Manual's latest Division I prospect is fruit of the Peoria basketball tree

PEORIA — Their names are identical and their games are eerily similar. That can sometimes happen when you’re family.

Dietrich Richardson draws a lot of comparisons to his uncle, former Illini men’s basketball standout D.J. Richardson. The Manual junior’s dad, Dietrich, and the one-time Peoria High player are brothers, giving Dietrich a mentor that’s in his bloodlines.

“He’s very skilled,” D.J. said. “With him having that frame and being able to play the point guard, that’s pretty scary. I see a lot of my skillset in how he’s playing now, especially when I was around that age.”

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The youngest Richardson came up clutch in a big spot during Friday’s 46-43 win at Peoria Notre Dame. With the Rams trailing by five with 3:41 to play, his reverse layup ignited a 10-2 push and rally for the victory. He finished with eight points and five rebounds with a block and steal in front of a postseason-like atmosphere in The Kitchen.

“I just found gaps to attack to get open,” Dietrich said, “and get my teammates open and just draw help. Make the right passes.

“It was wild. Every time they scored, they had the floor shaking. It was very loud in there. You couldn’t even call out plays, it was so loud. We just fought through.”

That’s the type of hostile environment Manual will be experiencing all season as now a Class 2A state contender.

Marvin Jordan has already seen Dietrich handle that adversity by keeping his teammates together. The Manual coach points to his leadership in the locker room as a big deal, but also his on-the-court game.

“Dietrich is going to be a ton for us,” Jordan said. “His progression is just every day. It’s every day. Honestly, I mean he might not show what everybody is looking for that night. He might not get that fastbreak dunk that everybody wants to see.”

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Added Dietrich, “When they see me going hard, it makes them want to go hard. They see me talking, it makes them want to talk. They see me dive on the floor, they going to dive on the floor.”

Jordan tells his 6-foot-6 point guard to stay poised and pick his spots to "go into attack mode."

“Guys are always going to come at you,” Jordan has told Richardson. “You got the biggest name in the city.”

As for his relationship with Uncle D.J., Dietrich talks to him daily, seeking advice and constructive criticism on improving himself, especially by adding a mid-range jumper to his repertoire.

D.J., who is now based in Memphis, Tenn., watched the PND game on YouTube and was cutting clips to send his nephew. He says there were certain spots where he could have been a bit more aggressive on offense by driving through the Irish defense.

“The main thing is I’m just proud of him,” D.J. said, “with all the work he’s put in throughout the years to be receiving these types of Division-I offers.

“It’s easy to lose yourself, getting big-headed or thinking about who’s in the crowd watching or what team will offer next. The only thing you can do is keep getting better.”

Those scholarship offers include Illinois, Bradley, Vanderbilt, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Indiana State and Bryant.

He’s taken unofficial visits to Illinois and Notre Dame. However, there’s no timetable for his commitment. He says he won’t make his decision until later and is just trying to block out all the distractions.

“I’ve been enjoying the process of being recruited a lot by everywhere,” Dietrich said, “so I’m just taking it one step at a time until it’s that time for me to decide where I want to go.”

Winning, though, is the most important thing on Dietrich’s mind. Two of Manual’s last four state finals appearances came in 2A. Both times the Rams played for the state championship.

“I don’t care about scoring 20-30 (points) every game,” he said, “as long as we get the win, we get the win. If all the pieces stay together, we stay focused. We can go all the way.”

Adam Duvall is a Journal Star sports reporter. Email him at aduvall@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @AdamDuvall.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Manual basketball star Dietrich Richardson is nephew of former Illini