Michael O'Brien's high school basketball weekly rewind
The first portion of the season is complete, so what have we learned about this year's batch of high school basketball teams?
Kenwood is a true No. 1
The Broncos have the talent, the undefeated record and the resume. Wins against DePaul Prep, Simeon and Warren have proven that Kenwood is the unquestioned top team in the area heading into the holiday tournaments.
The rest of the top tier is still forming
Bolingbrook, DePaul Prep and Warren were the three teams considered for the preseason No. 1 ranking. Only the Rams have lived up to the hype so far. Bolingbrook and Warren have dealt with significant injuries and could still turn out to be elite.
Are Brother Rice and Waubonsie Valley truly top five teams? Was Mount Carmel's heavy defeat at Fenwick just a fluke? Those are some of the questions that the holidays should answer.
Also keep an eye on Benet, Homewood-Flossmoor, Niles North and Lincoln Park. All three have shown enough promise to wind up in the top five after the holiday tournaments.
Public League is better than expected
Kenwood, Simeon, Lincoln Park, Curie Young are no doubt Super 25 teams. The holiday tournaments will show just how good they all are. Also keep an eye on Lane, Perspectives-Leadership and Dyett this week.
The Player of the Year race is wide open
The top contenders should reveal themselves over the holidays. Kenwood's TJ Seals is a surprise name. Senior guards Tyreek Coleman of Waubonsie Valley and Phoenix Gill of St. Ignatius have played well enough to get in the conversation. The sophomore trio of Warren's Jaxson Davis, Bolingbrook's Davion Thompson and Kenwood's Devin Cleveland has lived up to expectations but not really pulled ahead of the upperclassmen.
The Raiders came up short last night against Brother Rice, but senior JT Pettigrew was excellent. He's a scoring and rebounding force but makes such an impact defensively as well. The Valparaiso recruit is on my Player of the Year radar.
Notable scores
Monday, Dec. 16
Homewood-Flossmoor 91, Andrew 58
Marian Catholic 62, Shepard 44
Naperville Central 50, Bradley-Bourbonnais 48
Palatine 71, Crystal Lake Central 35
Romeoville 67, Plainfield East 46
Tuesday, Dec. 17
Ag. Science 57, Farragut 54, ot
Curie 86, Taft 42
Downers Grove North 35, TF South 29
Dyett 64, North Lawndale 60
Fenwick 71, Mount Carmel 58
Kankakee 64, Decatur Eisenhower 46
Kenwood 71, Hyde Park 50
Lane 62, Clark 32
Lincoln Park 64, Lindblom 43
Marian Catholic 52, Leo 42
Perspectives-Lead 70, Marshall 58
Stevenson 70, Lockport 63
Young 48, Simeon 45
Thursday, Dec. 19
Benet 64, Wheaton Academy 39
Crane 59, Farragut 51
Curie 64, Phillips 47
Dyett 75, Marshall 41
Hope Academy 53, St. Viator 51
Kenwood 82, Lane 75
New Trier 67, Apollo (AZ) 53
North Lawndale 87, Carver 59
Simeon 70, Lincoln Park 69
Friday, Dec. 20
Conant 62, Barrington 58
Deerfield 61, Glenbrook South 46
Fremd 72, Schaumburg 60
Geneva 62, Batavia 37
Hinsdale Central 48, Downers Grove North 25
Kankakee 68, Bloom 62
Loyola 40, Notre Dame 36
Lyons 54, Glenbard West 34
Marist 60, Marian Catholic 52
Minooka 53, Romeoville 51
Omaha Millard South, Neb. 77, New Trier 71
St. Laurence 60, Fenwick 48
St. Patrick 58, Joliet Catholic 56
West Aurora 58, East Aurora 56
Saturday, Dec. 21
Brother Rice 72, Bolingbrook 71
Burroughs, Mo. 57, Romeoville 49
Curie 67, Waukegan 65, ot
DePaul Prep 56, Oswego East 48
Downers Grove North 59, Downers Grove South 41
Dyett 80, Paducah Tilghman, Ky. 66
Fenwick 42, Peoria Central 28
Glenbrook South 62, McHenry 45
Hinsdale Central 60, Lemont 56
Kankakee 72, Webster Groves, Mo. 52
Kenwood 69, Gary West Side (IN) 58
Lincoln Park 74, Griffith (IN) 44
Loyola 61, Detroit Country Day, Mich. 37
New Trier 64, Olympia (WA) 49
Niles North 61, Lake Forest 47
Oak Lawn 55, Lyons 37
Proviso West 76, Proviso East 69
St. Louis Vashon, Mol. 72, Rich 49
St. Patrick 77, Neuqua Valley 55
Schaumburg 59, Perspectives-MSA 55
Shepard 75, Addison Trail 64
Warren 76, Morton, Ind. 60
West Aurora 54, Thornton Fr. North 49
Yorkville Christian 68, Providence 66
Young 61, East Chicago Central, Ind. 55
Some of the week’s top performances
Aleks Alston, Kenwood: 25 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks vs. Lane
Grant Best, Mount Carmel: 25 points, 23 rebounds vs. IC Catholic
EJ Breland, St. Patrick: 25 points vs. Neuqua Valley
Devin Cleveland, Kenwood: 21 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds, 4 steals vs. Gary West Side, Ind.
Jaxson Davis, Warren: 32 points vs. Hammond Morton, Ind.
Travon Gourdine, Richards: 28 points vs. Crete-Monee
Arnez Jones, North Lawndale: 22 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks vs. Carver
Elijah Lovemore, Bloom: 17 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 8 steals vs. Kankakee
Tayshawn Marble, Perspectives-MSA: 19 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists vs. Orr
Zach Mazanowski, Lane: 31 points vs. Kenwood
Collin Miller, Lockport: 30 points, 7 rebounds vs. Sandburg
Antonio Munoz, Young: 20 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks vs. Hyde Park
Daniel Orozco, Hinsdale Central: 30 points vs. Lemont
Finn Pivnicka, Marian Central: 42 points vs. Schaumburg Christian
Nasir Rankin, Morgan Park: 21 points vs. Washington
Jacob Reardon, Reed-Custer: 24 points, 17 rebounds vs. Gardner
Dawayne Redmond, Manley: 15 points, 17 rebounds vs. Clemente
Jayden Riley, Yorkville Christian: 34 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals vs. Marquette
TJ Seals, Kenwood: 18 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks vs. Gary West Side, Ind.
Alex Sirbu, Buffalo Grove: 30 points, 17 rebounds vs. Maine West
Adin Smajlovic, Mather: 38 points vs. North Chicago
Jovan Thomas, Shepard: 30 points, 17 rebounds vs. Addison Trail
Lincoln Williams, Kankakee: 23 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals, 3 assists vs. Webster Groves, Mo.