I went out to Waubonsie Valley high school in Aurora to see the fourth ranked and undefeated Warriors take on conference opponent Plainfield East. I was taking pictures so I couldn’t do much more than keep track of the score but I am quite sure that Plainfield East had more turnovers in the first half than they had shots. Plainfield East did not play well.
Waubonsie Valley made them pay. The Warriors finished on layups and a couple dunks, hit some threes and showed some impressive ball movement.
I can’t say I was particularly impressed with Waubonsie’s defense. They opposed shots but they did regularly give up penetration in the paint. East’s shots mostly missed.
The Warriors handled East 65-35 in a game that lasted little more than an hour.
I wanted to see if Waubonsie Valley is really good given its gaudy win-loss record or if they just haven’t played anybody. I looked through the Warrior’s schedule. They haven’t played a ranked team but they have beaten a very good Normal Community team that is not part of Michael O’Brien’s Chicago area rankings. I saw Normal Community just edge DePaul Prep at the When Sides Collide shootout last weekend. They are big and quite good. Even so our plucky DePaul Prep Rams teams very nearly defeated Normal so I would not say Normal is a great team.
I have seen Curie, Homewood-Flossmoor and Thornton, the teams that rank ahead of Waubonsie Valley. Waubonsie is not as good as any of those teams.
As for the teams behind Waubonsie, Mount Carmel, Benet, Bloom, Downers Grove North, Warren, DePaul Prep and Brother Rice. I would have to say that most of these teams are as good or better than Waubonsie.
In a week, we will get a chance to see how good Waubonsie is when they take on #12 Bollingbrook. Mark your calendars.
That being written, 22-0 is impressive. They deserve the high rank. Going undefeated in any league, in any sport, in any conference is hard, hard, hard to do. So #4 they are and so they should stay. At least until we see how they do against Bolingbrook.
