I just love this event. I love being able to watch two games at the same time. Ridgewood Coach Chris Mroz and his staff do such a great job. And there are so many teams. It seems unworkable but they make it work so well.
My focus is always more toward teams than individual plays. I am there to see preview of teams. And I get to see players that I won’t get to see during the season.
So—my impressions from the weekend in no particular order.
Lemont and Gabe Sularksi are good. No surprise there; just a lot more evidence. Lemont is not a team that run into often. I have seen plenty of Gabe Sularski at Benet. He is an excellent player and will lead Lemont to big season.
Marco Gonzalez leads Brother Rice. The Crusaders will be a new team. I didn’t see enough to make much of a judgment.
Lane is Lane. Nick LoGalbo always has his group ready. Too bad we can’t bottle and sell their energy; we would solve global warming. No Shaheed Solebo for the Champions but everybody else is back. Dalton Scantlebury impressed in his matchup against Rich Township and their premiere big man Al Brooks. Dalton will lead this senior heavy group. Probably the best CPL team on the Northside but can they make a deep run into the City Championship and 4A?
St. Laurence will be a top team in the Chicago Catholic League. Solid all around.
Homewood-Flossmoor may have graduated Gianni Cobb but there doesn’t seem to be much of a drop off. One of the three best teams that I saw over the weekend.
DePaul Prep is the second of the three best teams that I saw at Ridgewood. The addition of Whitney Young transfer Rykan Woo helps. And it’s not like the two-time defending state champs need a lot of help. Favorite in the Chicago Catholic League. Too early to talk about the favorite in 3A but . . .
Maybe the biggest revelation for me was St. Ignatius. The Wolfpack came into last season highly ranked and struggled with an extremely difficult schedule. That adversity seems to have turned into energy and determination. Matt Monroe’s group was just hitting everything. Phoenix Gill looks like he is ready for the NBA. Not an exaggeration. He looks ready to play in the NBA. Two well known observers that I spoke to said Gill was the best player they saw at Ridgewood. He was the best individual player that I saw.
That Wolfpack are not just Gill. Nico Harris, Chris Cittaro, Chris Bolte impressed. These guy can shoot. And then there are Will Horton, Alex Anaya and, of course, Ryan Cavanagh. It seems like St. Ignatius always has an Irish kid on the team. Gotta love that. (Plus I think he is my friend Tim Cavanagh’s son so that’s even better.)
I got a chance to talk to Mount Carmel’s Phil Segroves about his Caravan. The loss of Angelo Ciaravino and Lee Marks leave big holes to fill. And by “big,” I mean points from Ciaravino and size from Marks. The Caravan looked like there were still figuring it out but Coach Segroves suggested the may be adding some more pieces. They will be top CCL team.
I saw the end of Loyola v. Bolingbrook. That was the only Loyola I saw. They beat Bolingbrook. I wish I could have seen more. They have to be in the CCL conversation until I have reason not to assume that Tom Livatino’s team will be there. They have been there every year. They are until they are not.
And then there is Benet—the third of the three best teams that I saw. Even with Sularski going back to Lemont, the Redwings look like they are even better. Blake Fagbemi looks even better than last year. Colin Stack looks more confident in the paint. Jaden Wright, Mac Doyle and Daniel Pauliukonis fill out the lineup. Heavy favorite in the ESCC. Possible No. 1 to open the season.
Finally, I got over to Wright Junior College to see Sean Conor’s Antioch Sequoits only to learn that a cousin of mine, Logan Lennon, a freshman, is one of the Sequoits. I know of only two descendants of my grandparents, Irish immigrants John Lydon and Delia Geraghty to play varsity high school basketball—my son Dan Lydon and Logan Lennon. So that is something a little special for me.
Well I guess that’s it for a while. We will be going back to football season now.
Here are some photos from the weekend.
