in that big arena in front of everyone.”

The Kohrmann DNA

Kohrmann’s entire family has been immersed in sports forever. Mom Gigi Kohrmann coaches the Central softball team and dad Glenn Kohrmann manages Bartelso’s club in the Clinton County Baseball League. Sister Shelby Kohrmann was an NAIA All-American at Lindenwood-Belleville and Torre Kohrmann was among the LU-B leading scorers this season.

Both parents were talented athletes as well, but they passed on other important traits to their son such as being humble and playing each game with tremendous passion.

Getting Logan Kohrmann to say more than a handful of words about himself was tough. He preferred to let his play on the court do all the talking.

“He’s just a quiet competitor,” Shubert said. “He hates to lose, it doesn’t matter if it’s basketball or what it is. He also has a good ability to keep things on an even keel. He doesn’t take either one to the extreme, which is a very good attribute.”

Kohrmann had initial recruiting interest from McKendree and Southwestern Illinois and Kaskaskia also made strong pitches. But when it came down to decision time, Kohrmann chose to sign with Lindenwood-Belleville.

“I know a lot about it and i know some kids going there like Braden Fitzjerrells from Mount Vernon,” Kohrmann said. “I just thought it would be a fitting place for me. Some people said if I went bigger I wouldn’t be able to play and I play basketball to play. I don’t want to sit on the sideline and watch.”

Shubert said Kohrmann’s familiarity with the school and having two sisters play there was a factor.

“Not only is it good for him, it’s going to be very comfortable for him,” Shubert said. “I think it’s just a really good fit for him. I think Logan just really wants to play and Lindenwood’s going to give him a chance to play at the college level for four years.”

Basketball has always been Kohrmann’s first love and his favorite player right now is Duke University guard Grayson Allen.

“I think it was more the action,” Kohrmann said about why basketball remains his passion. “With basketball you’re always doing something. Baseball you can bat every three innings and hope the ball comes to you every once in a while.

“I’m not bashing on baseball, I played that all through grade school. But with basketball I think it’s just more of the action and being involved all the time. It’s more fun to me.”

Shubert wins Coach of the Year

Along with guiding Central to a third-place finish at state this season, Shubert’s teams are 76-21 in his first three seasons as a head coach.

“I guess I can say I’m part of a really elite list because I’ve learned from so many of those coaches that have won this award before,” said Shubert, who followed Hall of Fame coach Stan Eagleson at Central and noted all those previous Player of the Year awards as well. “It also shows we’ve had some pretty good talent at Central over the last 15 or 20 years.

“It’s easy to win awards like that when you have good players. I’m humbled that people thought of me this year as the Coach of the year. It’s an honor that I’ll cherish for a long, long time.”

This story was originally published March 27, 2016 at 12:18 AM with the headline "Family Tradition: Logan Kohrmann is Central’s sixth BND Basketball Player of the Year in last eight seasons."