The Public League boys basketball playoffs begin on Tuesday. All the regular season games in the Red have been completed, so the seeds have been determined. Several coaches sent the Sun-Times copies of the current playoff bracket.
Kenwood is the top seed. The top four finishers in the Shield (Kenwood, Lincoln Park, Simeon, Young) and the top four finishers in the Star (Dyett, Crane, Perspectives-Leadership, Ag. Science) receive first-round byes.
The teams that finished 5th through 12th in the Shield pick up the 9-16 seeds. Teams that finished 5th through 12th in the Star are seeded 17-24.
This is the first season with the new playoff format.
The dates for the quarterfinals and semifinals are different from what Chicago Public Schools provided at the start of the season and what is linked on the CPS basketball website, so stay tuned for possible changes with those. I’ll try and confirm them today.
First Round
Tuesday, Feb. 4
(17) Payton at (16) Westinghouse
(24) Carver at (9) Lane
(20) Marshall at (13) Lindblom
(21) Bogan at (12) Clark
(18) North Lawndale at (15) Taft
(23) Englewood at (10) Curie
(19) Northside at (14) Phillips
(22) Farragut at (11) Hyde Park
Second Round
Thursday, Feb. 6
Westinghouse/Payton at (1) Kenwood
Lane/Carver at (8) Ag. Science
Lindblom/Marshall at (4) Young
Clark/Bogan at (5) Dyett
Taft/North Lawndale at (2) Simeon
Curie/Englewood at (7) Perspectives-Leadership
Phillips/Northside at (3) Lincoln Park
Hyde Park/Farragut at (6) Crane
Quarterfinals
Saturday, Feb. 8
Semifinals at UIC
Thursday, Feb. 13
Championship at UIC
Saturday, Feb. 15