Class 4A upsets? Anyone?
When it comes to Class 4A, the opportunity for any true, gigantic upset has already passed. Nearly every top four seed won regional titles and has advanced to this week’s sectional semifinals.
And when the only two teams outside the top four seeds still playing are Young and Curie as No. 6 and No. 7 seeds, respectively, those are hardly what you would call underdog triumphs.
So we go to an unranked four seed without a Division I player and hasn’t been talked about at all this season as the lone potential Cinderella story: Glenbard East.
Sharpshooter Michael Nee fuels the Rams. The junior guard shoots it at an elite rate, including 47 percent from three and a nearly automatic 93 percent from the line. He’s averaging 19 points and four assists a game and was the Upstate Eight Conference Player of the Year.
The Rams are the No. 4 seed in what is considered to be the softest Class 4A sectional in the state. Nonetheless, coach Eric Kelly’s team could become a huge storyline if it can upset district foe Glenbard West, the top seed and No. 18 ranked team, in the sectional semifinals and go on to win this sectional.
Can the elite end sectional droughts?
It’s great to be ranked when the calendar turns to March. No matter what ending comes, for the vast majority it means the season has been a huge success.
But there are so many teams currently ranked that are itching for more, most notably ending sectional championship droughts.
Top 25 Rolling Meadows has won three regionals in the past four years but it’s been a quarter century since the last sectional championship. For Waubonsie Valley, the No. 11 ranked team, it’s been 34 years. No. 3 ranked Marist has climbed the rankings all season but hasn’t won a sectional since 1981.
Brother Rice and St. Laurence, both ranked in the top 10, last won sectionals in 2005 and 2003, respectively.
The last one for 17th-ranked Kankakee? 1960.
No. 21 ranked Lake Forest has won four straight regional titles, but the program has never won a sectional championship.
For each of these seven ranked teams it’s two more wins.
Catholic League’s postseason parade of teams
With nine different Catholic League teams still alive as we enter sectional play, including four that are currently ranked in the top 10, the question is how many can survive this week’s sectional?
Brother Rice, DePaul Prep, Fenwick and St. Laurence are all No. 1 seeds in their respective Class 3A sectionals. Mount Carmel could certainly supplant St. Laurence in the Glenbard South Sectional. So those are four sectionals with bonafide chances of a Chicago Catholic League team winning.
Can Loyola keep chugging along in 4A? The Ramblers play a Niles North team on Wednesday that it beat a few weeks ago.
Then there is Montini. Coach Adam DeMong returned just one starter from a year ago, yet the Broncos took their typical lumps in the Catholic League and have followed up with another postseason push.
Montini has advanced to its fourth straight Class 2A sectional. The difference between this year’s team and the previous three is this is a top-seeded one with 20 wins. The win totals of the past three years were 13, 7 and 15 with no team being seeded higher than third in the sectional.
Scrappy 6-1 junior guard Robert Sansone (12 ppg) headlines a group that is balanced with seniors Dillon Bagley (9 ppg) and Drew Church (8 ppg).