Michael O’Brien’s Super 25 high school basketball rankings for Jan. 2, 2022

The rankings are usually a little easier to do after the holidays than most weeks. I start with a clean slate. No one cares where anyone was ranked before all these games were played. What matters is what happened in all the tournaments.

So it was a bit shocking that the top five remains the same after all of last week’s action. I don’t ever remember that happening after holidays. It shows how solid that group is right now. It appears that the top six teams may be a notch above everyone else in the area.

Holiday tournament winners got huge jumps in the rankings, obviously. Burlington Central joins for the first time this season after winning in Plano. The Rockets beat Yorkville Christian and well-regarded Peoria Notre Dame.

Homewood-Flossmoor and Hyde Park, two teams that were unranked last week, won at Hinsdale Central and the Big Dipper. Both teams have been in and out of the Super 25. They are back now. Hyde Park knocked off the Vikings the first week of the season so they wind up a spot higher.

Mount Carmel won at Pekin and Larkin won at Jacobs. I know that the Caravan hasn’t played one of the area’s elite teams this season. And they just squeaked by De La Salle and Morgan Park. But I’ve seen them play a number of times though and are confident in them. DeAndre Craig is a star and the supporting cast around him is exactly what you want in a high school basketball team. They are a really unselfish, hard-working group too.

Super 25 for Jan. 2, 2022

With record and last week’s ranking

1. Glenbard West (14-0) 1

York champs

2. Kenwood (12-2) 2

Proviso West winners

3. Simeon (10-1) 3

Won title at Pontiac

4. Glenbrook South (13-1) 4

Cruised at Wheeling

5. Curie (15-1) 5

Lost to Simeon

6. Young (7-4) 6

Lost to Kenwood

7. Mount Carmel (15-0) 12

Won Pekin title

8. Larkin (14-1) 23

Champs at Jacobs

9. Hyde Park (9-3) NR

Won the Big Dipper

10. Homewood-Flossmoor (9-2) NR

Won Hinsdale Central title

11. New Trier (15-2) 13

Lost to Simeon in OT

12. Wheaton Warrenville South (14-2) 20

Nice run in Bloomington

13. Hillcrest (11-2) 7

Lost to Hyde Park

14. Brother Rice (12-2) 10

Lost to WW South

15. Leo (7-2) 18

Proved a lot at York

16. Rolling Meadows (13-2) 25

Three big wins at York

17. Proviso East (9-2) 21

Gave Young a scare

18. Oswego East (14-1) 11

Second at Hinsdale Central

19. Orr (7-1) 14

Split in Minnesota

20. Lyons (11-3) 24

Second at York

21. Bolingbrook (12-2) 8

Lost to Lyons

22. Burlington Central (12-2) NR

Champs at Plano

23. Riverside-Brookfield (9-1) 17

Didn’t play at York

24. Lake Forest (9-4) 15

Mixed results at York

25. Evanston (9-3) 19

Finished second in Centralia

Read More