The road to Peoria goes through Jacobs
The road to the Elite Eight runs through Algonquin for all 10 Class 4A boys basketball teams from the Fox Valley.
Jacobs High School was named sectional host this week when assignments were released by the IHSA. The 20-team sectional features 19 of the 20 schools assigned to last year's Rockford Boylan sectional. The only new blood is DeKalb, which moves up this season from Class 3A to 4A. The Barbs replace Barrington.
Regional hosts within the Jacobs sectional are Larkin, St. Charles East, Prairie Ridge and Rockford Jefferson.
Defending sectional champion Bartlett joins Upstate Eight (Valley) rival South Elgin in the St. Charles East regional along with the host Saints, St. Charles North and DeKalb. Bartlett defeated South Elgin last season for the regional title.
“It's comforting to know that we're not changing to yet another sectional,” said Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith, whose teams prior to last season were assigned to sectionals at Oswego East and East Aurora.
“Like last year, there are some real good teams in our regional,” Wolfsmith added. “We'll see as the season plays out just how good they all are. The danger with these preset regionals is that you could have two or three teams with excellent records that would have been much higher seeds if the whole sectional had been seeded top to bottom.
“On the other hand, the good thing about a preset regional like this is I can start scouting right now. We can get game tape together and have conversations about those teams.”
Wolfsmith said he likes being in the same regional as the St. Charles schools, rivals of Bartlett's whom the Hawks no longer play annually due to the transition to divisional play within the UEC this season.
While Jacobs coach Jim Hinkle said he is pleased to be a sectional host, he was perplexed as to why the Golden Eagles have yet to be chosen as a regional host in four seasons since the IHSA expanded boys basketball from two to four classes in 2007-08.
“It's nice to host a sectional, but since we've gone to the new format with the (pre-assigned) regionals we've never hosted a regional and I don't understand that,” Hinkle said. “We ask for it every single year. (Crystal Lake) South has had it twice. I don't know why they don't like us.”
Jacobs will compete in the Larkin regional along with rival Dundee-Crown, the host Royals, Elgin and Streamwood.
“I don't mind playing at Larkin. That's fine,” Hinkle said. “But I wish we would get a regional someday.
“But it is what it is. If we win, we get a nice break and we get to come back home. But that's a long way down the road.”
The Prairie Ridge regional includes the host Wolves, Cary-Grove, Crystal Lake South, Huntley and McHenry.
Teams assigned to Jefferson are all Rockford based: Auburn, Boylan, Guilford, Harlem, Hononegah and the host J-Hawks.
The winner of the Jacobs sectional will face the winner of the East Aurora sectional at Northern Illinois University for the right to advance to Peoria.
Class 3A: Rivals Hampshire and Burlington Central might play each other three times this season. In addition to a pair of Big Northern East meetings, the Whip-Purs and Rockets could wind up squaring off in the Hampshire regional, which feeds into the sectional at Woodstock North.
Also in the field at Hampshire are Marmion and Crystal Lake Central.
Class 2A: Westminster Christian's jump from Class 1A to 2A is bound to up the ante on the budding basketball rivalry between the Warriors and cross-town foe St. Edward.
Both schools have been assigned to the Plano regional along with the host Reapers, Mendota and Genoa-Kingston. G-K will host the sectional competition.
Westminster Christian defeated St. Edward on Nov. 26, 67-55.