Bolingbrook has its best team ever
No. 1
This is the best Bolingbrook team in school history.
This Raiders team is better than the 1985 sectional champions that won 24 games, and it’s better than the team that finished third in the state in Class 4A two years ago.
If Bolingbrook can close out the regular season unbeaten, it would tie the school record for victories in a season before the playoffs even begin. It also would send the Raiders into the state tournament as the first unbeaten No. 1 team since Benet in 2011.
‘‘ It’s great for our community and for our school, but it does not affect how we prepare for our next opponent at all,’’ said Rob Brost, who has a 187- 76 record in nineplus seasons as the coach at Bolingbrook. ‘‘ We have not brought [ the No. 1 ranking] up or talked about it as a team.’’
There isn’t a team in Illinois as big, fast, athletic or deep as Bolingbrook, though its depth has been hurt with the injury to senior Trevor Ross.
The Raiders feature a majorcollege prospect in 6- 5 Nana Akenten ( Nebraska) and two jet- quick guards in junior Kaleb Thornton and sophomore Joseph Yesufu. And rugged Malik Binns has given them a physicality and presence they needed.
No. 2
Just how real a possibility is it that Fenwick’s two- year run of dominance in the Chicago Catholic League will end?
The Friars went 9- 0 in conference play and won the Catholic League tournament last season, and they are unbeaten again in league play this season.
But Fenwick will find itself in a hornet’s nest when it visits red- hot Loyola on Tuesday.
The Ramblers have won 10 consecutive games and are riding some emotion after beating St. Ignatius in front of a standing-room-only crowd to win the Jesuit Cup and knocking off ranked St. Patrick.
Loyola doesn’t have a large margin for error, but it doesn’t have to look far for a template on how to maximize its strengths and overcome its weaknesses.
The Ramblers are looking like coach Tom Livatino’s quality teams of the past, with fundamentally sound defense, constant ball movement and an ability to play within themselves.
No. 3
There are plenty of potent onetwo punches on teams across the area, but maybe the most overlooked one is the Prospect tandem of Frankie Mack and Matt Szuba.
The seniors are the biggest reasons the Knights are 16- 4, lead the Mid- Suburban League East and have won seven games in a row.
Mack, who scored his 1,000th career point recently, is averaging 17.4 points. Szuba is a 6- 5 stat-sheet-stuffing machine. He’s on pace to become Prospect’s all- time leading rebounder and is averaging 7.9 points, 9.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists.