Bracket talk

Let's get some chatter going what do you guys think? Looks like Washington and Metamora got some rough draws with Providence and JCA. Never thought I would say Elmwood Park very well could make it to the quarterfinals in 5a. Though I know nothing at all about Chicago Payton or Evergreen Park so if Elmwood Park faces either in the second round we shall see.

Bigshot85 wrote:Let's get some chatter going what do you guys think?  Looks like Washington and Metamora got some rough draws with Providence and JCA.  Never thought I would say Elmwood Park very well could make it to the quarterfinals in 5a.  Though I know nothing at all about Chicago Payton or Evergreen Park so if Elmwood Park faces either in the second round we shall see.

This is as brutal a draw as I ever recall the Mid Illini conference receiving.

Providence at Washington
JCA at Metamora
Dunlap at Yorkville
Morton at MacArthur

I honestly think the conference loses all four games. Crazy that Metamora is a one loss team but they would have received a much kinder path had they suffered two or three losses. On the plus side Metamora will have a really good basketball team this winter.

Sterling's loss on Friday, while humbling, has resulted in the best playoff draw they've ever had.

I-8 in the last year of their current alignment is probably looking at 3-2 at worst with a likely 4-1 in the first round, although anything beyond the semis would be a longshot.  

The 2A bracket looks awesome.  Lots of potential great games in both halves although the north bracket looks a bit more intriguing.

Reggie wrote:

Bigshot85 wrote:Let's get some chatter going what do you guys think?  Looks like Washington and Metamora got some rough draws with Providence and JCA.  Never thought I would say Elmwood Park very well could make it to the quarterfinals in 5a.  Though I know nothing at all about Chicago Payton or Evergreen Park so if Elmwood Park faces either in the second round we shall see.

This is as brutal a draw as I ever recall the Mid Illini conference receiving.

Providence at Washington
JCA at Metamora
Dunlap at Yorkville
Morton at MacArthur

I honestly think the conference loses all four games.  Crazy that Metamora is a one loss team but they would have received a much kinder path had they suffered two or three losses.  On the plus side Metamora will have a really good basketball team this winter.

You Metamora people, always talking about basketball...

Doctor D wrote:I-8 in the last year of their current alignment is probably looking at 3-2 at worst with a likely 4-1 in the first round, although anything beyond the semis would be a longshot.  

The 2A bracket looks awesome.  Lots of potential great games in both halves although the north bracket looks a bit more intriguing.

I would be willing to bet the 2A champ comes out of the south though.

Head Idiot wrote:

Doctor D wrote:I-8 in the last year of their current alignment is probably looking at 3-2 at worst with a likely 4-1 in the first round, although anything beyond the semis would be a longshot.  

The 2A bracket looks awesome.  Lots of potential great games in both halves although the north bracket looks a bit more intriguing.

I would be willing to bet the 2A champ comes out of the south though.

I don't know much about the South teams outside of DST, Tuscola, and MF but the North bracket is loaded. There is a possibility of GCMS and Hope Academy in the 2nd Round and either Newman-Hope or a Newman-GCMS rematch in the quarters.

EPC probably got the best draw in 2a. If they can get past Chicago Harlan in the 1st Round, they get the winner of Chicago Christian-Chicago Collins in the 2nd Round.

I am guessing the only Apollo team that will win a playoff game is Taylorville. I think they could make it to the quarters where they will lose to Rochester.

Effingham has a chance to beat Breese Mater Dei - they played them tough in a loss in the first game of the season.

Mt. Zion got the worst draw - 1st welcome to 5A and 2nd let's have you travel all the way down to Cahokia to get spanked.

Mattoon drew a team that almost running clocked them in the regular season. The Green Wave have improved since then, but clearly it's not a great match-up for them.

OldTitan wrote:I am guessing the only Apollo team that will win a playoff game is Taylorville. I think they could make it to the quarters where they will lose to Rochester.

Effingham has a chance to beat Breese Mater Dei - they played them tough in a loss in the first game of the season.

Mt. Zion got the worst draw - 1st welcome to 5A and 2nd let's have you travel all the way down to Cahokia to get spanked.

Mattoon drew a team that almost running clocked them in the regular season. The Green Wave have improved since then, but clearly it's not a great match-up for them.

My observations on the Apollo were nearly the same. I was very underwhelmed with the quality of the conference this season. There are CIC teams that would challenge for the conference title IMO.

It wouldn't surprise me if no Apollo teams were to win.

The 1A south is incredibly bad.

19delta wrote:

Head Idiot wrote:

Doctor D wrote:I-8 in the last year of their current alignment is probably looking at 3-2 at worst with a likely 4-1 in the first round, although anything beyond the semis would be a longshot.  

The 2A bracket looks awesome.  Lots of potential great games in both halves although the north bracket looks a bit more intriguing.

I would be willing to bet the 2A champ comes out of the south though.

I don't know much about the South teams outside of DST, Tuscola, and MF but the North bracket is loaded. There is a possibility of GCMS and Hope Academy in the 2nd Round and either Newman-Hope or a Newman-GCMS rematch in the quarters.

EPC probably got the best draw in 2a. If they can get past Chicago Harlan in the 1st Round, they get the winner of Chicago Christian-Chicago Collins in the 2nd Round.

I forgot GCMS was in the north. I still am not sold on Hope. I feel they're the same deal we hear about every year with these small Chicago schools.

didn't see a lot of conference rematches other than the beloved Valley vs Dixon. I don't see the same result as the first game of the year as Dixon has improved beating Genoa lately.

