IHSA Playoff Look Ahead

The IHSA boys basketball playoff brackets come out on Friday at 4:00 p.m. I have been looking at various brackets and prognosticating some scenarios for area schools.

3A

There are eight sectionals in 3A: Brother Rice, Washington, Little Village, Glenbard South, Antioch, Rochelle, Decatur and Marion. The Brother Rice Sectional has all southside or south suburban schools. Washington has Central Illinois teams. Little Village has Chicago and west suburban schools. Glenbard South also has Chicago and suburban schools. Antioch has Chicago and North suburban schools. Rochelle has northern Illinois and west suburban schools. Decatur and Marion have southern Illinois schools. The first four sectionals lead to one finalist (championship game participant) and the other four to the other finalist.

All the northside of Chicago 3A schools are in the Antioch Sectional: DePaul Prep, Lake View, Payton, Amundsen, Roosevelt, Northside and CICS/Northtown.

DePaul Prep

With respect to DePaul Prep, let’s look at the best teams in 3A. The top 3A teams in Illinois, in particular order, are Brother Rice, DePaul Prep, Morton, Kankakee, St. Lawrence, Centralia, Metamora, Kaneland, Mount Carmel, Kaneland, Fenwick and I added in St. Patrick for fun. It’s very possible that three of these four Chicago Catholic League teams, Brother Rice, St. Laurence, Mount Carmel, Fenwick and DePaul Prep could be 3A finalists in Champaign for the State Finals.

It is very possible to have three Chicago Catholic League as 3A finalists. DePaul Prep has beaten all of the top 3A teams it has played in the regular season except Brother Rice. Brother Rice could advance to one State Final spot (final four) while Fenwick, St. Patrick, St. Laurence or Mount Carmel could land a second the State Semi-final spot. DePaul Prep could be the third CCL State finalist.

Lake View

The Lake View Wildcats (13-11, 9-0) are in the DePaul Prep regional and would have to get through the Rams to advance into the Antioch Sectional.

Amundsen

The Amundsen Vikings (13-6, 8-1) open the playoffs on 2/24 at home against Northside. The winner of that game takes on #2 seed and #21 ranked Lake Forest in the Vernon Hills Regional on 2/26.

Payton

The Payton Grizzles (14-12, 7-4) host a regional and open on 2/25 against Noble/Muchin. The Grizzles could face either Elmwood Park or Noble Street Charter in the regional championship before advancing into the Little Village Sectional. The Little Village Sectional may well have Fenwick or St. Patrick standing in the Grizzlies’ way.

4A

4A is a tougher nut to crack. As one might imagine, the best teams are from the bigger schools. There are only seven 3A schools in the Sun-Times Super 25, those being four being the top Chicago Catholic League teams, DePaul Prep, #11 St. Laurence, #12 Mount Carmel and #13 Brother Rice. The others being #17 Kankakee, #21 Lake Forest and #25 Kaneland.

Lane Tech

The sectionals of note in 4A for our purposes are New Trier and Hinsdale Central. Lane Tech landed the #4 seed in the New Trier Sectional. Also in the New Trier sectional are #9 ranked Evanston with the #1 seed, Loyola Academy with the #2 seed and Niles North with the #3 seed.

The Lane Tech Champions (17-11) open against Maine East in the Maine South Regional and could face either #5 seed New Trier or Maine South in the regional final. A sectional championship would require also getting through either Loyola Academy or Niles North. Lance defeated Nile North in the Thanksgiving tournament. This is a doable path for the Champions to a sectional championship. But it is doable for the others as well, particularly the New Trier Trevians who have a history of doing it.

A New Trier Sectional championship would put the Champions into a Super against the St. Charles East Sectional Championship. As 4A sectionals go, St. Charles East is not the toughest. The only ranked team is #19 Glenbard West (22-5). The #2 seed is Geneva (24-4). I have seen Geneva. They are good but the Champions can easily play right with them. So it is entirely possible that the Champions could be sectional champs. I dare not speculate further than this. 

