Warren the consensus choice to grab top seed
It’s been about basketballs and crystal balls this week.
Boys coaches across the state were asked by the IHSA to do their best guesswork in seeding their sectionals for the upcoming state tournament, based on information provided to the state by all the participating teams.
Coaches were required to turn in a synopsis about their own teams Wednesday, and then the IHSA returned a collection of information about all the teams in the sectional to each coach.
Then, based on overall records, head-to-head results and results against common opponents, coaches seeded their sectionals and waited for the IHSA to post the results on its website Thursday afternoon.
In this area, no Class 4A team was waiting with bated breath to find out which team got the top seed.
“It’s going to be Warren,” Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose said very matter-of-factly Wednesday. “I don’t see how any coach could not vote them No. l. They’ve had a great year and they’ve soundly beaten some of the other teams from our sectional that I think will be seeded very high.”
Ambrose predicted two of those teams would be fellow North Suburban Conference members Zion-Benton and Mundelein.
Ambrose got good results from his crystal ball this year.
Warren, which is 20-3, undefeated in the North Suburban Conference and clinched the NSC Lake Division title last week, did indeed get the No. 1 seed in the Barrington sectional. And Mundelein and Zion-Benton were also top four teams, earning the No. 2 and No. 4 seeds, respectively.
Barrington rounded out the top group with the No. 3 seed.
First-round pairings will be announced by the IHSA Friday afternoon.
“I would expect that we would get the No. 1 seed,” Warren coach Chuck Ramsey said on Wednesday as he was preparing to fill out his seeding paperwork. “We have high expectations and we’ve been playing really well.
“I don’t think we’d be worried about (wearing a target in the tournament). You want that. You want to be the best team at the end of the year.”
The Blue Devils might be considered the best team heading into the tournament, but they won’t be rewarded with home games for their regular-season success.
In fact, three of the top four seeds won’t get home games.
Regional sites are predetermined and only Mundelein applied for and won regional hosting duties.
The other three regionals will be hosted by Libertyville, Fremd and Wheeling.
“You always want to be able to (host tournament games),” Ramsey said. “Mundelein will be at home and they’ve been so steady over the course of the long haul. Plus they’ve got two outstanding players in (center Ryan Sawvell and guard Robert Knar). They’ll be a very tough team to face.”
Zion-Benton has size and quickness in its corner and Barrington, which hosts the sectional, is enjoying one of the best seasons in school history.
The Broncos are in first place in their conference.
“I think this sectional is pretty up in the air,” Ramsey said. “We’ve got some very good teams, and a lot of people talk about the seeding and what it means. But the fact is, it really just comes down to the games and all the factors that go into them.
“With high school basketball, emotion has so much to do with it. You’re dealing with teenagers and in a single elimination situation, anything can happen.”
Numbers game I:
Here are the seeds for the Class 4A Barrington sectional: No. 1 Warren, No. 2 Mundelein, No. 3 Barrington, No. 4 Zion-Benton, No. 5 Fremd, No. 6 Buffalo Grove, No. 7 Prospect, No. 8 Hersey, No. 9 St. Viator, No. 10 Waukegan, No. 11 Deerfield, No. 12 Rolling Meadows, No. 13 Lake Forest, No. 14 Stevenson , No. 15 Libertyville, No. 16 Carmel, No. 17 Highland Park, No. 18 Grant, No. 19 Palatine, No. 20 Lake Zurich, No. 21 Wheeling, No. 22 Round Lake.
More seeding stories:
The crystal balls used by the Class 3A coaches in this area never seem to read as clearly as Class 4A.
Seeding the Class 3A sectional is always a challenge, considering that geography presents such a challenge.
In this area’s Class 4A sectional, every team is a suburban team from either Lake County or northwestern Cook County. Many of the teams play each other.
In this area’s Class 3A sectional, which will be played at Hoffman Estates, seven teams are from Lake County. But the other 14 teams are from either Chicago or just outside Chicago, such as Fenton in Bensenville or Ridgewood in Norridge.
“It is very hard to seed our sectional,” Vernon Hills coach Matt McCarty said. “You try to see as many teams as you can, and we’ve tried playing some teams in our sectional in nonconference games. But you can’t see everyone. You also try to do as much research as you can, but it’s not always easy to get much information about the teams from Chicago until you get it from the IHSA and then you have less than a day to figure out how to seed them.
“This year, the teams in our area are going to be hard to seed, too. There’s a lot of parity this year.”
But it’s good parity.
Of the top six teams in the sectional, five are from Lake County. North Chicago earned its fourth straight No. 1 seed and was followed by No. 2 Grayslake North, No. 3 Ridgewood and No. 4 Vernon Hills.
