Area could produce four state champs
CITY/ SUBURBAN HOOPS REPORT THREE- POINTER
No. 1
Since the arrival of four- class basketball in the 2007- 2008 season, there never has been four Chicagoarea state champions. There has yet to even be a season in which each class featured at least one Chicago- area team in the championship game.
This season looks as if it could be the first.
Simeon and Orr are prohibitive favorites in Class 4A and Class 2A, respectively. With Ayo Dosunmu’s return from injury this week, Morgan Park will be the pick in Class 3A. And Aurora Christian, the lone unbeaten team remaining in the Chicago area, is the No. 1- ranked team in Class 1A.
No. 2
Its 10- 13 record won’t jump out at anyone. But T. F. South has improved and is a program to keep an eye on in the south suburbs, thanks in large part to first- year coach Townsend Orr.
After a dismal 3- 12 start, the Rebels have won seven of their last eight. The lone defeat was a hard- fought 64- 58 loss to ranked Hillcrest.
“Winning cures some things,” said Orr, a former prep star and 1990 Thornridge graduate. “Sometimes when someone new takes over, it takes some time. But the guys have bought in. They are trusting the process and have developed a chemistry.”
Eric Blair, who missed time earlier in the season with an ankle injury, leads the Rebels. The senior guard is averaging 17 points and five assists, while Cameron Terrell and junior De’Kwan Turner have played big parts in the turnaround.
Orr has a name that resonates in the south suburbs. He helped lead Thornridge to the Elite Eight his junior year, was an all- stater as a senior and had a successful four- year career at Minnesota. He played professionally in the CBA and overseas and had a stint with the Harlem Globetrotters. But now his basketball goal is to build T. F. South’s program.
“My goal is play with and beat the big teams, and I know how hard you have to compete in order to do that,” Orr said. “Our talent level is only going to get better. But the kids may have a little different viewofwhat I think is playing hard, competing at the highest level. We want to hold everyone accountable and keep working towards that.”
No. 3
After clamoring for the last year that Simeon’s Talen HortonTucker and Belleville West’s E. J. Liddell were vastly overlooked and underrated nationally, it’s great to see two of the state’s elite talents getting recognition.
Horton- Tucker, a do- everything wing who is headed to Iowa State, has vaulted up the national- player ranking lists. The 6- 5 senior was once nowhere to be found in anyone’s top 100. Now he’s ranked No. 31 by rivals. com and No. 65 by 247sports. com.
Liddell, a highly productive 6- 7 junior, has gone from unranked in the Class of 2019 to a top- 50 player nationally, checking in at No. 42 by Rivals and No. 50 by 247sports.
In the Class of 2020, ESPN recently ranked Morgan Park’s Adam Miller No. 21 and Fenwick’s D. J. Steward No. 25 among all sophomores in the country.