When Evanston coach Mike Ellis walked into practice last Wednesday following his team’s first loss of the season, a stunning 90-71 blowout to Zion-Benton, he said there was no need to grab his team’s attention. Players were focused and ready to work without the veteran coach having to say a word of what just transpired less than 24 hours earlier.
Now it’s a quick turnaround for the Wildkits following a weekend that included beating rival New Trier on Friday night and knocking off highly-ranked Bloom in a Saturday thriller at the When Sides Collide Shootout.
Evanston, which drilled 13 three-pointers in its 81-79 win over Bloom, will face a completely different style and approach this week. Ellis’ team goes from the up-and-down, fast-paced attack of Zion-Benton and Bloom to midweek games against patient, defensive-oriented Loyola Academy (20-2) and Glenbrook South (18-3).
There is plenty at stake in both games. Tuesday’s matchup with Loyola could determine the No. 1 seed in the Elk Grove Sectional as seeding time is just a few weeks away. Thursday’s showdown with Glenbrook South features two teams that are unbeaten in the Central Suburban League South.
Bloom, meanwhile, is trying to avoid being swept by Thornton in the Southland Conference. Unbeaten Thornton beat Bloom 61-58 back in December in Harvey, though Bloom was without starting point guard Donovan Newby.
Thornton can virtually lock up the top seed in the rugged Bloom Sectional and a conference title with a win Tuesday.
Possible state semifinals
With the state tournament brackets recently released by the IHSA, here’s a sneak peek at what the state semifinals could look like in Peoria in two months based on current records and state rankings.
Class 3A: Bogan vs. Lincoln; Niles Notre Dame vs. Peoria Notre Dame
Class 4A: Collinsville vs. Lake Park? DeKalb? Cary-Grove? St. Charles North? St. Charles East?; Evanston vs. Curie
Pretty clear-cut favorites, at least at this point in the season, have been established through most of the super-sectional roads, though surviving the road through the Evanston Super-Sectional will be an absolute minefield for current favorite Curie. Unbeaten and No. 2 ranked Thornton, Bloom, Young, Simeon, Homewood-Flossmoor, Marian Catholic and Lincoln Park all stand in the way of top-ranked Curie returning to Peoria.
Yes, that’s eight teams ranked among the current top 13 teams in the Sun-Times Super 25 poll all navigating their way through the Evanston Super.
Figuring out just who will come out of the Class 4A DeKalb Super, where there isn’t a single team ranked in the Chicago area or statewide rankings, is complete guess work. The hottest teams with the most impressive records remain DeKalb (18-5) and Cary-Grove (20-2).
Appreciating Glenbard East’s Scott Miller
Glenbard East is 13-6, contending for an Upstate Eight Conference title and fresh off beating Aurora Christian this past weekend as host of the When Sides Collide Shootout.
The impact of retiring coach Scott Miller, however, goes beyond what transpires during this 2019-2020 season.
Miller, now in his 21st and final season as coach at Glenbard East, will step down as the all-time winningest and most successful coach in school history.
When he took over in 1999 the program had won an average of seven games a year the previous eight seasons. Miller built up the feeder program, established a culture and over a 12-year run from 2005 though 2016 the Rams averaged just under 20 wins a season. The Rams won six conference titles, six regional titles and finished third in the state in 2011 during that impressive decade-long run.
A program that had a total of four 20-plus win seasons in school history has enjoyed six 20-plus win seasons under Miller.
Miller, who will be inducted into the IBCA Hall of Fame this spring, is part of a very small and elite club of coaches to win a state trophy in both the small and big school state tournaments.
Miller guided Plano to its only state finals appearance and a Class A fourth-place finish in 1999. He had Glenbard East back in Peoria 12 years later in its record-breaking 28-win season, which included beating Ryan Boatright and East Aurora in the sectional final and a super-sectional win over Rockford Auburn and Fred Van Vleet.
