Former Hononegah player helps spark biggest NCAA basketball upset in 30 years
Caleb Donaldson seemed born to be a Division I basketball player.
His dad starred for the Rockford Lightning when the CBA served as a minor league for the NBA. His two brothers played for Hononegah. His sister is an All-NIC-10 player for Guilford. And he made varsity as a freshman at Hononegah.
“I had been playing in D-I open gyms since I was in high school,” said Donaldson, a starting junior guard at Eastern Illinois. “I always believed I was good enough. But it’s not what you believe, It’s what people around you believe. It’s what coaches believe.”
And coaches didn’t believe Caleb Donaldson was a Division I player after he averaged 15.7 points at Bloomington High School, where he had moved in with his oldest brother, Mario, after playing three years at Hononegah. He signed instead with NCAA Division II St. Cloud State. He scored 1,051 points on 55-percent shooting in three years there and was named second-team all-conference last year.
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He had found a home in Division II. And then suddenly it wasn’t home anymore.
“My coach got let go,” Donaldson said. “I had planned on staying, but we had a great relationship. I entered the transfer portal. It was evident at that time that I needed to move on, but it was still tough. I had a lot of love at St. Cloud State.”
Donaldson, who had two years of eligibility left because of the extra COVID year, found himself more popular than he ever dreamed. He was pursued by 10 different Division I schools.
“My phone rang from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day for two weeks,” he said. “You felt really wanted. It was a nice experience to hear from some of the schools you see on TV.”
This, then, was the Division I experience he had always dreamed of. Until he began the season on the bench at Eastern Illinois.
“I had never had that role since I was 13 years old,” Donaldson said of not being a starter at first. “I had to put my head down and work. You have to have the confidence to know what you are doing, but you have to prove it to everyone around you.
“I am glad I didn’t start right away. It humbled me. It made me grateful for the opportunity.”
Donaldson has now taken that opportunity and run with it. He starts now. For a team that has won four games in a row after a dismal 2-9 start. And one of those wins was the biggest college basketball upset in over 30 years.
Donaldson scored 16 points in 92-83 road win over Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. EIU was a 32-point underdog for that Dec. 21 game. If you wanted to bet straight up, Las Vegas bookies made Iowa 80-1 favorites.
Now this was the Division I experience Donaldson always dreamed of: Walking off a Big Ten basketball court a winner and having the whole country notice.
“It was a crazy experience, a once in a lifetime type of thing,” Donaldson said. “Going into the game, we had no idea it was so big. We just knew we had a chance to win when we step on the court. Afterward, we kept getting ESPN notifications, CBS Sports notifications, Sports Illustrated notifications. It was everywhere on the news. We were all freaking out on the bus ride home.
“We all wished it wasn’t during winter break, but it was still big news. Everyone was reaching out. Everyone’s phones were ringing all the way home. It was something we were still in awe of a couple of days afterward.”
Now Donaldson wants to keep Eastern Illinois winning. The Panthers (6-9) have won four games in a row and were 2-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference going into Thursday night’s game at Tennessee Tech.
Second-year coach Marty Simmons brought in nine new players last year, when EIU went 5-26. He brought in eight more new players this year. Donaldson is one of those, and they seem to have the Panthers moving up.
“We saw him in the portal and we began contact right out of the gate,” Simmons said. “I just loved him. He’s a very focused, determined young man and has been a super fit for this program.
“His versatility fits everything we want to do. He is a guy who does everything pretty well. He can shoot the 3. He can score from all three levels, including mid-range. He can guard multiple positions on the defensive end. He’s a very, very versatile basketball player with a high basketball IQ.
“He has brought a lot of stability, a lot of experience. He’s a really good basketball player and a really good person. He fits our culture. We’re lucky to have him.”
And Donaldson now has a moment he has always dreamed of. A moment he got to share with his entire family, who were in Carver-Hawkeye Arena that night. And memorialized by a photo of him scoring on a breakaway dunk.
That’s a hard moment to top. But it can be done if the Panthers can extend their season.
“As one of the older guys, I want to lead day-in and day-out, just be a solid guy,” said Donaldson, who averages 8.9 points, 2.3 assists and 2 rebounds and shoots 49 percent from the floor. “Beating Iowa gave us confidence, but we’re going one game at a time right now, trying not to get ahead of ourselves. We are hitting conference now and we are hitting our stride, but anyone can get complacent and lose one. That’s a big deal. We need to win every game now.
“Because when all is said and done, everyone wants to get a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament.”
Contact: mtrowbridge@rrstar.com, @matttrowbridge or 815-987-1383. Matt Trowbridge has covered sports for the Rockford Register Star for over 30 years, after previous stints in North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont and Iowa City.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Hononegah's Caleb Donaldson helps lead Eastern Illinois turnaround
