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The Sun-Times is counting down the 50 high school basketball programs with the most wins during the decade.

When high school basketball fans think back to the 1980s, programs like Quincy, Providence St. Mel, East St. Louis Lincoln and the arrival of city powers King and Simeon are easy to think back on.

The 1990s brought us memorable basketball giants in Peoria Manual and Thornton, a few steamrolling Proviso East teams and the continued dominance of King.

The first 10 years of the 2000s included Glenbrook North, Peoria High and the beginning of a Simeon juggernaut.

Earlier this year we broke down the decade’s best teams and best players. Now, with every season of the past decade complete, it’s time to look at the Chicago area programs who won the most.

This list is comprised of the 50 winningest programs over the past 10 years, starting with the 2010-11 season and concluding with the 2019-20 season. Every team in every class throughout the Chicago area will be broken down in a variety of ways. But total wins, with winning percentage used as tie-breaker, determined the rankings.

We present No. 17 Marian Catholic today and will add one program a day going forward.

17. MARIAN CATHOLIC: 216-90

Decade’s biggest storyline: Perhaps no program rose from the ashes more than Marian Catholic over the course of the decade.

Let’s rewind to the 2009-10 season, just before the start of the new decade, when Marian Catholic finished the year 8-23. Then make the prediction to high school basketball fans that Marian Catholic would be among the top 20 winningest programs in the entire Chicago area over the next 10 years and see the response you would get.

The Spartans averaged nearly 22 wins over the 10-year period; prior to the decade the program had two 20-win seasons total. In addition, the Spartans won six regional championships, the first three sectional titles in program history and finished third in the state in Class 3A in 2017-18.

Before this past decade? Marian Catholic had won only three regional titles the previous five decades combined. And before coach Mike Taylor took over the program there was just one regional title.

Underrated highlight: Tyler Ulis. The 5-8 dynamo was a game-changer for Marian Catholic basketball and one of the greatest and most exciting players the state saw over the past 10 years.

Ulis led the Spartans to a 57-7 record and sectional titles as a junior and senior. He finished his career as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 2,335 points.

While he was a McDonald’s All-American and went on to become a star at Kentucky, the impact Ulis had in changing the culture at Marian Catholic is immeasurable.

Player of the Decade: Tyler Ulis (2014)

All-Decade Team: Tyler Ulis (2014), Ki-Jana Crawford (2014), Myles Howard (2016), Chris White (2019) and Ahron Ulis (2020)

Other decade highlights:

-The 2012-13 team set a school record with 29 wins. That team won regional and sectional titles before falling to Edwardsville in the supersectional.

-While the most recognizable and probably most remembered Marian Catholic teams were the two teams Tyler Ulis led to the supersectional in 2013 and 2014, the only Spartans team to bring home state hardware was the 2017-18 team that finished third in the state in Class 3A. The Spartans, led by Ahron Ulis, Malik Tidwell and Chris White, fell to Morgan Park in the state semifinals.

-Marian Catholic won four East Suburban Catholic Conference championships (2014, 2016, 2019 and 2020) during the decade. The program won two ESCC titles the previous 50 years.

-While Tyler Ulis became the all-time leading scorer in program history during the decade, brother Ahron Ulis finished as the second all-time leading scorer.

-Another underrated moment came this past season when the Spartans upset neighborhood rival and top sectional seed Bloom in the sectional semifinals.

-The Spartans won the Big Dipper Holiday Tournament at Rich South in 2012 and 2013 while also capturing the 2018 Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic championship.

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A man was injured in a fire Saturday night on the Northwest Side.

The blaze was reported in the 4600 block of North Delphia Avenue, according to Chicago fire officials.

The man was taken to Resurrection Medical Center in serious-to-critical condition, fire officials said.

Crews extinguished the blaze by 10:41 p.m., officials said. No other injuries were reported.

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The Sun-Times is counting down the 50 high school basketball programs with the most wins during the decade.

When high school basketball fans think back to the 1980s, programs like Quincy, Providence St. Mel, East St. Louis Lincoln and the arrival of city powers King and Simeon are easy to think back on.

The 1990s brought us memorable basketball giants in Peoria Manual and Thornton, a few steamrolling Proviso East teams and the continued dominance of King.

The first 10 years of the 2000s included Glenbrook North, Peoria High and the beginning of a Simeon juggernaut.

Earlier this year we broke down the decade’s best teams and best players. Now, with every season of the past decade complete, it’s time to look at the Chicago area programs who won the most.

This list is comprised of the 50 winningest programs over the past 10 years, starting with the 2010-11 season and concluding with the 2019-20 season. Every team in every class throughout the Chicago area will be broken down in a variety of ways. But total wins, with winning percentage used as tie-breaker, determined the rankings.

We present No. 18 Orr today and will add one program a day going forward.

18. ORR: 216-68

Decade’s biggest storyline: One of the potential headlines the pandemic prevented from happening was Orr winning a fourth straight state championship last March. But there are still three titles to celebrate.

This program, which arrived at the start of the decade with a star player in Myke Henry, won state championships in 2017, 2018 and 2019. And coach Lou Adams and the Spartans were primed and ready to win another one. Orr advanced to the Class 2A state semifinals this past season before the plug was pulled on the season.

The breakthrough team in 2016-17 was led by a host of underclassmen. The most dominant team in 2017-18 featured a senior group featuring Dannie Smith, Raekwon Drake, Chase Adams and Ty Mosley.

As a Class 2A team the 2017-18 Orr team beat big school basketball powers Young twice, Proviso East, Fenwick, St. Joseph, Bogan, Curie and St. Louis Vashon before winning the state championship over Winnebago 76-49.

Underrated highlight: How many high school programs have a full-fledged, highly-acclaimed documentary filmed about them?

“Shot In the Dark,” which was nominated for Outstanding Long Sports Documentary at the 40th annual sports Emmys, was a moving and emotional film that followed the Orr basketball program for two years. The film was broadcast nationally on Fox in 2017.

Player of the Decade: Myke Henry (2011)

All-Decade Team: Myke Henry (2011), Jamal McDowell (2013), Lou Adams Jr. (2014), Dannie Smith (2018) and Raekwon Drake (2018)

Other decade highlights

-For the majority of the decade Orr played in one of the state’s toughest conferences, the rugged Red-West/North, and won or at least shared five league titles.

–Orr won the 2017 Proviso West Holiday Tournament.

-The Spartans reached the city title game for the first time in program history in 2018, falling to Simeon 69-59.

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