Scouting the Class 3A Glenbard South boys basketball sectional
Class 3A Glenbard South sectional
Regional hosts: Wheaton Academy, Riverside-Brookfield, Nazareth, Marshall.
Top seeds (by regional): No. 1 Orr, No. 4 Riverside-Brookfield, No. 3 Farragut, No. 2 Marshall.
Outlook: Sending Orr, Marshall, Farragut, North Lawndale and eight other Chicago teams 30 miles west as opposed to the St. Ignatius sectional, where the talent level drops considerably after the top-seeded host, makes this a prickly path. “For the talent that’s going to be here for that Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, whoever makes it that far will have already beaten some good teams and they’ll have to beat some more good teams to keep advancing,” said sectional host Wade Hardtke, coach of Glenbard South. “On the unfortunate side of it, there’s going to be some good teams that are not going to win a regional.” Wheaton Academy hosts a regional that includes Orr — at 19-4 The Associated Press’ No. 4 team in 3A which lost by 10 points to Simeon in the Chicago Public League Tournament semifinals. “If I’m sitting in Orr’s shoes as the No. 1 seed in the sectional I wouldn’t be very excited about coming all the way out to the suburbs to be playing Wheaton Academy or St. Francis in Wheaton,” said Wheaton Academy coach Paul Ferguson. Marshall (20-4) is ranked ninth by the AP, and Farragut got a vote as well. The complex’s No. 7 seed, North Lawndale, beat the St. Ignatius No. 2 seed, Dunbar, by double digits, Ferguson said. If the seeds work out, Farragut would be facing Marshall in one semifinal, and Orr would get Riverside-Brookfield in the other. Regional host R-B (22-4) is on a roll under former Montini coach Tom McCloskey, with 11 straight conference titles to its credit. The two best teams in the Suburban Christian Conference Blue Division, No. 9 seed Wheaton Academy (17-9) and No. 8 St. Francis (17-7), meet immediately in a regional semifinal after having split a pair of conference games. At Marshall, No. 14 Montini (15-8), which has won four more games than it did the past three seasons combined, gets No. 18 Clemente in the play-in game. The winner promptly gets thrown into a semifinal against the host Commandos. No. 11 seed Glenbard South (12-12) opens at the Nazareth regional Monday against No. 22 Payton. Glenbard South would advance to face legendary coach Gene Pingatore and No. 6 St. Joseph. The Chargers, along with No. 5 seed Crane, No. 10 Westinghouse and No. 13 Fenwick, are all pedigreed darkhorses that give this sectional extra weight. “I would think that this is the strongest sectional in 3A,” said Glenbard South’s Hardtke. “Westinghouse is a 10 seed, and to just a casual basketball observer that should tell you there’s a lot of talent in that sectional.” The other local 3A team, Fenton, hosts a regional in the Grayslake sectional. The No. 15 Bison (2-24) play No. 17 Noble Street Charter in Monday’s play-in game. If successful, Fenton would face No. 1 seed North Chicago on Tuesday.
Advancement: Winners of the Wheaton Academy and Riverside-Brookfield regionals play in the March 6 sectional semifinal; the Marshall and Nazareth winners play March 7, with the sectional final on March 9. The Glenbard South sectional champion will meet the Grayslake Central sectional champ at the 3A Hoffman Estates supersectional on March 13.