Michael O’Brien’s Super 25 high school basketball rankings for Feb. 23, 2020

The Class 1A and Class 2A playoffs get underway tomorrow. The big schools are next week. There are some interesting non conference matchups this week and some of the crossover championship games. But basically, it is playoff time.

New additions

Indian Creek (30-0): There has been a revolving door at the bottom of the rankings for the last few weeks. Are the Timberwolves as good as Fenwick or Benet, Hinsdale South or Niles North? Probably not. But those teams have all had multiple weeks in the Super 25 and if a perfect regular season doesn’t get a team into the rankings what will?

Dropping out

Fenwick (23-7): The Friars lost to Loyola at home this past week. No shame in that and clearly they will be a major factor in the playoffs.

With record and last week’s ranking

1. Curie (25-2) 1
Notre Dame up next

2. Bloom (25-5)
Peaking at the right time

3. Thornton (27-1) 3
Incredible regular season

4. Simeon (22-8) 5
City champs had week off

5. Notre Dame (26-4) 6
Hosts Curie on Wednesday

6. Morgan Park (19-9) 7
Isaiah Burrell so important

7. Homewood-Flossmoor (23-3) 8
At Bolingbrook on Tuesday

8. Bogan (25-3) 9
Kennedy Brown is back

9. Young (18-9) 10
Had the week off

10. Evanston (25-4) 4
Lost to Kenwood

11. Marian Catholic (22-7) 11
Travels to Richards Tuesday

12. Joliet West (24-4) 12
Slowly getting healthy

13. Stevenson (24-4) 13
Knocked off Benet

14. Oak Forest (25-2) 14
Learned a lot in Curie loss

15. Bolingbrook (25-5) 16
Beat Lockport, Sandburg

16. Loyola (26-4) 20
Catholic Blue champs

17. Glenbrook South (26-4) 15
Split with Evanston

18. Kankakee (23-4) 17
Beat Crete-Monee

19. York (27-3) 18
Solid win vs. Hinsdale Central

20. Mundelein (25-4) 21
Handled, Libertyville and Lake Zurich

21. DePaul Prep (22-5) 19
Lost to Loyola

22. Orr (17-7) 22
Favorites in Class 2A again

23. Hillcrest (20-8) 23
Mar’Keise Irving beat TF North

24. Cary-Grove (27-3) 24
Beat Schaumburg

25. Indian Creek (30-0) NR
Can Timberwolves win 1A?