“North Chicago has lost like eight or nine games this year, but I’m still probably going to go with them at No. 1 because their record is a bit skewed,” McCarty said on Wednesday, prior to filling out his seeding form. “North Chicago has played a great schedule, tough teams like Warren, Waukegan and East Aurora, and they beat us pretty soundly in the fourth quarter of our game.
“They’ve had a great history in the tournament in recent years. I think they’ll be a tough team again once the tournament starts. They’ll be well-prepared.”
Regional hosts for the Class 3A sectional at Hoffman Estates include Fenton, Gordon Tech, Lakes and Vernon Hills.
Numbers game II:
Here are the seeds for the Class 3A Hoffman Estates sectional: No. 1. North Chicago, No. 2 Grayslake North, No. 3 Ridgewood, No. 4 Vernon Hills, No. 5 Grayslake Central, No. 6 Lakes, No. 7 Fenton, No. 8 Gordon Tech, No. 9 Lake View, No. 10 Chicago Academy, No. 11 Roosevelt, No. 12 Wauconda, No. 13 Amundsen, No. 14 Elmwood Park, No. 15 Senn, No. 16 Antioch, No. 17 Guerin, No. 18 Kelvyn Park, No. 19 Northtown, No. 20 Sullivan, No. 21 Aspira Charter.
Still in it:
It’s an important weekend for Vernon Hills, which is attempting to do something that has never been done in the history of the program.
The Cougars are gunning for their first-ever North Suburban Conference Prairie Division title. They’re chasing perennial power and first-place North Chicago and will get a chance to pull closer with a home game against North Chicago on Saturday.
For that game to mean anything, it would be imperative for the Cougars to take care of business at Round Lake on Friday.
“At that point, if we could beat Round Lake and North Chicago, it’s possible tiebreakers would have to come into play,” Vernon Hills coach Matt McCarty said. “We’re excited about having this chance. It’s a big step for our program.”
Five alive:
Stevenson has five games to keep head coach Pat Ambrose’s streak alive.
The Patriots are 9-11. This is Ambrose’s 12th year, and he’s never finished the regular season with a losing record.
“This season has been hard because we’ve been up and down and we’ve lost a lot of close games,” Ambrose said. “This has been a different kind of year.
“But more than the record being disappointing, I’ve been more disappointed about not being able to reach the kids better, about not being able to help them have more success.
“We can compete with top teams. We’ve done that already. But we haven’t always come away with wins. That’s what we’ve got to do the rest of the season, actually get the wins.”
Bright side:
In Stevenson’s up-and-down season, Colby Cashaw has provided a lot of ups. Especially lately.
The 6-foot-6 junior forward has become an enforcer inside with his defense and rebounding. He’s also scoring more points for the Patriots.
“His arrow has definitely been pointing up in terms of production and impact,” Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose said. “He’s played well in close games, he’s been consistent. And he’s given us energy.”
In a game against Lake Forest, Cashaw kicked his teammates into high gear when he threw down one of the most impressive dunks of the season in Lake County.
“We were in transition, we missed the shot and Colby came in on the follow, and in one motion, grabbed the rebound with one hand and slammed it home. It was a big play for us and it gave our entire team an emotional spark.
“We’re trying to get Colby a lot more touches inside. We’re looking to go to him more.”
Knowing you opponent:
Grayslake North doesn’t play much zone defense.
But the Knights figured they could give Grayslake Central some trouble with a zone, so they were prepared to play it for a majority of their cross-town rivalry game on Monday night.
During the sophomore game, Grayslake North coach Todd Grunloh and Grayslake Central coach Brian Moe sat together in the stands and engaged in some friendly chit-chat for a bit.
Unfortunately for Grunloh, one of his players didn’t know whom he was talking to.
“It was the funniest thing,” Grunloh said. “I’m sitting there talking to Moe and (junior forward) Zach Krupp comes up and was like, ‘We’re still starting in a 2-3 (zone), right Coach.’ I’m like, “Shhhhh.”
But it didn’t matter that the element of surprise was gone.
Grayslake North still tortured Grayslake Central with its zone. The Knights wound up earning a 56-40 victory, its first victory ever over Grayslake Central.”
History lesson:
Last week during halftime of its game against Stevenson, Mundelein honored two of the best players in the history of its program.
The Mustangs retired the No. 14 jersey of Greg Boyle and Kyle Kessel, who were the all-time leading scorers in school history when they graduated in 1977 and 1994, respectively.
Mundelein coach Dick Knar, who coordinated the ceremony and also started a Hall of Fame for the basketball team, is hoping that his players paid close attention to the history lesson. He says a connection to the past is important for every player in his program.
“I started this program because I want my players now and in the future to meet our past players and to show our great tradition,” Knar said. “To start a tradition, you have to know the past. I always speak (to the team) about them coming back someday and having fond memories of their basketball program.”