City/Suburban Hoops Report: Unfortunately, there can't be a Warren-Benet rematch in the state finals

There are many examples over the years of top teams and star players unfortunately meeting in the postseason before the IHSA State Finals. Typically it miffs the high school basketball fan.

Most of the time it’s simply unavoidable. Geography does and should play a part in the IHSA’s regional and sectional assignments. Schools within proximity of one another battle it out locally in the sectional to advance is to be expected.

But when it comes to the supersectionals across the state, fans keep their fingers crossed the IHSA’s brackets don’t wreak havoc with their hopes of wanting to see the best teams and players in Champaign in March.

The luck ran out in Class 4A.

After watching the rematch of last year’s Warren-Benet 4A title game play out over the weekend in a high-level matchup, it led me to peak ahead to the state tournament brackets this March.

Benet and Warren will be overwhelmingly favored to win their respective sectionals. That would mean the state’s best team, Benet, and the state’s best player, Warren’s Jaxson Davis, would meet in the DeKalb Supersectional — before the big stage of the State Finals.

Anything can happen. Top-ranked Benet must first get by very good Neuqua Valley and Bolingbrook teams. Warren could face Waukegan for a third time and may need to get by the best team out of the Rockford area. But if it materializes — a Benet-Warren rematch in the super — that’s a loss for the state’s high school basketball fans across the state.

Loyola wins another Jesuit Cup

Loyola’s domination over St. Ignatius is head-scratching considering the circumstances.

St. Ignatius has enjoyed unprecedented program success under coach Matt Monroe. The Wolfpack have won 24-plus games in four of the last five full, non-Covid seasons. That includes Class 3A third and fourth-place finishes in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

They headed into last week 19-2, ranked No. 5 in the Super 25 and the only team to have taken down top-ranked Benet this season.

Despite all the success, past and present, they can’t find a way to beat rival Loyola.

Loyola is no slouch. The Ramblers are ranked and have averaged 23 wins a year over the past 12 seasons. But when you factor in a big-time rivalry game and the high-level success of Ignatius, Loyola winning 12 of the last 13 meetings is difficult to grasp.

Behind Jack Golden (24 points) and the unheralded play of Brody Munsey-Johnson (21 points), the Ramblers took down Ignatius once again on Sunday to win the Jesuit Cup.

Batavia is a threat

Glenbard East will be the favorite in the Bartlett Sectional when postseason play begins in a month. The ranked Rams are 21-2 and have an all-state caliber player in South Dakota recruit Michael Nee.

But the window is open for an unexpected team or two to make a deep state tournament run in what is a very winnable 4A sectional.

Enter Batavia. The Bulldogs were probably written off early after a 5-7 start to the season. But coach Jim Nazos’ team is hot, winning eight of its last nine, thanks to what Nazos says is “attention to detail defensively.”

Senior-dominated Batavia, which owns wins over York and Glenbard North, two teams vying for one of the top four sectional seeds, boasts balance and can change games with its three-point shooting.

Seniors Joe Reid (12.5 ppg) and 6-5 Evan Blankenship (12 ppg) are weapons from beyond the arc, already combining for 94 three-pointers on the season. Those two are now getting scoring support from others, including two more seniors, point guard Xavier Justice (7 ppg) and Brett Berggren (8 ppg), along with junior guard Dane Farrar (8 ppg).