Between them, Fremd and Bolingbrook have lost a grand total of one game.
Bolingbrook’s best interior player, Malik Binns, did not play in the Raiders’ lone, one-point loss, while Fremd keeps inventing ways to win and remain undefeated.
These are your underdogs this weekend.
From a historical perspective, the Class 4A semifinals will very much be a case of the haves and have-nots when Fremd, Bolingbrook, Simeon and Young converge at Carver Arena in Peoria.
Public League juggernauts Simeon and Young won each of the six 4A titles from 2009-14, and they have a total of 10 state championships between them. That’s 10 more than Bolingbrook and Fremd.
The suburban schools will draw the bigger crowds for Friday’s semifinals, but come Saturday night, it could be Simeon and Young squaring off for the third time this season — which would also be a rematch of the 2010 championship game won by Simeon.
“It would be a luxury to play them for a third time,” said Simeon coach Robert Smith, whose team won the first two meetings. “It would be great for CPS. It might not be great for Peoria, but it would be great for Chicago. If they want us to go home and play that game so we can sell out one of those arenas, I’m fine with that. But first we’ve both got to make it to the championship.”
Young (25-7) vs. Fremd (30-0): In addition to thriving in the deepest league in Illinois this season, the Public League Red West, Young faced teams from Maryland, Florida, New York, Texas, Michigan and Missouri. Along the way, the Dolphins, according to coach Tyrone Slaughter, “played no teams as methodical as Fremd.”
Asked if his Vikings faced a team with athleticism comparable to Young’s, Fremd coach Bob Widlowski pointed to his team’s game against Evanston — last season.
The first 4A semifinal will be a contrast in styles between a Fremd team that hasn’t scored more than 57 points in a game since January and a Young team that scored fewer than 57 three times in 2017.
Widlowski said his team is embracing the unusual notion of being undefeated underdogs, and there’s only one way to find out whether the Vikings will be able to handle Young’s full-court pressure.
“They want to play slow, we want to play fast,” Slaughter said. “It is going to be a challenge to see if they can or we can.”
Simeon (28-3) vs. Bolingbrook (29-1): On season’s eve, point guard Evan Gilyard predicted Simeon would start fast, and his theory was grounded much more in logic than bravado.
“This is the first year we don’t have any transfers,” Gilyard said. “We are not working on getting anyone up to speed.”
Indeed, the Wolverines set a program record with their 16-0 start, and their chemistry is equal to or better than any of the four Jabari Parker state championship teams.
While the absence of transfers has clearly worked for the Wolverines, who looked like world-beaters in their 76-64 victory over Edwardsville on Tuesday, the presence of transfers Binns (Morgan Park) and Kaleb Thornton (Nazareth) have been just as meaningful at Bolingbrook.
The Raiders won their first 23 games, and Binns (13.4 points per game) and Thornton (12.7 points, 7.2 rebounds) are the team’s second- and third-leading scorers behind Nebraska-bound forward Nana Akenten (14.7 points, 5.8 rebounds).
Simeon’s dominance, historically and in the last week, has overshadowed how well Bolingbrook has played in the postseason. The Raiders beat Naperville North 83-57 on Tuesday after out-running Joliet West 78-66 in the sectional final, and they won their first five postseason games by an average of 20 points.
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Mike Helfgot is a freelance reporter for the baiduhai.