High school basketball: Michael O’Brien’s Super 25 rankings for Dec. 4, 2022

Well, the Super 25 currently contains no results nullification and that’s always great. Other than that I’m not sure how solid everything is. It’s a long, long season and we are still getting a handle on all the teams.

The biggest decision on the top end today was over the third spot. It was a tough decision between Joliet West and Young. The Tigers have a stronger overall resume with wins against St. Rita, Metamora, St. Louis Cardinal Ritter and Romeoville. But Young’s game against Kenwood came down to the final second and Joliet West lost to the Broncos by six.

I was at both games though, and there were long stretches where the Tigers outplayed Kenwood and that wasn’t the case in the Young game. So that, along with the better resume, has Joliet West in the three spot for now.

Benet received a fairly big jump, leaping from 13 to 8. I reserve the right to move a team up or down drastically the first time I seen them play. There is no reason to remain beholden to preseason rankings that were basically a guess. The Redwings looked very good.

Lincoln-Way East joins after beating Oswego East. West Aurora drops out after losing to the Wolves and to Yorkville.

The Foxes, Marist, DeKalb, Waubonsie Valley and Barrington are all teams I have an eye on that might have cracked the rankings if other teams had fallen out.

Super 25 for Dec. 4, 2022With record and last week’s ranking

1. Simeon (3-0) 1Wes Rubin is deadly from three

2. Kenwood (4-0) 3Calvin Robins delivered

3. Joliet West (5-2) 2Already battle-tested

4. Young (3-1) 5Two buzzer beaters already

5. St. Rita (2-3) 4Don’t give up on the Mustangs

6. Brother Rice (7-0) 6Hosts St. Rita Friday

7. Rolling Meadows (7-0) 7Beat Glenbrook South

8. Benet (7-0) 13Impressed at CEC

9. Hillcrest (5-0) 9Handled Oak Lawn

10. St. Ignatius (5-1) 8Faces R-B on Saturday

11. Curie (5-2) 10Talented but not clicking yet

12. Glenbrook North (6-0) 12Hosts Evanston Thursday

13. Bolingbrook (4-1) 14Keon Alexander stepping up

14. Bloom (4-1) 15Knocked off Thornton

15. Oak Lawn (5-1) 16Fell short vs. Hillcrest

16. Marian Catholic (5-1) 17Balanced group

17. Mount Carmel (5-1) 18Lee Marks adds a lot

18. New Trier (5-1) 20Faces Rolling Meadows Saturday

19. Evanston (6-0) 21Quietly coming together

20. Lincoln-Way East (4-1) NRKnocked off Oswego East

21. Oswego East (6-1) 11Beat West Aurora twice

22. Lyons (4-0) 22At Glenbard West Saturday

23. Hyde Park (4-1) 23Jurrell Baldwin can play

24. Proviso East (3-1) 24Had the week off

25. Lemont (6-0) 25Plays Lane on Saturday

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