Lincoln Park

#14 ranked Lincoln Park (22-5) draws the Hinsdale Central Sectional—the toughest sectional in all the IHSA playoffs. in addition to the Lions, Hinsdale Central has #1 Kenwood, #4 Hinsdale Central, #16 Simeon, #20 Whitney Young and previously ranked St. Ignatius.

The Lions open the playoffs against Morton (the Cicero Morton, not the Morton Morton) at Whitney Young on 2/26. After that would probably be Whitney Young at Whitney Young the following Friday. Lincoln Park defeated Whitney Young 74-71 at Whitney Young in December. Then possibly Curie again the sectional semi-final. And then, possibly Kenwood, Simeon or St. Ignatius. Tough indeed.

Lane Tech’s Zach Mazanowski ducks against Phillips in November.

Lane Tech Handled Ag Science 63-45 Thursday and Will Face Kenwood on Saturday

I didn’t know what to expect on my first trip out to the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences or CHSAS or, as I call it, Ag Science. It’s located on the far southwestern border of Chicago at 111th and Pulaski. I had never seen Ag Science play nor had I ever been out to their gym. I had heard of Ag Science though because of its curious focus in the nation’s third largest city.

I have seen the Lane Tech Champions (17-10, 7-4) quite a few times this season so I know how good they are even if their record doesn’t show it. They put together a brutally tough schedule directly for the purpose of preparing for the City tournament and the IHSA playoffs.

Interestingly, the Cyclones drew the #8 seed in the Red Division tournament because of their fourth place finish in the Red-Star division. While Lane drew the #9 seed because of their #5 seed in the higher Red-Shield division.

The Champion’s length pretty much overwhelmed the Cyclones from the start ultimately winning 63-45. Lane jumped out to an early lead and shut down Ag Science from scoring inside. Their outside shot were all opposed and were not falling either. The Champions scored at will in the paint. I don’t know know that I have seen so many dunks in a high school game. Of Dalton Scantlebury’s fifteen points a majority had to be scored on dunks.

The Champions move on to face #1 ranked Kenwood on Saturday at 4:00 p.m., at Curie High School. The CPL has gone to a neutral site format for the quarter and semi-finals. The Champions look to rebound from an early season 82-75 loss to Kenwood at Lane in December. Lane looks to put together a revenge tour through the tournament with wins against previous victors or some combination thereof, Kenwood, Whitney Young, Simeon and Lincoln Park.

Kenwood Rallies to Beat New Trier 69-66

I went up to New Trier to see Kenwood take on the Trevians on Martin Luther King Day.

The Trevians were shooting lights out. The Irish pair, Christopher Kilpatrick (26 points) and Danny Houlihan (25 points), were a revelation. I had seen New Trier a couple times this year but always in passing like in Pontiac and somewhere else I don’t even remember. I never got a chance to stop and watch. I wish I had. The Trevians can shoot the ball.

In the second half, Kenwood went to a zone defense to stop the Trevians. It largely worked. New Trier was getting one shot. On misses, the Broncos got the ball out running and get some layup. They pulled even midway through the fourth quarter. After that it was anybody’s game, back and forth.

With ten seconds on the clock and the Broncos down 66-64, Kenwood’s Chris Watkins hit a three from the corner on a pass from Aleks Alston. The play was not designed for Watkins but Alston trusted his senior captain the put the ball up. Watkins drained the three giving the Broncos a 67-66. They would close it out with a 69-66 win.

DePaul Prep Survives Mount Carmel 66-63

[Preview of this week’s article in the Inside—Booster]

By Jack Lydon

“We don’t have any rivals.”

Not sure that he meant it the way it came across, but that’s what DePaul Prep’s Rykan Woo said when asked about Mount Carmel after his new team, the DePaul Prep Rams (18-1, 3-0) survived a late challenge to defeat the Caravan 66-63 at Mount Carmel Friday evening.

