Boys basketball regional preview

As the boys basketball regular season dwindles down this week, coming to an official end on Saturday, the Daily Journal area’s 22 programs are gearing up to begin postseason play next week, including several that have good reason to think they can make deep runs.

Kankakee looking for first-ever state berth

Five years ago, Kankakee was denied the chance to play for the program’s first-ever trip to state when the IHSA canceled the season due to COVID-19 the day before the Kays were set to face Morgan Park in the sectional championship round.

In the Kays' gym, a banner unofficially recognizing that team as the program’s first state finalists is proudly hung. This season, there’s quite a realistic chance that a banner will be hung recognizing the 2024-25 team as the school’s first team to officially go downstate.

Head coach Chris Pickett and the Kays enter next week’s IHSA Class 3A Morris Regional as not just the top seed in their subsectional, but as the No. 3 team in the final Class 3A AP Poll that was released Wednesday. Explosive 6-foot-5 guard Lincoln Williams (18.3 points per game) is 247 Sports' No. 1 recruit and Prep Hoops Illinois' No. 2 recruit for the current junior class, serving as the head of a talented group of juniors the Kays boast.

Williams has fellow guards Myair Thompson and Kenaz Jackson as classmates in the starting five, with another junior guard, Cedric Terrell III, giving the Kays starter-like minutes off the bench.

Additionally, a battle-tested senior class that includes three-year starting center Eli Stipp, guard Ke’Shawn Wade and starting guard Jordan Davis, a three-year starter at St. Anne before his transfer to Kankakee, and the Kays have as good an argument for being the most talented team in Class 3A as anyone.

But they’re also competing in arguably the state’s toughest sectional. Should they win their third regional in the past four years, the Kays will likely see either the state’s fifth-ranked team, Morton, or seventh-ranked team, Metamora, in the Washington Sectional semifinals. And if they get past that, they’d potentially face another ranked team, No. 10 Peoria, in the sectional finals.

If the Kays can finally make the program history they’ve been longing for, there’s no doubt they’ll have earned it, and they’d be heading to Champaign red hot and a favorite to emerge.

Boilermakers heating up at the right time

To start the season, Bradley-Bourbonnais made quite a statement by emerging from a talented WJOL Classic bracket as tournament champions, resulting in them receiving votes in the preliminary Class 4A Poll.

Since then, the Boilermakers have flown a bit under the radar, especially as they went on a small three-game losing streak in the middle of January. But as winners of eight in a row at the time of print, the Boilers are playing their best ball of the season ahead of their trip to Normal West next week.

All-state big man Nick Allen (22.5 ppg, 11.5 rebounds per game), the consensus No. 1 center in the senior class in the state and new BBCHS all-time scoring leader, will look to navigate the Boilers through their regional as the four-seed in their subsectional, looking at a potential matchup with No. 1 Normal Community if they can get past No. 6 Minooka in the semis.

The two teams met in the finale of the State Farm Holiday Classic in December, a 50-38 Ironmen victory. But as juniors like Liam Martin and Kobe Lawrence have gained experience, a senior-heavy backcourt led by Gavin Kohl has picked the right time to get hot.

McNamara leads local Class 2A field

Bishop McNamara remembers how its season ended on its home court last season, a 72-47 regional championship loss to Fieldcrest. This season, the Fightin' Irish have a chance at getting revenge.

As the No. 1 seed in their subsectional, McNamara (22-7) will open the postseason in the Fieldcrest regional, where the Irish could get a rematch with the Knights for a plaque this year.

With a senior backcourt trio of Willie Felton, Cole Czako and Trey Provost supported by a loaded junior class spearheaded by Karter Krutsinger and big man Callaghan O’Connor, the Fightin' Irish have more than a regional on their minds, locked in on a potential Peotone Sectional championship clash with 28-1 Bismarck-Henning, the last Class 2A team to lose a game this season.

But to get there, the Irish will potentially have to get past a surging Herscher team in the regional semifinals, the Knights in the regional finals, and one of a slew of potential Illinois Central Eight Conference squads in the sectional semis.

Manteno (20-11) is the top seed of the Coal City Regional, led by the school’s new career scoring leader, Ray Lee, and looking for back-to-back plaques for the first time ever.

The host Coalers (19-10) are the No. 2 team in their regional and No. 3 in the subsectional. While they don’t have any singular scorers on the level of someone like Lee, the Coalers have a handful of players capable for a big night any night.

It’s been perhaps the best combined boys and girls basketball season in Wilmington history, as the boys (18-9) are looking to match the girls to give both their second-ever 20-win seasons. The Wildcats have been playing well lately, as evidenced by taking down ICE champion Streator on Ryan Nelson’s buzzer-beater Tuesday.

The Wildcats, seeded fourth in their subsectional, are the No. 2 seed in the Joliet Catholic Regional. If they can win their first regional since 1986, they could end up facing McNamara in the sectional semis.

And don’t sleep on Reed-Custer. Powered by double-double machine Jacob Reardon, the 11-19 Comets have won three in a row, including against potential regional semifinal opponent Coal City.

Well-rested St. Anne hoping to stay hot

By the time St. Anne opens postseason play in the Class 1A Regional quarterfinals against Cornerstone Christian Monday, the Cardinals will have had a nine-day break since their regular season finale.

They’ll hope the rest doesn’t take away any momentum from a team that finished the regular season 21-6 and 10-0 in the River Valley Conference, receiving votes in the final AP Poll for the first time all season.

Senior guard Chris Link leads the way, both figuratively and literally as the head of their 1-3-1 zone, but they’ve shown all year that their biggest strength is their depth. Sixth man Deion Fifer went for 17 of his game-high 25 points in that finale, a 70-38 RVC Tournament championship win over Beecher, perfectly exemplifying a rotation that can go as deep as eight or nine players consistently all filling their roles.

As the Cardinals look to win the LeRoy Regional, the Milford Regional will feature plenty of scoring stardom locally. Grant Park’s Blake Brown, the school’s all-time scoring leader, will look to outduel the lethal scoring duo of Cissna Park’s Dierks Neukomm and Seth Walder in the quarterfinals Monday.

Elsewhere in the Milford Regional, Grace Christian’s Ethan Reynolds has been on fire lately, including a 42-point outburst in a 69-57 RVC semifinal loss to St. Anne. The Crusaders (14-11) have had by far their best season as IHSA and RVC members this season.