Michael O’Brien’s high school basketball notebook

I had big plans to watch Mount Carmel at Fenwick tonight, but that was pretty much dashed thanks to Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s comments today.

It’s too much to get into all that in the notebook, but you can read about it here. Some of the reactions I received from Public League basketball coaches when I read them Lightfoot’s quotes were legendary.

My gut feeling is that we get an announcement this week that Public League basketball will start up in some form. I’m even hearing whispers about CPS Sports Administration picking games for television broadcasts.

Back to the Catholic League opening night. It turns out that Fenwick and Mount Carmel played an overtime barn burner.

I did manage to catch the fourth quarter. It was a good broadcast. Nice score and clock and basketball sounds. No announcers, which is actually fine with me. My only constructive criticism is the Fenwick uniforms. The white numbers on white never worked, but it is even more unfortunate on a livestream. Teams might want to start thinking about that more this season. College coaches are trying to watch.

Max Reese had the game-winning layup for the Friars with 1.2 seconds left. Bryce Hopkins had the assist. The Kentucky-bound senior had 23 points. Denium Juette added 15 points and Gabe Madej scored 12.

There were a lot of eyes on this game. It’s the first time I can remember so many basketball folks all watching a stream at once. Scott Burgess from Prep Hoops and Joe Henricksen were both tuned in.

Joe tweeted that DeAndre Craig was special in the second half for the Caravan. The sophomore finished with 26 points. It may be the first-ever breakout performance on a local live-streamed game.

But it won’t be the last, not with the way this year is going.

The full preseason Super 25 was released today and this week’s basketball schedule was posted.

Monday’s top games

No. 13 St. Ignatius 63, Leo 39: A solid season-opening win for the Wolfpack. AJ Redd scored 14. Richard Barron and Kolby Gilles each added 12 and Parker Higginbottom scored nine.

No. 6 DePaul Prep 54, St. Joseph 37: No trouble for the Rams on their trip to Westchester. It’s likely that Kyle Thomas didn’t play in this one though.

Brother Rice 72, Providence-St. Mel 42: The Crusaders go to The Castle and get a win. This was the first game played on the West Side in a long while.

St. Laurence 69, Montini 67 (OT): New coach Byron Burt wins his debut. Looks like it was a thriller.

No. 1 Notre Dame 69, Streamwood 30: Really solid win for the Dons against a Streamwood team I have my eye on this season. Louis Lesmond led the way with 16 and Troy D’Amico scored 11.

South Elgin 61, St. Charles East 58: This is a really nice win for South Elgin. It’s never easy to beat either St. Charles school, much less get it done in St. Charles.