As the calendar turns to February and win totals climb into the 20s for teams, the realization hits that sectional seeding time is right around the corner. This weekend is another opportunity to enhance the profile in the final couple of weeks before coaches submit their seeds.
Here are previews and picks for six games to keep an eye on.
Last week’s record: 5-2
Season record: 24-9
No. 12 Mount Carmel (16-8) at No. 15 St. Ignatius (22-4), Friday
The teeth of the schedule has hit a young Mount Carmel team hard. The Caravan have fallen short in three recent losses to ranked teams (DePaul, Homewood-Flossmoor and Kankakee), so a significant win would surely come in handy with seeding time coming.
Another tough road game against a ranked team in the Catholic League awaits.
Ignatius is a team that has beaten top-ranked Benet — the only team to do so — but also lost to Joliet Catholic. But despite that high and low, St. Ignatius has been a relatively consistent team all season, just as the record would indicate.
In a game with plenty of young talent on display, the home floor and the fact the best, most impactful player is St. Ignatius senior Chris Bolte gives coach Matt Monroe’s team the edge.
The pick: St. Ignatius 63, Mount Carmel 56
No. 5 Warren (22-2) at No. 24 Stevenson (17-7), Friday
Warren’s lone two losses on the season have come to No. 1 Benet and No. 3 Curie.
Stevenson beat Waukegan last week and climbed into the back end of the Super 25 rankings. But then lost to Lake Forest earlier this week. The Patriots are trying to avoid this being the high water mark of the season. But upsetting Jaxson Davis and Company will be a monumental task.
This one might look better on paper than what transpires Friday night.
The pick: Warren 63, Stevenson 50
Rich (13-11) at No. 4 Kankakee (20-1), Friday
With star Lincoln Williams leading the way, Kankakee is running away with things in the Southland Conference. Williams has played with a sense of urgency and responded as a stat-sheet-stuffing senior star with 26 points, six rebounds and over two assists and steals a game.
When you add EJ Hazelett (16 ppg, 8 rpg), who has signed with Indiana State, it’s a pick-your-poison situation when facing the Kays.
The overall record and inconsistency from Rich are noticeable. But this one jumps out due to the return this week of Rich’s top player, senior guard Jameson Coulter, who poured in 25 points in three quarters in his debut — a nice win over Bloom earlier this week.
The pick: Kankakee 70, Rich 62
No. 3 Curie (20-1) vs. No. 14 Glenbard East (23-3) at Kankakee, Saturday
The biggest — at the very least the most intriguing — game of the weekend highlights the Chops Billinger Shootout at Kankakee. These are some pretty glitzy records these two have compiled.
Curie is in the midst of what it hopes is a city title run but can’t look past a ranked and experienced Glenbard East team.
Glenbard East, meanwhile, desperately needs to play a high-quality opponent to test its mettle. This is the first ranked opponent the Rams have faced since losing to St. Ignatius in late December and are just 1-2 against ranked teams this season.
Maybe the Rams were looking ahead to playing the No. 3 ranked team when it was stunned Tuesday night by Riverside-Brookfield, dropping them into a tie for first in the Upstate Eight East.
The star attraction is in the backcourt. A pair of senior guards, Glenbard East’s Michael Nee and Curie’s Justin Oliver, have led the way for these two and have done so in impressive fashion.
The pick: Curie 65, Glenbard East 55
No. 21 New Trier (19-6) at No. 16 Fremd (20-2), Saturday
New Trier has found its way since losing star Christopher Kirkpatrick, whose injury status still remains up in the air. But after dropping three straight mid-January games without Kirkpatrick, coach Scott Fricke’s team has now won six in a row.
Danny Houlihan continues to step up. The senior shooting guard is averaging 16 points a game. Then there has been a whole lot of balance and support from four players – Denym Wallace, Elton Jaegerskog, Matthew Logue and Max Vogel — who all are sharing the ball and averaging between 8-9 points a game.
Fremd has bounced back nicely since an upset loss to Lakes two weeks ago, including an emotional overtime win over Palatine last weekend.
A bounce-back like that is to be expected with a trio of three veteran seniors like Jordan Williams, Tommy Moffett and Rafael Pinto. Those three bring size, length, versatility and remarkably consistent play and production.
The 6-6 Williams, an Illinois State recruit, is putting up 18 points, six rebounds and 2.5 assists, while the 6-5 versatile Moffett adds 12.5 points, nearly seven rebounds and over three assists a game. Pinto, a 6-5 scoring wing, averages 15.5 points a game.
This could be a barnburner.
The pick: New Trier 52, Fremd 50
No. 17 Palatine (21-4) at Cary-Grove (22-3), Saturday
It’s been quite a run for surprising Cary-Grove, a team that boasts strong senior leadership and balance. The Trojans have some size — 6-7 senior Adam Bauer leads the Trojans with 16 points and eight rebounds a game — and a solid senior backcourt with 6-2 point guard AJ Berndt (13 ppg, 3 apg) and 6-2 Dylan Dumele, a perimeter shooting threat who averages 12 points a game.
Fresh off what will be a fight for first in the Fox Valley Conference against Burlington Central on Friday night, the battle with Palatine offers a different opportunity for this team. It’s a terrific late-season measuring stick against a ranked foe. Can Cary-Grove rise to the occasion?
Palatine is enjoying quite the regular season as well. The 21 wins is impressive, but the four losses came to teams with a combined record of 81-19. Plus, those four losses were by a combined 13 points and include two overtime defeats. Those defeats hardly warrant a plummet in the rankings.
Tony Balanganayi has grabbed a lot of the attention as he’s emerged as a dominating big man for the Pirates. But seniors Darrin Dick and the athletic Abram Williams, along with junior Brady May, complement Balanganayi well.
The pick: Palatine 55, Cary-Grove 46