Rochelle/Syco didn't play this year but luckily for Sterling they are now!

illinipete wrote:didn't see a lot of conference rematches other than the beloved Valley vs Dixon. I don't see the same result as the first game of the year as Dixon has improved beating Genoa lately.

Rochelle/Syco didn't play this year but luckily for Sterling they are now!

with montini looming in round 2 for the winner of hubs/spartans

yup. Can Syco grind it out vs Montini or are they just that good again?

Head Idiot wrote:The 1A south is incredibly bad.

Agreed. Wait, what?

Only one 5-4 team in the South and the North bracket has 5.

I think Argenta is Legit, so is Camp Point and Triopia. Arcola's only losses are to Tuscola and Argenta.

I do have to agree with you that there are some overseeded teams in there. Madison for one is 8-1 with 25 points is not that strong.

general maximus wrote:

Head Idiot wrote:The 1A south is incredibly bad.

Agreed.  Wait, what?  

Only one 5-4 team in the South and the North bracket has 5.  

I think Argenta is Legit, so is Camp Point and Triopia.  Arcola's only losses are to Tuscola and Argenta.  

I do have to agree with you that there are some overseeded teams in there.  Madison for one is 8-1 with 25 points is not that strong.  

Seeds don't mean much.  The quality of teams is really, really low.  The south will be competing to see who gets running clocked at halftime in the state championship.

Do you legitimately believe that any of those teams come within 20 points of St T, Maroa, GCMS, Tuscola or any of the other teams that usually make frequent appearances in the 1A South?

No. Prob not.

general maximus wrote:No. Prob not.  

The 1A South is about as weak as the 2A South was in 2013.

That we still couldn't find our way out of....

Head Idiot wrote:

19delta wrote:

Head Idiot wrote:

Doctor D wrote:I-8 in the last year of their current alignment is probably looking at 3-2 at worst with a likely 4-1 in the first round, although anything beyond the semis would be a longshot.  

The 2A bracket looks awesome.  Lots of potential great games in both halves although the north bracket looks a bit more intriguing.

I would be willing to bet the 2A champ comes out of the south though.

I don't know much about the South teams outside of DST, Tuscola, and MF but the North bracket is loaded. There is a possibility of GCMS and Hope Academy in the 2nd Round and either Newman-Hope or a Newman-GCMS rematch in the quarters.

EPC probably got the best draw in 2a. If they can get past Chicago Harlan in the 1st Round, they get the winner of Chicago Christian-Chicago Collins in the 2nd Round.

I forgot GCMS was in the north.  I still am not sold on Hope.  I feel they're the same deal we hear about every year with these small Chicago schools.  

100% agreed.

Last year, the consensus was that the playoffs should just be cancelled and the trophy handed to Hope and they couldn't even get out of the 2nd round.

And about 4-5 years ago, the same thing was being said about them but Forreston pretty much waxed them in the 1st round.

They might be very good. But until they win something, I think we should just go ahead and play the games and see if that sorts things out.

general maximus wrote:

Head Idiot wrote:The 1A south is incredibly bad.

Agreed.  Wait, what?  

Only one 5-4 team in the South and the North bracket has 5.  

I think Argenta is Legit, so is Camp Point and Triopia.  Arcola's only losses are to Tuscola and Argenta.  

I do have to agree with you that there are some overseeded teams in there.  Madison for one is 8-1 with 25 points is not that strong.  

When Madison was 5-0, they lost to 0-5 Du-Pec, a team that had been outscored 132-12 in their first five games.

So yeah...I don't think they are very good.

19delta wrote:EPC probably got the best draw in 2a. If they can get past Chicago Harlan in the 1st Round, they get the winner of Chicago Christian-Chicago Collins in the 2nd Round.

Hmmm...

Chicago Christian is hard to figure out. Qualified for the playoffs for the first time in ten years.
They won three one point games this year. They have defeated two teams substantially larger than the largest school EPC has faced this year.  If EPC and Chicago Christian win their first two games, EPC is on the road to Chicago Christian for the 2.5 hour drive in round two.

ramblinman wrote:

19delta wrote:EPC probably got the best draw in 2a. If they can get past Chicago Harlan in the 1st Round, they get the winner of Chicago Christian-Chicago Collins in the 2nd Round.

Hmmm...

Chicago Christian is hard to figure out. Qualified for the playoffs for the first time in ten years.
They won three one point games this year. They have defeated two teams substantially larger than the largest school EPC has faced this year.  If EPC and Chicago Christian win their first two games, EPC is on the road to Chicago Christian for the 2.5 hour drive in round two.

Full disclosure...I'm an EPC parent. My kid is a junior on the team. We aren't overlooking anyone. Just saying, as far as draws go in a bracket loaded with great teams, we did pretty well. I'm sure there are more than a few teams that would like to switch with us. Obviously, our guys still need to show up, execute, and play hard.

Delt, We will switch with you

Hope didn't running clock a marginal Knoxville team at home yesterday. Unless they had a massive case of overlooking a team for next week, that probably doesn't bode well for them in their upcoming game.

Bigshot85 wrote:Never thought I would say Elmwood Park very well could make it to the quarterfinals in 5a.  Though I know nothing at all about Chicago Payton or Evergreen Park so if Elmwood Park faces either in the second round we shall see.

After watching too many games of Morris versus Elmwood and Evergreen Park, I would agree. I wouldn't have thought we would ever see either in the quarterfinals of a 16 team tournament - let alone 32.