Good morning,
Loyola is
back in the top spot. There doesn’t seem to be much controversy around that, everyone knows how difficult it is to beat the Ramblers every season.
Are they the best team right now? Who knows. I felt pretty good about St. Rita as my preseason No. 1 team, but that group only existed for about four minutes before Kaleb Brown’s injury. Warren clearly doesn’t have the offensive balance to be No. 1 right now —Maine South showed that on Friday.
Naperville Central has a solid resume, but it is uncertain how big that Lincoln-Way East win is just yet. Keep an eye on Brother Rice and Marist. Both teams have a ton of experience. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Crusaders are, right now, the best team in the state. But there is no proof of that. They didn’t even play a game last week after Perspectives forfeited.
So here we are. There isn’t really any established hierarchy in place. Maine South and Naperville Central have nice wins. The Catholic League powers are the teams everyone trusts. It’s wait and see on the rest.
That’s kind of fun. There are seven weeks for momentum to build and then some playoffs to figure it out at the end (hopefully).
Michael O'Brien, High School Sports Editor