Illinois-Wesleyan coach Ron Rose must feel like he’s coaching a high school team again.

"We’re a young squad with 16 freshman and sophomores out of the 19 on the roster," said Rose, now in his third season as coach of the Titans. "That brings a lot of enthusiasm, but it also brings a lot of mistakes."

One of those Titan sophomore is Sean Johnson. The Washington High School product is Wesleyan’s top returning scorer. As a freshman he sure wasn’t shy about letting it fly.

"The bigger the moment the better Sean plays," said Rose. "The word that was used to describe him is moxie. And he’s got it."

He's also got the right approach to the game.

"I just wanted to come in with the mentality I had in high school at Washington – just play hard, play smart," said Johnson. "Be a basketball player, don’t be a robot and make plays. Things just happened to work out for me last year. It was nice."

Sean John, as his teammates call him, got plenty of ink last year. But imagine his reaction last week when his former Washington teammate, Indiana’s Matt Roth, got his mug in Sports Illustrated.

"It was a funny feeling. I’ve seen his face next to mine from third grade until senior year. Opening up Sports Illustrated and seeing him in there, I was proud of him."

With any luck Johnson will have a picture perfect season too.