The days ahead will provide plenty to talk about as the season comes to a close this Saturday in Champaign with four state championship games.
But here are storylines to follow, along with picks and predictions, to get us started.
Can DePaul Prep three-peat?
The easy answer is yes. The high school basketball world expected DePaul Prep to return to this stage. The Rams have been favored to win it since the season began and are now just two wins away from claiming their third straight state championship.
No disrespect to the other three teams remaining in the Class 3A field, but the fact a three-peat has rarely been done in state history may be DePaul’s biggest hurdle. That’s the big-picture reason why it just might not happen.
The first team to three-peat was the great East St. Louis Lincoln teams in 1987, 1988 and 1989 in the old two-class system. Peoria Manual won four in a row in the mid-1990s. Jabari Parker and Simeon won four straight from 2010-2013. Orr, led by coach Lou Adams, won three consecutive Class 2A state titles from 2017-2019. The Spartans were in Peoria preparing to play for a fourth Class 2A championship in 2020 when the state finals were canceled due to COVID. Adams has led Rich to the state finals in Class 4A this season.
That’s it. Four teams since the first state champion in 1908. East St. Louis, Manual, Simeon and Orr won titles in the same class. DePaul Prep’s first title was in Class 2A and the Rams won Class 3A last season.
High-level success can lead to thinking too much about past success. There are human nature distractions, and there is so much pressure that comes with accomplishing something so few have done.
Coach Tom Kleinschmidt’s team has handled it all, nearly flawlessly, up to this point. Kleinschmidt put together what has been by far DePaul’s toughest schedule to harden this group for this final push.
If Brother Rice can take care of St. Patrick in the semifinals, the Crusaders at least know they can beat DePaul in the title game. Coach Conte Stamas’ team handed DePaul its lone Catholic League loss this season, a 53-52 Brother Rice road win in January.
The benefit for DePaul is that Brother Rice would certainly get its attention, something that may be needed after completely dominating every team in its path to get to Champaign. The Rams will again be a heavy favorite in its semifinal matchup with Chatham-Glenwood.
Elite coaches vying for first state title
There is no debate in the high school basketball world that Benet’s Gene Heidkamp and Evanston’s Mike Ellis are two of the best coaches in the sport. The track record for both is beyond impressive.
Heidkamp has turned Benet into a basketball giant since taking over the program in 2008. He’s won 20-plus games 15 times with 11 regional titles and six sectional championships. When taking out the Covid-shortened season, Heidkamp has averaged a whopping 26 wins a season in 15 years.
This is the fourth team the two-time City/Suburban Hoops Report Coach of the Year has guided to the IHSA State Finals.
Ellis has done a masterful job at Evanston. The highlights were back-to-back State Finals appearances in 2018 and 2019 when the Wildkits finished third and second, respectively, in Class 4A.
There are also 10 regional and five sectional plaques in the trophy case in his 15 years there.
And before Evanston, Ellis had a seven-year run of high-level success at Peoria Richwoods where he went 156-55. That included three sectional titles and two state runner-up finishes.
Ellis and Heidkamp also have much more in common, starting with the fact the two have coached in a combined six state championship games — three for each — but have yet to win one. They have the distinction of being arguably the two best coaches in the state without a state title, yet have been oh so close.
With Benet and Evanston squaring off in Friday’s semifinal, one is guaranteed of getting a fourth shot at their first state championship.
The biggest star attraction this weekend
There are too many stars to count when it comes to high school basketball icons who have played in the IHSA State Finals over the decades.
This year is a little different.
You won’t find a Darius Miles, Eddy Curry or Shaun Livingston this weekend, players who led their high school teams to the State Finals and were NBA Lottery picks three months later. There isn’t a Derrick Rose, Jabari Parker, Jahil Okafor or Jalen Brunson, recent must-see stars who led their respective teams to state championships.
But there is a super sophomore in Warren’s Jaxson Davis, the best individual talent in this year’s field.
A clever point guard with imaginative playmaking skills, Davis is as calm and poised as any player you will find in the state. He plays with tremendous feel and tempo as the consummate lead guard while showing the capability to score.
The sophomore class is absolutely loaded at the top with Davis, Bolingbrook’s Davion Thompson and Kenwood’s Devin Cleveland. Their combination of winning and production through two years of high school basketball is unprecedented in this state.
Thompson was the Sun-Times Player of the Year. Cleveland is the highest ranked prospect, both locally and nationally. But it’s Davis who is still playing on the final weekend of the season –– and with a supporting cast that isn’t even considered to be as strong as the ones Thompson and Cleveland played with this season.
Can the East Suburban Catholic Conference break through?
There is always talk about the Public League’s best conference in any given year. The Catholic League has taken center stage in recent years. But this weekend is a chance for the East Suburban Catholic Conference to steal a little of the thunder.
That started Monday night when St. Patrick upset Mount Carmel, earning its first-ever trip to the State Finals, and Benet taking down state power Quincy.But with former powerhouse St. Joseph long-gone — the famed program was an ESCC member for 34 years before moving to the Chicago Catholic League in 2010 and, ultimately, shutting its doors for good in 2021-22 — there isn’t a school in the conference with a state championship.
The ESCC has two chances this weekend with St. Pat’s in 3A and Benet in 4A.
Can private schools go four-for-four in Champaign?
