This is what I saw on Sunday, keep in mind teams are missing players, and this is a time teams are trying different combinations to find out who they can count on.
Whitney Young played a B team and an A team. Both looked very good. Class of 2023 5'10" point guard Dalen Davis looked very good with the B team. He ran the team, hit some threes, penetrated to the basket, and set up his teammates for baskets. I didn't see much of the A team, I saw them at Homewood Flossmoor the next day.
Three time defending Class 2A champ Orr look discombobulated. This is to be expected though as they are replacing most of their team. Class of 2020 Reggie Strong played well, but they struggled with Simeon's frosh/soph team. They played too much one on one basketball and took the first shot available to them.This team will get it together when they need to with Lou Adams at the helm. They were also missing a couple of players as were all the teams. Alas they will contend for a Chicago Public League title and will be the favorite again to win a fourth straight Class 2A title. They have reloaded with transfers again.
State Class 4A runnerup Evanston is starting over from two historic runs to the State Finals where they finished third and second the last two years. Replacing 4 year varsity performers Lance Jones, Jaheim Holden, and Ryan Bost would be hard for most teams. This team has a chance to do a heckuva job in doing it. They blew out Legal Prep as Class of 2021 stallwarts Jaylin Gibson, Blake Peters, and Isaiah "Itchy" Holden have taken over the reins. Another Class of 2021 player Elijah Bull has returned from Niles North. He was a key piece on Evanston's 3rd place team two years ago. Jigga Smith hit 5 three pointers off the bench. Rebounding will be key for this team.
Westinghouse will be a Top 25 team this season and a threat to Orr and Young in the Red North/West Conference in the Chicago Public League. They are not that big of a team and will have to pressure teams full court to use their speed and quickness. Class of 2020 Devin Davis will be the leader of the team. They did win their game by 4 points but played too much one on one basketball in this particular game. They have the talent and experience to make some noise this season.
Notre Dame College Prep was missing most of their players so not a real good evaluation of their team.
Loyola will be their usual deliberate 5 to 10 passes before shooting the ball and it's usually a three or a layup. They also looked like a work in progress with the Class of 2020 6'8" twins Bennett and Jordan Kwiecinski having to be leaders of the team. They will be a threat in the North Suburbs in Sectional play.
The most impressive team I saw was Theo Bowman of Gary, Indiana. They had size, speed, strength, great athletes, fundamentally sound and an attacking mentality. They are all over the court on both ends of the court. They have multiple athletes that will try to dunk on your head every chance they get. They just hammered Walter Payton who had a good performance from Class of 2020 6'4"Jabari Chiphe.
Curie was also solid with Southeast Missouri souri State commit Class of 2020 6'3" Ramean Hinton along with 5'7" Nick Owens who was all over the place scoring, passing, getting steals and causing havoc to the opposition. They lack size also but seems like most teams in the state do.
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