Woo may not appreciate the rivalry, this being his first year on the Rams, but DePaul Prep’s rivalry with Mount Carmel is very real. The DePaul Prep has played and defeated Mount Carmel three times in the last twelve months. The Rams defeated the Caravan last February 41-38 to win the Chicago Catholic League and then again a month later to win the 3A state championship over Mount Carmel 49-41. There is also the looming possibility of a fourth meeting in this year’s 3A playoffs. The way the sectional assignments line up, if both teams advance they could meet again in March in a state final or semi-final.

“It’s extremely frustrating,” said Mount Carmel head coach Phil Segroves when asked about losing three times to DePaul Prep in the last year.

“We feel we’ve got something pretty special here and we know they do too. We’re gonna just keep knocking on the door.”

The game opened with the DePaul’s defense taking Mount Carmel out of what they wanted to do. The defensive engine for the Rams runs on senior guard and defensive specialist Rob Walls. Walls took a large hand in shutting down Mount Carmel’s star point guard Noah Mister Friday night. In one sequence midway through the second quarter, Walls tied up Mister and stole the ball. A quick pass by Walls to Rams’ point guard Makai Kvamme lead to a layup and the Rams opened an eight point lead.

“Usually, you’ll see me take a charge out there and all the sudden you’ll see all of us getting excited. That just gets us going. It’s fun being out there. Playing with competitors, it’s fun,” said Walls.

The Rams defense set the tone, but junior guard and Whitney Young transfer Rykan Woo and junior center Rashaun Porter scored the points. Woo lead the Rams with 28 points, including three three-pointers and thirteen free throws.

“We know that Rykan Woo is a very good player. Even though Makai Kvamme runs the show at point, [DePaul’s] offense goes through Woo,” Segroves said.

“He’s their scorer. We knew that. We did our very best to defend him. He still came out on top. Sometimes you have to tip your cap.”

 “I think it’s just repetition and practice. Just trying to not let my mind mess around with me,” Woo said of his hitting 10 of 12 free throws in the game.

“My teammates do a great job setting me up all the time. I give them a lot of the credit.”

In addition to Woo’s twenty-five points, Ram’s junior center Rashaun Porter had sixteen points including two big free throws in the closing seconds to seal the victory.

Despite the defensive efforts of Walls and the scoring efficiency of Woo and Porter, the Caravan came roaring back in the closing minutes. Let by senior guard Grant Best with twenty-three points, Mount Carmel came back from a thirteen-point Rams lead early in the third quarter to make it a one possession game in the closing seconds.

The Rams improve their record to 18-1 with their only loss coming in the fourth game of the season to then #1 ranked Kenwood and then only by two-points on the last possession of the game.

The Catholic League is also coming into focus. Mount Carmel now has two losses, one earlier in the year to Fenwick and one tonight to DePaul Prep. Brother Rice suffered a Catholic League loss on Friday to St. Ignatius. Only DePaul Prep and Fenwick are undefeated in the Chicago Catholic League’s Blue division. The Rams will face the Friars on February 14th but there are plenty of league games for both teams between then and now. Still a lot of basketball yet to play.

For now at least, the DePaul Prep Rams are likely to retain their number #1 ranking this week and sit atop the Chicago Catholic League just short of two-thirds of the way through the season.

Lincoln Park Handles Lane Tech 62-46

[Preview of this week’s story in the Inside—Booster.]

By Jack Lydon

Lincoln Park hosted Lane Tech (9-9, 4-3) Thursday for a key game in the Chicago Public League’s Red Shield conference. Basically, the championship of the Northside. The Lions (15-1, 6-1) handled the Champions winning 62-46.

Some might have thought that with Lincoln Park ranked #11 and having a gaudy win/loss record, it would be all Lions. But Lane Tech has played have played top competition this season. Very top competition: #1 DePaul Prep, #2 Kenwood, #6 Brother Rice, #12 Curie, #13 Niles North—twice, formerly ranked St. Ignatius as well as top out-of-state competition at a Washington DC shootout. And the Champions just knocked off #19 Whitney Young on Tuesday. The Champions are much, much better than their record indicates.

