Illinois Preps Insider’s girls basketball top-20: Feb 28 2021

What a mess.

This is usually where I come up with a few clever paragraphs to justify the rankings, and mention a few standout performances but this year has been more guesswork than usual.

Think you have a grasp on teams? Well, it turns out you’re more than likely to be incorrect. Hersey and Simeon have separated themselves from the pack at the top, but after that it’s anybodys guess.

I was a year early for the St. Viator welcoming committee. They were in the preseason top-20 last season before starting slow, but they had an extremely impressive week.

Lincoln-Way West was definitely the biggest winner of the week, they seem to have put that loss against Lincoln-Way Central far behind them.

Tough week for the Catholic league as Nazareth and Marian Catholic drop this week. They’re young, and going to be inconsistent and can just as easily play themselves back into the top-20 this upcoming week. HF also drops out, what do you know, another young inconsistent team. At a certain point, we have to stop ranking on potential and go off of results.

Fenwick barely survives. They were on the outside looking in until their Loyola win. Super thin ice though, I feel like that first week was an anomaly for many teams. We’ll see which Fenwick team shows up next week.

1. Simeon (3-0) 1

Early returns are positive

2. Hersey (10-0) 2

Win against the defending state champs

3. Kenwood (3-0) 4

Competition ramps up next week

4. Stevenson (11-0) 7

Dominating the NSC

5. Benet (8-0) 8

May be better than last season

6. Fremd (10-1) 5

Loss to Hersey doesn’t drop them much

7. Marist (6-1) 3

Tough OT loss to Benet

8. Libertyville (10-2) 11

Early season schedule paying off

9. Maine South (6-1) 9

Good mid-week bounceback

10. Loyola (11-2) 6

Schedule may be catching up with them

11. Lincoln-Way West (8-1) 16

Finding their groove

12. Evanston (10-2) 16

Taking care of business

13. Bolingbrook (6-2) 17

Young team, a bit inconsistent

14. Naperville North (7-1) 16

Taking care of business

15. St. Ignatius (8-1) 19

Iggy keeps on rolling

16. Burlington Central (7-1) 12

Loss to Bartlett hurts

17. York (6-0) NR

Unbeaten Dukes deserve their due

18. St. Viator (6-1) NR

Emma Morrisey hasn’t missed a shot in a week

19. Lyons (5-1) NR

Really impressive wins after OT loss to York

20. Fenwick (3-3) 20

Big win over Loyola