Naperville-area teams getting recognition by virtue of receiving high sectional seeds isn’t anything new.
After all, consider the fact that since the 2007-08 season, five of the six Naperville-area schools have received at least a No. 3 seed within a sectional.
For the third time since the 2009-10 season, two programs will enter the state tournament as No. 3 seeds or better as Neuqua Valley earned the top seed in the Class 4A Bolingbrook Sectional while Benet got the No. 2 seed in the Class 4A East Aurora Sectional.
Top seeded Neuqua Valley lone area school in Bolingbrook Sectional
Owners of a third straight Upstate Eight Valley title and the program’s ninth UEC title in the last 14 years, Neuqua Valley (24-4) has won three straight games after suffering a 37-point loss at West Aurora on Feb. 13.
The memory of letting a 13-point lead with about six minutes to play against Plainfield North in a Class 4A West Aurora Regional Semifinal last year slip away en route to losing 48-46, the Wildcats, who earned a top three seed for the second time in three years, head to Joliet West on Tuesday looking to make amends.
Todd Sutton’s charges will open up postseason play on Tuesday opposite either 16th-seeded Plainfield Central or 18th-seeded Oswego East.
“We’re the only one (of the Naperville-area schools not placed in the East Aurora Sectional) and I got nothing on the new sectional,” Sutton said. “We don’t know anything about the teams down there. We’ve never seen Lincoln-Ways play. Ever. Sandburg, (Andrew), we don’t know. Providence. Never seen Providence in 17 years. We’re unfamiliar with them, so this is a brand new experience. We know the former sectional very well and they know us very well, so this is a brand new experience.”
Two victories over at Joliet West would give Neuqua Valley its eighth regional title and first since 2013 as the program is still in search of the program’s first sectional title since winning back-to-back sectionals in 2008 and 2009.
“We know, as the one seed, that teams are going to be coming after us and giving us a best shot and we just got to be able to handle that and embrace that and really get after it and play well,” said Connor Raridon, who leads the Wildcats at 15.7 points a game.
Benet seeded 2nd in East Aurora Sectional
Meanwhile, Benet, the defending Class 4A East Aurora Sectional champion and Class 4A runner-up, enters the state tournament having won 10 of its last 11 games, with a 67-64 loss at Marian Central on Feb. 20 the lone blemish during that stretch.
Benet (21-7), which has received at least a No. 3 seed five times since the 2009-10 season, could get its 150th victory over the last six seasons if it can get a victory on Tuesday over 14th-seeded Glenbard West or 18th-seeded Wheaton Warrenville South.
A sixth straight 20-win season for the Redwings, coupled with their sectional titles in 2010 and 2014 to go along with a sectional final trip in 2013, has expectations where they’ve routinely been during Gene Heidkamp’s tenure: high.
But Heidkamp knows his 2014-15 outfit enters the state tournament as quite a different type of group than ones in years’ past.
“We know how delicate the state tournament is,” Heidkamp said. “You got to play well when the time comes and it’s a do-or-die type of situation, so we’re going to have to be playing well with how strong our sectional is and you’re going to be challenged in every game. So for us to win some games, we’re going to have to play at a more consistent and high level.
“I think we’re capable of that. I don’t think we’re at our potential. I think we can be better than what we are (at right now).”
A second postseason meeting in the last three years with 10th-seeded Naperville Central (15-13) could be awaiting the Redwings in a potential Class 4A Glenbard West Regional Final on March 6 as the Redwings hope they can claim their fifth regional title since 2010.
Back in November, the Redhawks beat the Redwings, 56-51, in overtime in the third-place game of the 2014 Hoops for Healing Tournament as Matthew Meier and Nate Dahl combined for 33 points in the five-point victory.
As an up-and-down season has ensued since for Pete Kramer and his Redhawks, he knows his charges must get more consistent if they hope to make a run towards the program’s first regional title since 2009 beginning Tuesday against No. 7 seed York.
Getting a third guy going alongside Meier and Dahl, who lead the team in scoring with 12.2 points and 10.9 points, respectively, is a challenge they’ve been fighting all year.
“We just have to … for some reason, it’s hard for us to get more than one guy going at a time, you know?” Kramer said on Feb. 17 after his team lost at Metea Valley. “Matt Meier had a big game (at Wheaton North on Feb. 13) and Harry (Hallstrom) didn’t do much. We got to get (Nate) Dahl going. Dahl’s kind of been (inconsistent). So it’s just inconsistent team play and it’s just hurt us at times. Again, we got some growing pains still. But at this time of the year, it shouldn’t be that way.”
Metea Valley enters Class 4A Proviso West Regional on eight-game winning streak
The Metea Valley team that dispatched of Naperville Central by 18 points on Feb. 17, thanks to getting 23 points from Dei’Ron Delarosa, is by far and away the hottest team the area has going into the state tournament.
Given the eighth seed in the Class 4A East Aurora Sectional, Metea Valley (16-12) has won eight games in a row and could earn a shot at top-seeded Lyons Township in a regional final if it’s able to beat No. 9 Addison Trail on Tuesday at Proviso West.
Bob Vozza, who led the Mustangs to the 2012 Class 4A East Aurora Sectional Final before losing to West Aurora, just wants his team to keep doing what has seemingly gotten them on track since playing at Wheaton Warrenville South’s MLK Tournament in January.
“It’s been a collective effort from both ends for us (during the win streak). Defensively, we’ve cranked it up. You know, we work on it all year and it’s got to be the staple for us moving forward,” Vozza said.
Naperville North (15-10), the third area team to carry a multi-game winning streak into the state tournament, has won four straight games since dropping a 44-40 decision at home to Naperville Central on Feb. 6.
Getting sophomore Mitch Lewis back from a four-game suspension for the final game of the regular season on Wednesday against their play-in game opponent on Monday, 22nd-seeded Glenbard North, gave the 11th-seeded Huskies a spark.
Lewis’ return is no doubt a reason for Naperville North coach Jeff Powers to be optimistic about his team’s chances as it heads over to West Aurora for regional play, where a victory over the Panthers would give the Huskies a shot at the host and sixth-seeded Blackhawks on Wednesday.
“Well, yeah. I think beating Wheaton North, beating Fremd, beating Wheaton Warrenville South (as part of this winning streak), we’ve beat some good teams and then this was a nice night,” Powers said after the Huskies beat the Panthers earlier this week. “And we’re doing it now in a (different way). We’re putting up some points and that was my fear. That we would never get this team to score points and now they’re starting to score points.”
Sixteenth-seeded Waubonsie Valley (10-16) comes back to West Aurora after losing to the Blackhawks its regular-season finale earlier in the week.
A victory for the Warriors over 18th-seeded East Aurora on Monday, a team they split with during the regular season, would move them into a date with third-seeded Wheaton North on Tuesday.
The Warriors had won three straight games since ending the regular season with losses at Neuqua Valley and West Aurora and will be looking to build off that.
“I think we’re finally starting to gel together as a team. We’re finally starting to see that we can play when (we need to),” said Warriors’ sophomore Luke Gregorio, who scored eight points in the Warriors’ loss at Neuqua Valley on Feb. 20. “So we’ll be playing East Aurora in the first round. Hopefully we can win and play against Wheaton North in that second round.”
