Homewood-Flossmoor’s Bryce Heard (2) controls the ball during the Vikings’ IHSA Class 4A state championship victory against Normal.
Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times
The final rankings take care of themselves for the most part. State playoff success is the top factor, followed by the regular season. Winning conference or a holiday tournament definitely helps and head-to-head results are usually the tiebreaker.
The toughest decision for me was on the No. 2 spot. Curie or DePaul Prep? The Rams obviously impressed in Champaign this weekend but Class 3A was watered down overall. DePaul Prep reached the state championship game without defeating a top-tier Chicago area team.
Curie lost to Homewood-Flossmoor by two points and was in control for most of the game and the Condors had a better regular season than DePaul Prep overall. Except for one tiny blemish: the Lindblom loss.
DePaul Prep never had a let down, so it gets the No. 2 spot over Curie.
Final Super 25 rankings for the 2023-24 season
With record and preseason ranking
1. Homewood-Flossmoor (33-4) 4
2. DePaul Prep (35-2) 13
3. Curie (31-3) 7
4. Mount Carmel (32-6) 5
5. New Trier (30-8) 18
6. Thornton (29-5) 2
7. Palatine (28-10) NR
8. Warren (31-5) NR
9. Downers Grove North (31-5) NR
10. Bolingbrook (27-5) 15
11. Brother Rice (31-4) 12
12. Bloom (19-10) 11
13. Benet (27-7) 14
14. Marist (29-5) 8
15. Kenwood (24-8) 1
16. Joliet West (21-10) 22
17. Rich (23-8) NR
18. De La Salle (23-12) 16
19. Loyola (27-7) NR
20. Glenbrook North (25-8) 24
21. Kankakee (27-5) NR
22. Waubonsie Valley (27-3) NR
23. Simeon (17-14) 9
24. Neuqua Valley (23-10) NR
25. Phillips (25-9) NR