Winning two of three down-to-the-final-possession games against Curie meant an awful lot to Kenwood this season.
The regular-season split allowed Kenwood to repeat as Red Central champions, and Friday night’s 52-51 victory gave the Broncos their first appearance in the city championship game, which they lost 54-49 to Simeon on Sunday.
Kenwood’s star player, 6-foot-6 forward Nick Robinson, expects one more matchup with the Condors before he hands in his Broncos uniform.
And he has a good idea how it will go.
“It’s always close, always a dogfight,” Robinson said. “I know we’re going to play them again in the state tournament, so we’ve just got to get prepared and not get too far ahead of ourselves.”
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Despite the head-to-head results and Red Central standings, Curie received the top seed while Kenwood is seeded second in the Class 4A Riverside-Brookfield Sectional.
The seedings were released on Friday, and the state playoffs begin with regional action Feb. 29.
Neither school has won a sectional title in boys basketball.
Kenwood has the tougher regional, mostly because Oak Park-River Forest is a dangerous No. 7 seed, but both are prohibitive favorites to advance to sectionals.
That’s where being seeded second rather than first could really feel like a disadvantage. If form holds, Kenwood will have to take on third-seeded and No. 11-ranked Riverside-Brookfield, the sectional’s defending champion, on R-B’s home court.
If Kenwood-Curie IV comes to fruition, Robinson said winning two of three final-possession games does not give his team a psychological advantage.
“Not at all,” he said. “They can come out and beat us.”
Fenwick optimistic about Ballard: Fenwick’s Mike Ballard was in a cast a week ago Sunday with what was thought to be an ankle fracture, and the 6-5 sharpshooter’s status for the state tournament was in doubt.
Then came the good news that the injury was instead a flare-up of a pre-existing ankle sprain, and the No. 2-ranked Friars expect to have Ballard back in the lineup when the playoffs begin.
His services weren’t necessary on Saturday, when Fenwick (24-2) won the Catholic League tournament with a 73-51 victory over No. 9 St. Joseph in the title game.
Jay Militello and Charlie Boyle played well in Ballard’s stead.
“If this was the state tournament, he would’ve played,” Fenwick coach Rick Malnati said. “The fact that we’ve got a couple of weeks before the state tournament, we pulled him out. He will be fine. He might get Wally Pipped.”
Fenwick is the top seed in the tough Class 3A Westinghouse Sectional. No. 8 North Lawndale is the second seed. The Phoenix played No. 1 Morgan Park tougher in the city quarterfinals than Fenwick did in the Proviso West tournament championship game.
St. Joseph, Farragut and Westinghouse are seeded 3-5, respectively.
Conference crossover clashes: The Wednesday before the start of the playoffs is always a good night of hoops, with four two-division conferences — the Central Suburban, West Suburban, North Suburban and Mid-Suburban — holding their crossover championship games.
Evanston (21-4) at Deerfield (24-3) could be the best of the bunch, with Deerfield looking for a signature victory and Evanston trying to bounce back from Friday and Saturday losses that followed a 13-game winning streak.
The other matchups are Glenbard West (22-3) at Downers Grove South (20-8), Stevenson (21-6) at North Chicago (15-9) and Prospect (14-10) at Conant (18-6).
Mike Helfgot is a freelance reporter for the baiduhai.