Patch Boys Basketball Rankings

Sports reporter Ross Jacobson ranks the North Shore’s best basketball teams.

While power rankings take season record into consideration, more recent results and news, including known injuries, have a bigger influence than early-season victories or losses.

Last week’s ranking is shown in parentheses.

1. Niles North (1) – A tough loss on the road to Hersey doesn’t drop the Vikings from the top of our rankings. They came back and beat a tough Maine West team that defeated them earlier in the season. Their only game this week against Maine East shouldn’t be a contest.

2. Glenbrook North (3) – A really nice home win against Highland Park gets the Spartans back on track after three straight losses. Playing a ranked Warren team down to the wire will only help their confidence. Look for them to get back on track with two wins this week against Conant and Maine West.

3. Evanston Township (2) – It’s hard to put a finger on where the Wildkits are at. They won a tough road game against Niles West and then lost to Illinois recruit Nnanna Egwu’s St. Ignatius team at the War on the Shore. With Garrett Jones and James Farr this team will be dangerous, but can they be consistent enough on the offensive end?

4. Maine South (4) – Maine South easily dispatched Glenbrook South in their only game of the week. But there won’t be any easy ones this weekend as the Hawks have games against Waukegan at home and Libertyville in Milwaukee’s Bradley Center.

5. Deerfield (6) –An undefeated weekend – beating Conant and Maine East – makes it three consecutive road victories for Deerfield and four overall. We’ll see if their positive trend away from home continues on Friday against Highland Park.

6. New Trier (7) – New Trier followed a crushing road victory at Waukegan with three quarters of good basketball against Mt. Carmel. The Caravan rallied to win, but the Trevians have another chance for a statement win when they get Evanston on Saturday for the second of their two annual matchups at Northwestern’s Welsh-Ryan arena.

7. Loyola Academy (9) – The Ramblers are gaining more confidence and seem to finally be getting healthy. Loyola played De La Salle –ranked by many as a top-5 team in the Chicagoland area – tough on Friday and then beat St. Patrick’s at home Saturday night. They’ll look to avenge an early-season loss to Fenwick this week.

8. Oak Park – River Forest (5) – OPRF played terribly against Hinsdale Central and an injury to Ka’Darryl Bell doesn’t help. They bounced back to defeat Ridgewood on Saturday, but the schedule doesn’t get any easier with Lyons Township to come.

9. Highland Park (8) –The Giants didn’t show up for their only game of the weekend as Glenbrook North put on a clinic in the first quarter and never looked back. Highland Park is carrying a three-game losing streak, but will have two reasonable chances to stop their skid with games against Lake Forest and Deerfield.

10. Maine West (10) – The Warriors rebounded from a loss to Niles North with a victory against an undersized, but gritty Elk Grove squad. In order to prove themselves as a contender, they’ll need to win one of two games against East Leyden and Glenbrook North this week.

11. Niles West (12) – It seems like every game the Wolves play ends in a close loss, but they finally pulled out a victory against Rolling Meadows. While their pressure defense always forces turnovers, they need to get more offensive production from their front line. 

12. Glenbrook South (11) – The Titans had their lowest scoring output of the season, posting only 35 points against Maine South in their second straight loss. The Niles West home game on Friday is a must-win for this team confidence-wise and a victory over Prospect on Sunday would be huge.

(Covering the Patch communities: Skokie, Evanston, Wilmette, Winnetka, Niles, Highland Park, Glenview, Deerfield, Morton Grove, Des Plaines, Oak Park and Northbrook. Although this includes most of the Central Suburban League, neighboring private schools that draw students from those communities are also included.)