We play who?

Well, the pairings for the boys basketball state tournament came out recently and it's clear that the IHSA flunked geography once again.

Whether or not the IHSA will be willing to revisit its current method of placing teams in the tournament remains to be seen. But it should.

Remedial work is definitely in order.

Around here, for instance, Antioch's Class 3A sectional, which includes seven Lake County teams and the rest from Chicago or the O'Hare area, is a laughable mess.

Its four regionals make little sense geographically even though the IHSA says on its own Web site that teams will be assigned to regionals based on geography.

Yet, poor Lakes, which "earned" a No. 3 seed, has been shipped down to the Guerin regional in River Grove, a suburb south and east of O'Hare. Lakes is the only Lake County team in that regional.

Meanwhile, there's also a real head-scratcher at Grayslake North, which is hosting one of the other regionals within the Antioch sectional.

In first-round action, you've got Elmwood Park, which is south of River Grove, taking on Chicago Sullivan.

The winner of that game will face Ridgewood from Norridge, which is also near O'Hare.

That's at least two games in Grayslake that will feature teams from more than 50 miles away.

Hmmm.

What kind of map does the IHSA use anyway?

"I'm not opposed to the four-class system, but the way some of these regionals are set up really takes away from the fan appeal," Grayslake North coach Todd Grunloh said. "I can't imagine we'll have a lot of fans at some of the games we have here -- especially with the weather the way it's been.

"It's just too bad. You look at some of the neighboring sectionals and the regionals make a little more sense geographically. It's almost like this sectional is what was left over and we all just got thrown in together."

Simple solution: Is there a quick fix to this geographical problem.

Yes, and no.

Sure, the IHSA could group the seven Class 3A teams from Lake County into some sort of super regional. But then what happens if all the good teams in this particular sectional happen to be from Lake County?

By the time sectional play would start, the best teams wouldn't be represented.

Another beef: Geography isn't the only thing that has soured basketball coaches on the new four-class system for the state tournament.

Predetermined regional sites is an issue. Although, that's actually nothing new. Coaches were grumbling about that five or six years ago when the IHSA first came up with the idea.

It used to be that regional sites were given to the top four seeds in a sectional as reward for a job well done during the regular season. Now, the regionals are assigned months in advance to schools that apply for the honor of hosting them.

The theory is that such a system gives every school the opportunity to host a regional -- not just the schools that happen to have good basketball teams, which often wind up being the same schools year in and year out.

Of course, that logic hasn't sat well with the schools that earn top four seed and don't happen to be assigned a sectional.

For instance, Lakes got the No. 3 seed in the Class 3A Antioch sectional and could face No. 6 Guerin on its home floor for the regional title. Grayslake Central, the No. 2 seed in the sectional, could face No. 7 Fenton on its home floor for the regional title.

Meanwhile, in the Class 4A Barrington sectional, fourth-seeded Stevenson could play its opening game against No. 17 Palatine -- in Palatine's own gym.

"You know, a lot of coaches didn't want the four-class system in the first place," Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose said. "So it's like, 'What do the coaches want?' Well, now would be a good time to go back to regional sites for the top four seeds. The four-class system was supposed to give more schools opportunities to win regionals and sectionals. At this point, do we still need to be giving more schools the opportunity to host regionals, too?

"I say it's time to placate the coaches a little bit and bring back regional home sites for the top four seeds. All we want is for the regular season to be worth something and that would do it. I think you'd get a lot less complaining about the four-class system if that change was made."

Go-to guy:ŒLast year, with none of his players averaging more than 12 points per game, Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose wondered how well his team would be able to do down the stretch without a true "go-to" player.

All the Patriots did was advance all the way downstate.

Now, Stevenson has that "go-to" player and Ambrose is wondering if he's got enough balance around forward Dylan Richter to make a return trip to Peoria.

Richter is coming off an amazing game against Mundelein in which he scored a career-high 34 points. On a normal night, he's good for close to a double-double.

