Long Island Lutheran High School’s basketball program has become one of the top in the state, let alone the country, and is led by a former player who has spent most of his life tied to the school.
John Buck has been the head of Long Island Lutheran High School’s basketball program for years, leading the team to several championships as one of the best teams in the country.
Buck, originally from Westbury, attended LUHI in Brookville as a student. He spent three years on the varsity basketball team and ultimately chose to continue playing at Wake Forest University in North Carolina.
“We were good, but not as good as we’ve been in the more recent years,” he said about LUHI.
Buck spent four years playing for Wake Forest’s Demon Deacons alongside NBA All-Stars like Josh Howard and Chris Paul. He appeared in 29 games during his time with the program and was a co-captain during his senior year. He said he acquired a lot of knowledge about the sport during his time in the program, especially from Wake Forest Head Coach Skip Prosser.
“I just learned so much from him,” Buck said. “I learned the value of consistency, preparation, operating with integrity and how to structure a system on both ends of the floor. I really try to implement so much of that program into what we do at LUHI.”
After graduating in 2006 with a degree in economics, Buck returned to LUHI as an assistant coach for the varsity basketball team. In 2010, he took over as the program’s head coach.
The year prior, the team had won a state federation championship. Buck won his first two titles as head coach in 2011 and 2012, and then again in 2019 and 2023.
Buck said that a big turning point for the program came in 2022 when a national youth basketball league called the school. LUHI joined the National Interscholastic Basketball Conference, which features 14 of the best high school basketball development programs across the country.
“That has taken the program to another level,” he said.
Buck said he has seen a fair share of talent while coaching at LUHI. When he was an assistant coach, Tobias Harris was a member of the program. He has played for over a decade in the NBA, most notably with the Philadelphia 76ers.
That same team selected VJ Edgecombe with the third overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, making him the highest-picked player from LUHI. Edgecombe played at the school for two seasons, helping LUHI win the 2023 championship.
But Buck has also coached against some of the NBA’s newest talents. He said that he had personally seen at least half of the lottery picks from the 2025 NBA Draft play in high school.
“In this league that we’re now a part of, we just match up against so many of these great players every year.”
Buck said that due to the high volume of players who want to play for LUHI’s basketball team, the school has a second varsity squad that participated in the Private School Athletic Association and won the league this past season.
And in terms of moving forward, Buck acknowledged the team’s recent success but said there is still more to do for the future of the program.
“We’ve had a great run, especially over recent years, but there’s no guarantee, and you keep evolving as things have changed,” he said.
