MaxPreps Weekly Honor Roll, presented by the United States Marine Corps: Justin Bottorff, Quincy Notre Dame

Every time Justin Bottorff changes his shirt, he looks down. It's there.

The 17-year-old has a scar that measures about 18 inches -- it stretches all the way across his stomach.

"I have that big scar and I have a smaller circular scar close to the upper right shoulder where a port was put, so I see that one a lot, too," Bottorff said. "I think those two remind me just to be thankful about it."

Bottorff is reminded he's a warrior. Fourteen years ago, he beat cancer, and the scars are from the surgery he had to endure at 3 years old.

Bottorff is now is standout basketball player for Quincy Notre Dame (Ill.) The senior has never let anything he went through as a kid slow him down.

"I think it definitely motivates me and when you think about it, life's pretty delicate," Bottorff said. "You've got to live every second of your life to the fullest. If you've got talents and stuff you love, you've just got to go do those things. I think that's helped me with basketball. When I was young I loved basketball, and it helps motivate me every day."

Bottorff was a normal, active kid when the cancer showed up. He was receiving a bath from his mom, Jori, one night and she noticed his abdomen was enlarged. Bottorff's dad, Jeff, took a look as well, and they quickly called an aunt who is a doctor. The family was advised to go to the hospital, where Bottorff was diagnosed with nephroblastoma, a type of kidney cancer found in children.

Just a couple days before Christmas 2002, a time to be thankful, the news was hard to swallow.

Bottorff underwent rounds of radiation and chemotherapy. In July 2003, he had surgery to remove the tumor. A short time later, he was in remission.

"I think the most difficult thing for me was just being a 3-year-old and I didn't want to have to deal with all the tests and spending all the time in the hospital," Bottorff said. "I just wanted to live a regular 3-year-old life – that was kind of the biggest thing for me. And seeing my parents deal with it, that was kind of hard as well."

Bottorff has never had any recurring symptoms of his cancer. He makes sure once a year he heads to Children's Hospital of Chicago to get checked out.

When Bottorff became old enough to play sports in school, doctors questioned if he'd be able to compete in contact sports. He knew taking part in activities would cause a greater risk of serious injury, especially with just one kidney.

"I don't worry about it," Bottorff said. "I just kind of live life to the fullest. My philosophy with it is you can't really worry about things all the time, just go live."

Bottorff played football in junior high school without any issues. By the time he went off to high school, he decided just to concentrate on his true love, basketball. At 6-foot-7, 205 pounds, basketball is the perfect fit for Bottorff.

He started playing at the YMCA around 4 years old and his passion for the sport grew each year. In high school, Bottorff got on the AAU circuit playing for the Illinois Irish on the 17U Elite team. In his senior year, he played for Quad City Elite and faced solid competition from around the country.

Second-year Quincy Notre Dame coach Kevin Meyer thinks Bottorff is a great inspiration for his teammates.

"When you see guys thinking they have a tough day and you look over here and you see Justin, you think, ‘OK, I can get through this. I missed a couple layups or whatever,'" Meyer said. "The things this poor kid went through at a very young age and the way he's battling and he's going to have a good opportunity to play at a high level of college basketball. He's a great student and just a kid that has figured out his place in life and says, you know what, I can be pretty special. That's on the court and off the court."

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Bottorff got limited playing time on the varsity team as a freshman and sophomore before breaking out last season. He put up 12 points and five rebounds per game and was named Associated Press All-State honorable mention in Class 2A.

Bottorff put up those eye-popping numbers as a junior coming off the bench.

"Partly because with our lineup we used him as scorer with our second group," Meyer said. "He was a part-time starter most of the year and then was our sixth man coming off the bench. He's just a guy that can score in bunches, and he scores in so many different ways. He's 6-foot-7, so he can go in the post. He's a good spot-up shooter and he can score in transition, too. He brings a lot to the table."

Versatility is Bottorff's greatest asset as a player. He can play all five positions on the floor – bringing the ball up, posting up or facing up to the basket for a 15-foot jump shot. His 6-foot-8 to 6-foot-9 wing span doesn't hurt, either.

"That was one of the things keeping him on the floor a lot last year, because as we started to sub, our rotations got shorter, but it was because we had Justin who could play three or four spots," Meyer said. "This year, we're asking him to run the point a little bit for us in transition. He's playing the point of our defense. He's just so darn versatile that it's difficult to get him off the floor, even to get him a break."

This season, Meyer has a tough time keeping Bottorff off the floor with all that he can do. Bottorff opened his senior campaign by logging his first career triple-double (23 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists). Through the first 11 games, he is averaging 18.5 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists.

"I think one of my strengths is my passing and I use my size to get rebounds," said Bottorff, who has 819 career points. "I think I've worked really hard over the last four years to become a better scorer."

Colleges have certainly taken notice of Bottorff's talent on the court. Plenty of Division II schools are after him, including Notre Dame College in Ohio and Quincy University in his hometown. Bottorff's recruiting is still wide open even though he's hoping to commit to a school before the second signing period in February.

"If he finds the right program, he can step right in and play next year right away," Meyer said. "But I also think he's pretty wise and understands a redshirt year is not going to hurt him. If he can get into a really good D-II school and have to sit a year, that wouldn't be a bad fit for him either."

Along with his great work ethic on the court, Bottorff isn't a slouch in the classroom. He carries a 3.3 grade-point average at the difficult private Catholic school.

Bottorff enjoys volunteering – having logged close to 50 hours in his high school career. He regularly helps out with the elderly at a retirement home and loves to coach basketball camps, clinics and leagues for young players.

"He's a big kid at heart," Meyer said. "I think he looks at those kids and kind of reaches out to them and understands, ‘Hey, you get one chance to be a kid, let's have some fun with it.'"