Some sectional head-scratchers
As soon as the sectional seeds are announced and the brackets follow the very next day, the season’s focus immediately and dramatically shifts.
After scouring those seeds and brackets, here are some initial thoughts.
Fifth-ranked Curie is a No. 3 seed
The very first ’brow-raising sectional note has to come from the Hinsdale Central Sectional.
First, the sectional is loaded. With four teams ranked in the top 10, five ranked among the top 17 and a Riverside-Brookfield team with 24 wins, it’s the toughest sectional in the state.
But Curie appeared to be in great shape heading into seeding week. The Condors were fresh off a win over Young, which gave coach Mike Oliver’s team victories over Oswego East, New Trier, Joliet West, Simeon and Young. With the schedule Curie played, an argument easily could have been made that Curie was the No. 1 seed.
However, coaches in the sectional have indicated not every coach even submitted seeds. There were three coaches who didn’t vote, which is really a shame for all of those involved.
Instead, Curie ends up with the No. 3 seed. The Condors are behind Young and were just edged out by Hinsdale Central. As a result, Curie likely has the toughest tournament road in the state.
Because the Nos. 4 and 5 seeds in the sectional are both regional hosts, there won’t be a 4-vs.-5 regional final. Other teams are jumbled and moved to make it work, and it’s Curie, a No. 3 seed, that will have to go play No. 5 seed and 22-win Lyons on the road in LaGrange.
Barrington Sectional vs. New Trier Sectional
The winners of the Barrington and New Trier sectionals will meet in the Hoffman Estates Supersectional. However, the depth and quality of the two sectionals couldn’t be more different.
Libertyville, the No. 1 seed at Barrington, is an impressive 24-5. But several of those losses came to teams in the New Trier Sectional, including a 69-43 late-season dismantling at the hands of Rolling Meadows, the No. 3 seed at New Trier.
More of a concern: Top-seeded Libertyville might have to play on the road in the regional final and face a team it lost to this season. If No. 8 seed Warren can take care of Mundelein in the regional semifinals, it would host Libertyville in the title game. Warren beat Libertyville last month.
The good news? No one believed Barrington, last year’s winner of this sectional, would be able to beat whatever team came out of the opposite sectional. But the Broncos upset Glenbrook South in the supersectional and headed to Champaign.
The longest regional ride
Yorkville has had a breakthrough season. The Foxes have won 24 games and even entered the Sun-Times Super 25 the last two weeks. But they haven’t won a regional championship since 2005.
Yorkville will need to travel 120 miles a couple of times next week to end that drought. While nearly every team in its conference is in the Bolingbrook Sectional, the Foxes are in the Moline Sectional, and they’ll travel to play regional host Pekin on Feb. 22.
With a win there, they would return for a regional championship in Pekin two nights later to face the Normal-East Moline United winner.
The reward would be a sectional semifinal date with Class 4A power Moline — in Moline. Yes, another 120-mile trip.