Feb. 01--Robert Smith actually stopped a CPS official from making reporters leave immediately after last week's Simeon-Morgan Park game. The coach, and his team, wanted to speak to the media beforehand.
The instinct of the person who was directing security in the front hallway at Morgan Park was to not allow the media to talk to the team after the game. From what I was told by someone who would know, CPS didn't want media be there in the first place.
That's not what the rest of this blog entry is about, but worth mentioning once more.
Anyway, when Smith got done talking about the game, I asked him who should be No. 1 after his No. 3 Wolverines beat the Mustangs at Morgan Park to forge a regular-season split with their Red South rivals.
"Fenwick," he said off the cuff, not giving it any real thought.
Fenwick was No. 2, after all, in the wake of their MLK Day upset of Simeon. The Friars also have victories over Bogan, Riverside-Brookfield, St. Joseph and Young.
It's a resume worthy of the No. 1 ranking, except for one nagging detail. That 26-point loss to Morgan Park in an extremely high-stakes, high-pressure setting -- the Proviso West tournament championship game.
So Morgan Park retains the top spot, even coming off a loss to No. 3.
Those facts don't exactly hurt Morgan Park's case, but more important is this: these rankings are far more subjective than objective, and the Mustangs -- with seven victories over top-10 teams -- still looks worthy of sitting atop the rankings.
That's not to diminish Simeon's accomplishments, which include a 5-0 record in out-of-state showcase games.
The Wolverines played -- and coached -- a great game against Morgan Park.
Smith changed up his defenses masterfully and put Evan Gilyard in position to thrive, taking the junior point guard off the ball in the backcourt and allowing opportunities to attack Morgan Park's aggressive defense from the wing.
Class 4A should be wide open, and Curie and Kenwood have both played a lot of good basketball. But only one team in Illinois has played within five points of Morgan Park this season, let alone beat them, and doing so will be a psychological boost.
Sure, Simeon is and always should be confident, but the Wolverines seniors were freshmen the last time their tradition-rich program won a state championship.
That year, the 2012-13 season, was also when the Tribune covered Simeon daily, "All-Access" that wasn't quite, and the first time Smith allowed his players to talk to the media prior to the state tournament.
There were some contentious moments, to be sure, and a shooting outside the Simeon-Morgan Park game at Chicago State on Jan. 16, 2013.
That time, there was probably good reason to temporarily limit the media's access.
But why this time? What did the media have to do with the perceived security risks?
I'll give you the same answer I was given.
Mike Helfgot is a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
