IHSA releases postseason assignments
The Illinois High School Association has released assignments for the girls basketball state tournament series, and once again the distribution of teams in the predetermined regionals in Class 4A has left some scratching their heads.
In the IHSA's postseason system, if there are teams within a sectional complex outside the Chicago collar counties, then the IHSA predetermines which regionals those schools play in, unlike within the collar counties, where the sectional complexes are still seeded from top to bottom.
What the system creates in the Fox Valley is unbalanced regionals, in terms of teams' win-loss records.
For example, within the Huntley sectional, regionals will be held at Cary-Grove, St. Charles North, McHenry and Rockford Jefferson. Geographically, that's a fair distribution of hosts.
But the assignments are perplexing, and not very balanced. Joining 10-0 Cary-Grove in the Trojans' gym will be Dundee-Crown, Elgin, Larkin and Streamwood - teams that currently have a combined 6 wins. Meanwhile, the Jefferson regional has all the Rockford schools and Machesney Park Harlem yet Hononegah, the farthest school from Rockford, is assigned to the McHenry regional along with Jacobs, Crystal Lake South and Huntley.
About the only regional that appears to make geographic sense is at St. Charles North, where the host North Starts will entertain Batavia, Geneva, St. Charles East and South Elgin.
Meanwhile, Bartlett is again spared a predetermined regional and has been assigned to the Lake Park sectional complex, which includes undefeated Fenwick as well as Elk Grove and Glenbard West in the 20-team field. The regional hosts are Glenbard East, Fenwick, Rolling Meadows and West Chicago.
In Class 3A, Burlington Central and Hampshire have each been assigned to the Rochelle regional along with DeKalb, Kaneland and Sycamore, while in Class 2A, St. Edward is in the Immaculate Conception regional with Luther North, Willows Academy and Timothy Christian. If St. Edward and IC win their openers at the Lisle Christmas tournament and then meet in the regional, they would play each other four times this season.
In Class 1A, Elgin Academy is at the North Shore Shore Country Day regional, while Westminster Christian is in the Indian Creek regional along with defending Class 1A state champion Hinckley-Big Rock.