Plenty of February Fun ahead
As much as basketball fans want to fast forward to the madness of March, there's still unfinished business out there.
February must have its say on the season.
Before we get too excited about the upcoming playoffs, most teams still need to tidy up in the final weeks of the regular season. This week's edition of Eyes on Five looks at some of the storylines.
1. Bad timing:
Injuries may affect everyone, but they're hitting Lake Park's boys basketball team at the worst time. And they're hitting the Lancers in waves.
Just when they were preparing for the stretch run of competing for a repeat DuPage Valley Conference championship and a top seed in the Class 4A Fremd sectional, players are dropping like flies.
Starting point guard Garrett Fant missed eight games and leading scorer Kenny Bogus - who shifted to the point after Fant's injury - was lost to a foot fracture on Jan. 26. That forced sophomore point guard Brady Olenek's move to varsity and a freshman was promoted for depth.
Throw in lingering injuries to Diamante Smith, Dan Spejcher and Andrew Vega, and Lake Park is hurting.
"We're just trying to weather the storm right now," said Lancers coach Josh Virostko. "I've never seen this many injuries before."
The good news is Fant returned to action in Tuesday's loss to Conant, a loss that could prove costly when it comes time for sectional seeding. On Friday the short-handed Lancers face a huge DVC home game against league-leading Naperville North.
The key now is to regroup over the next few weeks, stay close in the DVC race and ramp up for the playoffs. Virostko is hopeful Bogus can return for the postseason.
"Injuries are just part of the game," Virostko said. "These next few weeks are important for us to kind of recover."
2. Happy new year:
It's been an interesting year for Willowbrook's boys basketball program.
At this time last season the Warriors were in the midst of winning 20 games and their first conference championship since 1972. But with the transfer of Alonzo Verge Jr. - who led DuPage County with 23.4 points a game - and the graduation of its entire post game, Willowbrook faced a major rebuild.
It hasn't been easy, but last week showed the potential for this season and definitely the future.
The Warriors (10-12, 4-5 West Suburban Gold) beat Hoffman Estates last Tuesday and then outlasted Addison Trail in quadruple overtime on Friday. Less than 24 hours later, they upset Hinsdale South.
While the Warriors aren't the world-beaters they were at times last season, they may have turned the corner. It's DuPage County's youngest team with four sophomores and a freshman surrounding returning starters Kevin Miller and Freddie Clay, and varsity speed is starting to slow down.
It's a team definitely worth keeping an eye on.
3. Planting time:
The girls Class 3A and Class 4A seeds are in, and local teams again find themselves in prominent spots.
Defending Class 4A champion Benet (22-3) earned the top seed at the sectional it will host. Oswego East earned the second seed, with resurgent Naperville Central at No. 3 and Neuqua Valley at No. 5.
Montini earned the top seed at the Schaumburg sectional. More on the Broncos later.
Wheaton Warrenville South picked up the No. 5 seed at Schaumburg, behind Geneva, Batavia and Bartlett, in order. Twelve of the sectional's 21 teams are DuPage teams.
In Class 3A, sectional host Glenbard South earned a No. 2 seed behind Chicago powerhouse Marshall, a reward for hanging in the Metro Suburban Conference West Division race despite losing valuable senior Payton Carli to a season-ending injury.
IC Catholic Prep, which went downstate last year in Class 2A, is the fifth seed at Glenbard South after getting bumped up in class this season.
Both the Raiders and Knights will host a regional.
St. Francis and Wheaton Academy were sent west to the Class 3A Rochelle sectional, earning Nos. 4 and 5 seeds, respectively at a sub-sectional.
The Class 3A and Class 4A pairings will be released Friday at ihsa.org. The big-school girls open the playoffs Feb. 15.
4. Let the playoffs start:
The boys have time to play regular-season games, but the small-school girls are just about out of time. The playoffs are just days away.
Lisle has its bus gassed up and directions, well, they aren't really necessary. Wilmington, the Lions' regional host. is an Interstate Eight Conference rival of the Lions, so they've been there plenty of times, though it isn't real close.
"That's for sure," Lisle coach Nick Balaban said. "With the exception of Westmont everything else (in the conference) is pretty much an hour-plus."
Wilmington isn't so bad at only 50 miles. Balaban was preparing for the 85-mile drive to play the team's regular-season finale at Streator on Thursday.
"Not only us but our fans are used to a long ride," Balaban said.
Lisle meets either Bishop McNamara or Momence in its playoff opener Tuesday night, with St. Edward, a team Balaban has seen play a few times this season, likely in the regional final.
"We have to play well to beat them," he said.
If you think Wilmington represents a long drive for the Lions, they'll have to go all the way to Byron for the sectional, should they get that, er, far. That would be about 77 miles.
The Lions (17-8, 7-3) got some good news with sophomore point guard Natalie Takahashi returning the other night from a sprained ankle that forced her to miss eight games. She played 12-14 minutes against Wilmington on Monday.
"She looked good," Balaban said.
Lisle isn't the only Class 2A team in DuPage County. Westmont heads to Cristo Rey Jesuit in Chicago to play the winner of Collins Academy and Our Lady of Tepeyac. Timothy Christian goes to Christ the King, also in Chicago, to play Manley. Both teams play Tuesday.
5. Stat time:
Montini's girls are 25-1 this season, but it's not just that the Broncos are winning. It's how they're winning.
They're winning big. Very big.
Among the Montini wins, only two teams, Trinity and Batavia have come within single digits of Montini, the top-ranked team in Class 4A and the Daily Herald Top 20.
Only seven teams could stay within 30 points in their loss to the Broncos. That number includes Trinity and Batavia.
And it's not a sign that the Broncos are playing patsies. Just the opposite.
Trinity and Whitney Young are ranked in Class 4A by AP, and Batavia and Hersey earned votes. Burlington Central is ranked in Class 3A, and St. Thomas More earned votes in that class this week. Bolingbrook, Loyola, Fenwick, Neuqua Valley and Joliet Catholic have good girls basketball programs. Davenport North is a good Iowa team.
The lone Montini loss came to Morgan Park, the top-ranked team in Class 3A, 69-58 on Jan. 23.
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