There are three private schools in Class 1A, including Effingham St. Anthony, Chicago’s Hope Academy and Peoria Christian, playing in the state semifinals. Belleville Althoff is the lone private school in 2A but is the favorite.
For the first time in big school history, half of the State Finals field in Class 3A and 4A are private schools — Brother Rice, DePaul Prep and St. Patrick in 3A and Benet in 4A.
The grand total of nine private schools playing for state championships this weekend opens the door for history to be made. There has never been more than two private school state champions in a single year since the expansion to four classes in 2008. Will there be three or maybe even four this year?
St. Patrick’s Mike Bailey makes it to state
After 31 years as the head coach at St. Patrick, the highly-successful Mike Bailey finally becomes the storyline — on the sport’s biggest stage.
Bailey has been a key, respected figure and heavily involved in the sport for over three decades. Now he gets to showcase his proud program to the rest of the state.
He’s fast approaching 600 career wins. He’s won 18 regional championships (don’t forget the three he won at Dundee-Crown in the 1980s) and has won 20 or more games 13 times. He’s been on the doorstep of the IHSA State Finals with five sectional titles, but he finally broke through for the first time Monday night with a 49-48 win over Mount Carmel in the supersectional.
Rich’s rough road
Sure, Rich has had its ups and downs this season, especially for a team that was preseason No. 3 in the Super 25 and is still playing on the final weekend of the season.
But the road coach Lou Adams’ team has faced in getting to Champaign — and to 25 wins on the season — was an absolute meat grinder.
In winning the sectional, Rich took down No. 3 Marist (31-3) in an overtime thriller and No. 4 Homewood-Flossmoor (30-4), the defending Class 4A state champs. They then needed overtime in the supersectional to beat No. 1 ranked Kenwood (31-2). That’s three 30-plus win teams all ranked among the top four when they met in the past week.
But being prepared and ready for that gauntlet should be no surprise considering the schedule Adams put together. The Raptors played anyone, anywhere, all season long.
Rich played a whopping 14 games against teams currently ranked in the Super 25. They faced four teams that won sectional titles, including three teams — DePaul Prep, St. Patrick and Benet — that made it to Champaign this weekend.
That doesn’t even include four out-of-state teams — St. Louis Vashon, Texas power Duncanville, Summit Academy North in Michigan and East Rochester (NY) — who all have soared past 20 wins this season.
The 30-win club
When Brother Rice lost to Mount Carmel on Valentine’s Day to fall to 23-6 on the year, the Crusaders were in jeopardy of ending a unique and impressive streak.
After putting together what was then a school record 30-win season in 2022-23, followed by a 31-4 mark a year ago, Brother Rice needed seven straight wins to reach 30 again. The problem was five of those wins would need to come in the postseason.
Brother Rice’s season ended in a sectional championship loss in each of the past two seasons, losing to Thornton last season in 3A and to Kenwood in 4A two years ago.
But coach Conte Stamas’ team did it, reaching the IHSA State Finals for the first time since 2005 while winning its 30th game in Monday’s supersectional victory over Peoria.
Welcome to the club, Brother Rice. It’s a small and rare one.
Most recently, New Trier it with 30, 33 and 30 wins over the past three years.
Simeon won 30-plus games while capturing state championships in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Peoria Manual did as well in the mid-1990s with three straight 30-win seasons in the midst of its four-peat.
Thornton is the rare team to do it without winning a state championship, thanks to those Manual teams. The Wildcats won 30, 31 and 32 games while finishing second twice and third once from 1995-1997.
Pinckneyville, which finished third in the state three straight years from 1953-55, is another member of the 30-win club.
The picks
We’re going with a couple of regular-season rematches in both of the Class 3A and 4A state championship games.
Class 4A semifinals: Benet over Evanston; Rich over Warren
Expect a tight one between two well coached and extremely balanced teams in Benet and Evanston. Although Evanston won a back-and-forth 55-51 tussle a little over a month ago, Benet wins the rematch.
Rich has the size, speed and athleticism to give Warren and Jaxson Davis a few too many problems.
Class 4A state championship: Benet over Rich
In what would be a rematch of a game that took place in January’s When Sides Collide — Benet walloped Rich 73-56 in that late January showdown at Benet — expect this one to be much closer. But Benet’s consistency, balance and upgraded defense, even since the last time these two met, is the difference. Heidkamp and the Benet program get their long-awaited first state title.
Class 3A semifinals: Brother Rice over St. Patrick; DePaul Prep over Chatham-Glenwood
St. Patrick’s tricky zone defense isn’t exotic, but it’s certainly effective and different to prepare for in just a couple of days. Brother Rice finds a way and plays for its first state championship in program history.
Chatham-Glenwood remains a mystery, a rather unknown entry in this field. That’s typically not an ideal opponent for a two-time defending state champ. DePaul by double digits — again.
Class 3A state championship: DePaul Prep over Brother Rice
It’s not fair to DePaul Prep, but this Class 3A tournament won’t likely be remembered much if all we get are the Rams steamrolling every 3A opponent. The Rams have crushed everyone in its path thus far.
Enter Brother Rice. The Crusaders took down DePaul Prep 53-52 back in January. But trying to beat DePaul twice in a season? Good luck.
There is a relentless will to win in this DePaul program. The three-peat is complete and DePaul heads to 4A next season for a run at four in a row.