With the size and length that the Champions possess, their ability in recent games to hit three-pointers and playing on Lincoln Park’s small home court, this thing could have gone either way.

It went Lincoln Park’s way, and it started early. The Lions jumped out to an 8-0 first quarter lead. The Lions were amped up and playing tough inside and out. Hitting shots and grabbing boards on both ends.

“[Our] guys they came in with a lot of fight,” Lincoln Park head coach Joshua Anderson said of his Lions.

“They executed. They were mentally locked in. They played harder. They played tougher. They played technique. They boxed out. They did exactly what I told them to do. I told them the shots what would be open. That’s just all from our execution.”

Lane rallied and made it game. Lane’s Zach Mazanowski quickly added five points late in the first quarter bringing them right back. Even so, the Lions would maintain a six to ten-point lead throughout most of the rest of the game.

The Lions gave no quarter to the size and length possessed by the Champions. Lions’ center Keyshawn Barfield battled the Champions’ division one prospect center Dalton Scantlebury the whole game.

The Lions turned off Lane’s usually productive three-point shooter. The Champions managed only one three-point field goal in the gameThe Lincoln Park gym is a unique place for top-level high school basketball game. It’s small. Very small. Three rows of seats on each side and none along the baselines. The staff at Lincoln Park are careful only to all proper number of people in the gym. It couldn’t be more than a couple hundred. But it was enough to make it load and provide a distinct home court advantage for the Lions with their students and fans quite literally on the edge of the court.

“I think the atmosphere was great. I love it. It was like a north side battle. You’ve got kids on both sides who know each other. It was great. I think the home court advance came to us, our school and wave of kids came out and show pride and support,” Anderson said of his team’s home court advantage.

The Lincoln Park Lions are one of the teams that emerged this year. It’s not like no one expected them to be good. They should signa last season. But the Lions have been a top team Ranked all year. They defeated Whitney Young, St. Laurence and Curie, all ranked teams. They lost to Red Shield rival and perennial powerhouse Simeon by one point in a wild one at Simeon. They lost to suburban powerhouse Warren Township also by just one point.

Of their success this year, Anderson said, “I attribute that to the hard work that these guys put in. We watch film. We work on things. When it comes to certain teams and they see film and they see what a team can't doing and won't do, we feed off that and we attacked that. We attack team’ s weaknesses.”

The Lions are poised to win the Red Shield conference. It could work out that the Lions will play #2 ranked Kenwood who is undefeated in the conference for the championship. The Lions have one loss in the conference, but if they win the rest of their conference games and defeat Kenwood in the regular season penultimate game, they would be Red Shield champs.

Just saying. Still almost half the season to play.

DePaul Prep Wins Pontiac with 59-56 Victory Over Benet

DePaul College Prep Rams beat both Curie and Benet on Saturday afternoon and evening to win the 93rd Pontiac Holiday Tournament in their first appearance. They weren’t the typical Rams’ victories. The Rams battled, struggled, endured and ultimately prevailed over two of their toughest opponents this season. They survived Curie 68-64 in afternoon semi-final and edged Benet 59-56 in the late evening championship game.

In a larger sense, the arrival of the DePaul Prep Rams (14-1, 1-0), probably new No. 1 ranked team and back-to-back state champion, at Pontiac this year might well signal a change in the tournament. It might be a little early for a '“private school takeover narrative,” but this is at least a little historic. Either Simeon or Curie has won Pontiac every year since 2008. For the first time ever, two private Catholic schools meet in the championship. After a contentious, back-and-forth, up-and-down semi-final between Benet and Simeon, Sun-Times reporter Michael O’Brien reported that Simeon coach Tim Flowers said that Simeon will not be back at Pontiac. Without Simeon next year, who knows what happens.

“Kind of like that fact that there is some teams other than Simeon and Curie,” said Red Folktstad from Braidwood. Mr. Folktstad attended his first Pontiac Tournament in 1980 and has missed only a few since.

