Boys water polo postseason preview

What: Water polo sectionals begin in earnest Thursday, with area teams competing in three complexes. The quarterfinals, semifinals and championship games for each site follow the same format: quarterfinals at 4:30, 5:45, 7 and 8:15 p.m. Thursday; semifinals at 7:15 and 8:30 p.m. Friday; championship games at 1:30 or 2 p.m. Saturday.

At Barrington: Mid-Suburban League champion Schaumburg (27-2) earned the top seed and faces No. 8 Hoffman Estates (4-23), which defeated Elk Grove in a play-in game Tuesday, in today's first sectional quarterfinal at 4:30 p.m. The other matches feature No. 4 Fremd (12-10) vs. No. 5 Rolling Meadows (19-4) at 5:45 p.m., No. 2 McHenry (17-6) vs. No. 7 Conant (11-18) at 7 p.m., and No. 3 Barrington (20-5) vs. No. 6 Palatine (12-18) at 8:15 p.m.. The Saxons went unbeaten in MSL play; they are ranked No. 8 in the most recent state poll by illpolo.com and certainly earned the top sectional seed, but McHenry and Barrington are also first-rate teams capable of beating just about anybody, and the lower end of the bracket features quality squads like MSL East champ Rolling Meadows and improving teams from Fremd, Conant and Palatine. In other words, whatever happens, count on this being an interesting sectional.

At Glenbrook North: No. 6 seed St. Viator (8-17), No. 7 seed Prospect (10-11) and No. 8 seed Hersey (5-19) figure to find rough going. The Lions meet No. 3 seed Evanston (14-10), the Knights meet No. 2 seed Glenbrook South (20-9) and the Huskies face top seed Loyola (17-10).

At Vernon Hills: Buffalo Grove (20-8) has drawn the No. 3 seed, meaning a matchup with Lake Forest (11-19) at 8:15 p.m. today and a likely semifinal meeting against No. 2 seed Stevenson. The Bison tied for the MSL East crown with Rolling Meadows and have played excellently of late. Wheeling (3-16) defeated Deerfield in a play-in game Tuesday and will meet top-seeded Mundelein (23-7) at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.

Advancement: The Barrington sectional winner meets the Lincoln-Way Central sectional winner, the Glenbrook North sectional winner meets the Lyons sectional winner, and the Vernon Hills sectional winner faces the Neuqua Valley sectional winner in Elite Eight play Friday, May 22 at Stevenson High School. Semifinals will be at 11:30 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. Saturday, May 23, with the third-place game (5 p.m.) and championship (8 p.m.) later that day.

Here we go again: Fenwick has won the last five state championships games and is the top seed in its own sectional. The Metro Catholic champs finished the regular season 26-0.