A UEC party

"Three teams in the Sweet Sixteen from the Upstate Eight," Neuqua Valley coach Todd Sutton said Thursday.

"Looks like another down year for the conference."

The irony.

"We actually talked about that at our post-conference meeting," first-year Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith said before his Hawks beat Glenbard West 67-64 Tuesday in a Class 4A East Aurora sectional semifinal.

"As we were walking out Todd, (Waubonsie Valley coach) Steve (Weemer) and I and said, wouldn't it be great if we all meet at East Aurora on a common floor we all play at with all three of us in the sectional?"

Mission accomplished, though not quite as great for Weemer as for Wolfsmith and Sutton.

Sutton's No. 6-seeded Wildcats (24-7) defeated Waubonsie Valley 56-51 making an appointment for today's 7:30 p.m. Class 4A East Aurora sectional final against No. 8 seed Bartlett (22-7). Neuqua aims to snap an 0-3 mark in these big games.

Neuqua Valley took an early loss to Waubonsie Valley then won five straight conference games to claim the UEC title -- including a 66-61 win over Bartlett -- while the Hawks' 7-3 record tied them for third place in conference.

But even considering Bartlett's 86-63 win over No. 1 seed Batavia as an upset for the championship of Bartlett's own regional, this team is wildly talented.

"Bartlett is the most improved team in the state," Sutton said.

Six-foot-nine center Kamil Janton, who averages 11.9 points and is a Division I recruit bound for Eastern Michigan, is not the leading scorer on this team.

Nor is it senior 6-5 forward Cory Hrynyk, who averages 13.6 points a game and extends defenses with his 35 3-point baskets.

That would be super-soph Luke Labedzki, who has hit a team-high 48 3-pointers and leads Bartlett at 13.8 points a game. He scored a team-high 21 points in the Hawks' 67-64 nail-biter win over Glenbard West in Tuesday's sectional semifinal.

Six-four senior forward Mike Selvaggi joins several players rotating in at the second forward spot. Sophomore guard Frank Cleope has nailed 20 3s and came off the bench for 10 points against Glenbard West.

At the core, however, comes well-traveled junior Marc Little, a 13.2-point scorer known in his Driscoll days as "Red."

Bartlett's ascent coincided with the IHSA's decision to clear the free-wheeling point guard's transfer from Addison Trail -- where he spent his sophomore season after playing at Driscoll as a freshman.

"The addition of Little has ignited their team to extraordinary heights. He gives them what they were lacking, playmaking and team speed," Sutton said.

"They already have the size and physical attributes to be real good. With Little and Lebedzki they now have two terrific perimeter players to go along with the giants."

Neuqua's many solid players often outweigh a select few very good ones.

The 12-deep Wildcats are not a collection of loose parts but a collective of important contributors.

Even if Todd Sutton's own son, junior guard Drew Sutton, comes off the bench just once to inbound the ball under an opponent's basket, it is a critical addition.

There is a solid center, literally. Senior 6-foot-8 center Dan Pawelski has quietly become Neuqua Valley's all-time rebounds leader and No. 3 in points.

Entering the Waubonsie Valley playoff game Pawelski and 6-5 junior forward Derek Raridon had scored the same number of points, 378. Pawelski is a steadying hand, Raridon a smooth full-court type who leads the Wildcats in 3-pointers and steals.

Todd Sutton has a guard and wing player for every occasion. Assists leaders Graham Smith and Nolan Brown, 3-ball shooters Brad Keeler and Anton Wilkins, defenders Steve Waeghe and T.J. Jordan, whose defense Wednesday against Waubonsie Valley may have been season-saver in turning around a 10-point deficit.

Then there's Neuqua's own super-soph, 6-5 forward Dwayne Evans, who developed slowly after a preseason injury but has blossomed.

In the regular-season finale the fluid Evans scored a season-high 22 points, and he had a team-high 20 points in the Wildcats' 62-53 Willowbrook regional final win over West Aurora.

This is the core that's won Neuqua its fourth regional title in its 10-year history.

After failing to win sectionals in 2001 and both 2006 and 2007, Sutton hopes to break through using his tried-and-true formula.

"Print the same lines as the last 10 years," he said. "Defense and rebounding are the keys."