Picking the top-4 seeds for class 4A sectionals

As most are aware, seeding is a ridiculously inexact science where in the past, teams have gained or dropped seed lines due to school politics rather than overall season performances.

Obviously, with having to rank teams 1-22 there is natural variation from school to school, but there should be a general consensus among coaches in regards to the top teams in each sectional.

With seeding “meetings” having already taken place and the public release occurring on Thursday, we put our coaches hat on to pick our top-4 seeds in Chicagoland sectionals.

Proviso West

1. Montini

Pretty obvious one here. Montini has been a top-3 all season long. They have struggled as of late, but that has more to do with injuries than anything else. If Montini drops anywhere below the one line, there should be an uproar.

2. Benet

Despite having an up and down season, Benet is still a very good team that can give even the best teams in the area problems. The Redwings have had to overcome a multitude of injuries this season but it looks as though they are finally healthy going into the playoffs.

3. Kenwood

Kenwood hasn’t lost to an instate school since early December. Generally speaking, seedings usually carry more weight with how a team is preforming lately than they were earlier in the season.

The problem with Kenwood and city schools in general, is that they’re a bit of an unknown when being seeded by suburban or catholic league coaches making it entirely possible that the Broncos will end up outside the top-4

4. St. Ignatius 

This one was extremely tough. Simeon or Whitney Young could have easily slotted into this spot, but it’s Ignatius’ strength of schedule that gives them the edge. The Wolfpack has beaten the likes of Benet, Loyola and Trinity this season and their only “bad loss” came against Fenwick, who upset quite a few top-20 teams this season.

Mother McAuley

1. Mother McAuley

Despite having six losses on the season, Mother McAuley has shown they have the capability to beat anyone with wins over Nazareth and Geneva. Again, the Might Macs have a questionable loss to Fenwick, but which top-10 teams hasn’t?

2. Lincoln-Way East

The Griffins did not play a tough enough schedule to warrant a number one seed in their sectional. They did knock off Marist early in the season but when they had a chance to improve their resume against Bolingbrook and an okay Rock Island side, they fell just short.

3. Marist

Maine West’s 30 point drubbing of Marist in their last game before seeding meeting did not do the Redhawks any favors. Even if they kept that game close, you could have made the argument that Marist deserves to be a two seed or even a one seed, but recency bias kind of negates that argument.

4. Lincoln-Way West

Again the big issue here is scheduling. Sure LWW is 22-3, but their best win came against Bradley-Bourbonnais who haven’t exactly played the toughest of schedules either. That being said, the Mother McAuley sectional is one of the more wide open sectionals in the state and the Warriors could surprise some teams.

Fremd

1. Warren

Despite losing their most recent game against Lake Zurich, Warren has been the most consistent team this year from up north.

2. Palatine

Admittedly it’s been a very down year for the MSL and NSC. Outside of Warren the 2-7 seeds could go to virtually anybody.

Initially was not going to put Palatine this high due to a pretty bad loss to Conant, but after looking a bit deeper, every single team in this sectional has had a head scratching  at some point during this season.

3. Lake Zurich

The Bears recent win over Warren and earlier win over Lake Forest gave them the push they needed to be placed as the number three seed, but as mentioned before, seeds 2-8 may as well be picked by closing your eyes and throwing darts.

4. Lake Forest

There’s an argument to be made for Fremd, Grayslake Central, Hersey, and Prospect but Lake Forest has limited their bad losses in comparison to the rest of the teams and come up with some solid wins against Warren and Palatine.

Maine East

1. Maine West

There is zero argument for anyone else, next.

2. Proviso East

I have a strange feeling that Proviso East may not even be in the top-4 due to their late addition but the Pirates absolutely deserve to be ranked this high. Their only two losses have come at the hands of state contenders in Geneva and Nazareth while they have beaten Fenwick, Mother McAuley and Whitney Young. I am really intrigued to see where Proviso East ends up.

3. Loyola

Another one of those hit or miss teams who can lose to Evanston and St. Ignatius one day, and come back to beat Geneva the next.

Loyola is heavily reliant on the ability to shoot the three pointer and can easily shoot themselves out of a game but on that same note, it makes them extremely dangerous as well.

4. Trinity

I will be the first to admit that I had my doubts about Trinity early on in the year, but it looks as though the Blazers have really started to come around in the last month or so. The experience of Lauren Lee and Alex Fanning really compliment a talented group of underclassmen,

Lake Park

1. Geneva

Even though Geneva has had a “poor” year by their standards (Three losses all season isn’t even bad), they are still the team to beat out in the western suburbs. Like Loyola, they can run into problems if they have a poor shooting night, but those are usually few and far between.

2. Wheaton-Warrenville South

A tougher schedule gives them the nod over Glenbard West, with an impressive win over Naperville Central still fresh in most people’s minds. The Tigers don’t score a lot, but they do hold opponents to ridiculously low totals.

3. Glenbard West

Arguably the hottest team in the entire state at the moment. Glenbard West has not lost to anybody since December 2 and have locked up their first conference title in over a decade.

4. Rolling Meadows

This one may come as somewhat of a surprise but I had a really hard time overlooking Lake Park’s 40 point losses to Maine West and Wheaton-Warrenville South, and Wheaton North’s recent struggles.