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Chicago Sun-Times

Sport

Michael O'Brien

Michael O’Brien’s Super 25 Chicago high school basketball rankings for Jan. 5, 2020

Joliet West’s Jeremy Fears, Jr., (11) dribbles in the front court against Simeon. | Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times

Joliet West’s win over Simeon at the Pontiac Holiday Tournament changed the public’s perception of the team and raised expectations for a possible deep playoff run this season.

Several juniors and seniors sparkled for the Tigers, especially senior Jamere Hill, but one of the biggest eye-openers was freshman point guard Jeremy Fears Jr.

Fears has had ups and downs this season, but first-year coach Jeremy Kreiger has shown rock steady belief in his young guard.

“Life is about learning from mistakes,” Kreiger said. “If I at any moment yank him for a mistake he never has the opportunity to rebound from those mistakes. He doesn’t make mistakes not going hard. If he was being lazy making mistakes we would have an issue. But he makes plays for the team. He makes mistakes for the team and I can live with those.”

Fears contribution, especially mentally, to Joliet West this season has gone a bit too unrecognized. He’s clearly a kid that expects to win. It’s that belief, along with Kreiger, that has changed this group of players from a five-win team in 2018-19 to a supersectional contender this season.

A strange week

It was an odd week of high school basketball. A couple holiday tournaments ended and a lot of teams totally had the week off. Ten of last week’s Super 25 teams didn’t play at all.

Of the 15 teams that played last week, 11 lost games but only four lost to teams in the Chicago area.

Ranked teams lost to teams from Mississippi, West Virginia, Nevada, Kentucky and Florida (twice). This was the week where Young and Morgan Park dropped a bit after accumulating so many losses against national teams.

Young is 3-5 against out of state competition. The Dolphins have local wins against Lincoln Park and Farragut.

Young has traditionally used the out of state games as a springboard to major local success. It’s entirely possible the Dolphins do that again this season, but for now they (and Morgan Park) take a bit of a rankings hit.

New additions

Bolingbrook (11-3): Easy call to add the Raiders back to the rankings. Darius Burford and Kai Evans were excellent leading them to the title at York with wins against Hinsdale South and the host Dukes.

Oak Lawn (13-2): Sami Osmani, Trey Ward and the Spartans looked terrific in a dominant, running-clock win against Tinley Park on Friday. But a win against Oak Forest on Friday is a must to stay in the Super 25.

St. Charles North (11-3): One of the very few teams with a big win this week. The North Stars are back after knocking off Lake Park on the road.

Dropping out

Hinsdale South (11-2): Eleven consecutive wins and then two consecutive losses. The Hornets have the talent to get back into the Super 25 soon.

Lake Park (13-2): One week out, one week back in, and then now back out. The Lancers still need a big win in the area.

York (12-2): The Dukes just couldn’t hang with the Raiders on New Year’s Eve. The resume is still solid with wins against Cary-Grove, Benet and Schaumburg.

With record and last week’s ranking