Previewing and predicting the IHSA Class 4A supersectionals

There are eight teams remaining in the state’s largest class. Only four will enjoy all the excitement, rewards and lifetime memories of playing in Champaign later this week as part of the 2026 IHSA State Finals.

It’s time to break down the four Class 4A supersectional matchups.

Following a perfect 8-0 record in sectional championship game picks, the supersectional selections should be easier. Why? All four teams I picked to reach Champaign when state tournament play began are still playing, so there’s no reason to venture off course now.

Here is everything that is super about Monday night’s Class 4A supersectional matchups, which includes picking the four winners that will play in Friday’s state semifinals.

York (31-4) vs. St. Ignatius (31-4) at UIC, 7:30 pm

Super storyline to follow: Tempo and pace

Will the game be played in the 40s or 60s? St. Ignatius averages 65 points a game, while no one ever scores 50 on York with its ball press zone defense.

Something will have to give. St. Ignatius is blessed with shooters on the perimeter — the Wolfpack shoot 38 percent from three as a team — and boast four players who average in double figures. That may give them an edge in navigating the York defense.

Super players to watch: Chris Bolte, St. Ignatius and Joseph Lubbe, York

One player, Bolte, is a known commodity as one of the top 15 prospects in the senior class.

The other, Lubbe, is a little-known junior who has put together a breakout season without much fanfare.

The tough, hard-nosed 6-6 Bolte is ultimate leader and winner. He is headed to Ivy League champ Yale next year. A stat-sheet stuffer, Bolte is averaging 16.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists a game while shooting 47 percent from three.

When the season began, York had two returning starters in football players Costa Kampas and Hunter Stepanich and then a bunch of question marks, including in the backcourt and who would provide some scoring punch.

Lubbe’s offense was just what the Dukes needed. The 6-3 junior wing leads York in scoring with 15 points a game while adding three rebounds and over a steal a game.

Super nugget: Both of these teams play in the Jack Tosh Holiday Classic. And both won championships this past December, albeit of a completely different variety. St. Ignatius won the whole thing; York won the consolation championship after being upset by Batavia in the opening round.

The pick: St. Ignatius 54, York 48

Marist (30-5) vs. Peoria Richwoods (26-7) at Illinois State, 7 pm

Super storyline to follow: Can Marist make history?

The RedHawks ended a decades-long drought Friday night with their first sectional championship since 1981, just the second in program history. Now Marist zeroes in on making what would be its first-ever trip to the IHSA State Finals this weekend.

Super players to watch: Amarion Smith-Holley, Peoria Richwoods and Charles Barnes, Marist

Smith-Holley is the No. 3 ranked prospect in the state in the Class of 2028, just behind Bolingbrook’s Brady Pettigrew and Neuqua Valley’s Cole Kelly. He’s been dazzling and ultra-clutch in the postseason, averaging 27 points a game in Richwoods’ last three wins.

Barnes has been unbelievably consistent for the RedHawks all season. An all-area selection who is averaging 18 points and eight rebounds a game, the 6-5 senior is fresh off a 31-point effort in the sectional title win over Homewood-Flossmoor.

Super nugget: Although from Peoria, Richwoods has played eight teams from the Chicago area, including several teams –– Mount Carmel, St. Laurence, Evanston, Kenwood and Lincoln Park –– who were ranked at some point this season. The Knights are 6-2 in those games.

Both Richwoods and Marist played talented Evanston. Marist beat Evanston 73-60 at the Centralia Holiday Tournament. Richwoods lost at Evanston 82-76 in late January.

The pick: Marist 64, Peoria Richwoods 58

Hersey (22-7) vs. DePaul Prep (31-3) at Hoffman Estates NOW Arena, 8 pm

Super storyline to follow: DePaul’s run at history

There are very few teams who have made four consecutive trips to the IHSA State Finals. And even fewer who have won four straight titles. That’s what is at stake here as DePaul enters this super-sectional as an overwhelming favorite against Hersey.

In addition, senior Rashaun Porter is on the verge of potentially making history as well. Simply put, Porter will finish his career as one of the winningest players in state history if the Rams can secure a fourth trip to state and win another state championship.

Super players to watch: Rashaun Porter and Rykan Woo, DePaul Prep and Charlie Pomis, Hersey

When it comes to DePaul’s Porter and Woo, you can’t talk about one without the other. They form the best 1-2 punch remaining in the entire state tournament field.

Porter, who has signed with Toledo, is a multi-dimensional defensive stalwart at one end of the floor while averaging 18 points and eight rebounds a game. Woo, a heady, shot-making guard headed to Brown, puts up 17 points and four assists a game. He also buries an impressive 47 percent from the three-point line.

Pomis is one of the more overlooked players in the senior class, both from a recognition and recruiting standpoint. The uncommitted and versatile 6-3 Pomis is an underrated athlete on the perimeter who can score the basketball. He averages 18 points a game while adding over five rebounds and three assists a game.

Super nugget: Hersey coach Bob Widlowski is the second coach in Mid-Suburban League history to lead two different MSL teams to sectional championships.

Widlowski won a sectional title at Fremd in 2017, a team that finished fourth in the state, before leading Hersey to a sectional championship this season. The first to do so was George Zigman, who won sectional titles at both Hersey and Arlington in the 1980s.

The pick: DePaul Prep 54, Hersey 42

Benet (34-1) vs. Rockford Auburn (27-8) at NIU, 7:30 pm

Super storyline to follow: David vs. Goliath

In Benet you have the state’s top-ranked team, the defending state champ, a nearly impenetrable defense and a team that hasn’t tasted defeat since November.

In Auburn you have a team that needed to pull off two upsets in the sectional just to get its shot at Benet in the super-sectional. The Knights first took down Jaxson Davis and Warren and then beat Rockford Guilford in the final, a team it had lost to twice in the regular season.

The good news for Auburn is it’s a team that actually has some of the key ingredients to pull off a monumental upset, components specifically needed to contend with Benet.

The Knights have all kinds of veteran experience, play fast and in transition and boast a plethora of capable shooters from the three-point line.

All-stater Amir Danforth has hit 93 three-pointers. There are five other players who have made 17 or more, including Darian Royal (40 threes) and Mikwan Marshall (35 threes). And that doesn’t even include Champ Parker (14 ppg), the team’s second leading scorer.

That all helps in trying to navigate Benet’s interior defense with 7-1 Colin Stack, 6-8 Ed Stasys and 6-4 Perry Tchiegne.

Super players to watch: Amir Danforth, Rockford Auburn and Colin Stack and Jayden Wright, Benet

The Benet duo of Stack and Wright won’t wow you with stats. Their numbers are relatively modest; Stack averages 13.4 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.8 blocks a game, while Wright is at 13.7 points and 5.5 assists a game.

But their impact in key moments and the ultra-efficiency they play with helps fuel this team’s success and is glaring.

Danforth is a fun player to watch. He’s always on the go, always moving and difficult to contain. The 6-1 guard averages 20.7 points a game and is climbing past 2,300 points in his career. The North Dakota State recruit has made a whopping 364 three-pointers in his career.

Super nugget: Rockford Auburn’s Amir Danforth and Benet’s Colin Stack will be future teammates as both have signed with North Dakota State.

The pick: Benet 65, Rockford Auburn 53