"Dylan is one of the best players in Lake County and he's having a great year," Ambrose said. "It's nice to have that go-to player, especially when the kid is willing to take on that responsibility.

"But I still think we need to make sure other guys are stepping up. We have other guys who can do that. We're going to need that in the tournament."

Just shoot it: Normally, a coach gets on a player for shooting too much, not the other way around.

But Lake Zurich coach John Zarr found himself doing just that last month when he had a little one-one-one with junior guard Connor Mooney, who was in a bit of a scoring slump.

"It wasn't that Connor was off, he just wasn't shooting the ball," Zarr said. "It was like he slipped into this mentality of 'Let's see how many assists I can get.' And that's fine to find open teammates, but with Connor, we really need him shooting the ball for us to win games.

"I had to pull Connor aside and ask him what was going on. I told him to just shoot the ball."

Mooney apparently is a good listener. Since that chat, he's put up some nice numbers for the Bears. In fact, last week against Rolling Meadows, he pumped in a season-high 33 points.

"He's starting to put up the points again," Zarr said of Mooney, who is averaging about 16 points per game. "That's what we need him to do."

Sneak peek: In a tune-up for their regional opener later this month, Warren and Mundelein will face off tonight in Gurnee in the final North Suburban Lake Division game of the season for both teams.

Mundelein, seeded eighth in the Barrington sectional, is pitted against No. 9 Warren in a regional semifinal Feb. 27 at Libertyville.

Although Mundelein crushed Warren by about 20 points in their first meeting this season, the upcoming games between the two teams should be top-notch as both are fighting for a bit of redemption.

Warren has had an unusually rough season in losing nine games. But, on the upside, the Blue Devils feature a Division I prospect in Brandon Paul and are coming off a victory over Conant, which received the No. 2 seed in the Barrington sectional.

Meanwhile, Mundelein has lost six of its last eight games.

But the Mustangs have 16 wins and have shown flashes of brilliance this season. Sophomore guard Ben Brust is coming off a 40-point game, and Navjot Singh is one of the best players in Lake County.

"All I can say is that Warren is not your normal nine seed," Mundelein coach Dick Knar said. "Their record isn't what it normally is, but that's a good team. They're well-coached, they're tough and they'll be in every game they play.

"And I think we can compete with anyone, too. We just need to get our confidence back and play with some consistency."

Busy Knights: Thanks to some of the recent blizzards, Grayslake North is playing an NBA type of schedule this week.

The Knights have games just about every night. They played Tuesday and Thursday and are scheduled to play again tonight and on Saturday.

"The way the Fox Valley Conference does games, February is busy anyway," Grayslake North coach Todd Grunloh said. "I remember passing out the February schedule at the beginning of the month and (guard) Clay (Henricksen) was like, 'It's about time.' "

Grunloh says his team had two stretches earlier this season in which it went 12 days between games.

The pace was to pick up in February, but was slowed by the snow so much that the Knights have played only two games since Jan. 29.

"We're making up for it now, though. It kind of feels like we're back playing during the holidays, where you're playing all the time," Grunloh said. "But the kids love it. It's not like they hate practice, but they like the games so much more."

All in the family: Grayslake North is getting a lot of mileage out of the Henricksen family.

Older brother Clay, a senior guard who can slash and hit from 3-point land, is the team's leading scorer at about 14 points per game.

Meanwhile, younger brother Grant, a junior guard, is the hottest player on the team right now. He's impressing his coaches with his rebounding and playmaking abilities and his knack for doing all the dirty work, like diving for loose balls and playing tough-nosed defense.

"Grant brings a lot to the table," Grayslake North coach Todd Grunloh said. "He's not necessarily lighting up the stat sheet every night, but he's the hardest worker we have right now. Against Huntley, he had 4 points, and normally I wouldn't say a 4-point game is impressive, but he had an impressive night. He was on the floor six or seven times in the first quarter alone. He did all the little things. For a junior, he really leads by example."