Rams 68, Condors 64.

First things first, the semi-final. The Curie Condors were the Rams’ second toughest opponent to that that point in the season. Only No. 1 Kenwood, their only loss was a tough game. The game was exhausting. At a point in the third quarter, a Curie player stood near this reporter with a look of shear exhaustion on his face. After the game, Curie head coach Mike Oliver was overheard saying, “We just ran out of gas.”

Curie employed a full court trapping press all game long. Despite the pressure, DePaul Prep slowly built 35-28 lead by half time.

There was one play late in the second quarter that epitomized the extra effort that it took to win. At a 3:13 mark in the second, junior guard Rykan Woo put up a three-point shot that was short. He followed his shot, got the rebound and laid it in before Curie could react.

“That’s more of a hustle play. I could tell that the shot was a little off, a little short. My guy did not box me out. I just ran to the rim and the ball just happened come in my hand,” Woo said.

Ya! That’s the kind of hustle play by Woo and the rest of Rams that provided the edge necessary.

Curie is the second-best team that the Rams have faced to that point. The first being Kenwood. The Condors are big, athletic and very active. Active to a fault. Midway through the third quarter, the author studied one of the Condor guards. He was gassed. The Condors shooting in the third suffered. They managed only eight points with 2:15 left in the quarter.

Despite being gassed, the Condors played remarkable pressure defense. With under a minute left and down six points, Curie pressured the Rams inbound passes for at least one turnover and two time-outs.

The Rams survived a furious full court press in closing minutes with some key free throw shots by Rob Walls.

Rashaun Porter lead all scorers with 18 points. Rykan Woo had 17, Makai Kvamme 14 and AJ Chambers with 10.

Rams 59, Redwings 56

Having won the 1:00 p.m., semi-final, the Rams advanced to play the Benet Academy Redwings in 9:00 p.m., championship game. Benet (12-2) somehow survived a game with Simeon that defies description.

One thing was sure from the outset, for a first time forty years, a private school would win Pontiac. Only two private school teams had every won Pontiac; Weber, a now closed Resurrectionist high school formerly located near Riis Park on Chicago’s northwest side, in 1976 and Providence-St. Mel, another Chicago Catholic League school on Chicago’s westside, in 1984.

This DePaul Prep v. Benet game can be described as close. Really close. DePaul Prep never lead by more than seven and then only for a couple brief periods. In a mercifully quick game, it was tied at 48 points each going into final quarter of basketball in the tournament.

After trailing the Rams by a few points most of the fourth, Benet brief took a 56-54 lead with 3:48 to play on Blake Fagbemi midrange jumper. Those would be the last points the Redwings would score.

A Benet turnover at 2:47 led at Makai Kvamme layup to tie. Another Benet turnover on a shot clock violation lead Rams’ senior center Rashaun Porter back down the lane against Benet’s 7-footer Colin Stack only to miss a hook shot. He got the rebound and put it back. Still no. Finally, a tap in for two points and the lead, 58-56 with 1:58 to play.

Rashaun Porter added a free throw to make it 59-56. That’s where it ended when Blake Fagbemi missed a three-pointer to tie.

The significance of winning Pontiac was not lost on the Rams. Rams’ head coach Tom Kleinschmidt told his players “[Pontiac is] the top Christmas tournament in the Midwest. To win it is a priviledge and an honor. We’ve gotta be tough. Every game is like a state final or a super[-sectional.] We’ve got to be ready.”

“We would miss an opportunity if we didn’t use our experience that we have had the last couple years in the state tournament. We still have some guys back off that team. So I said, let’s take advantage of the experience we have and I think we did that,” Kleinschmidt said.

“We have too many weapons. If you take out one person, it leaves so many other people open. If a team tries to take me out, everyone else has chances,” Woo said after the game.

Rashaun Porter lead the Rams with 17 points, Rykan Woo had 14 and Rob Walls with 10.

Benet’s Blake Fagbemi has 20 points and won the A. C. Williamson award as the most valuable player in the tournament.