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Q for the Board: Who should get in?

Parity, parity, parity… well who’s at the top? MC, Loyola, LWE remain at the top. York, Batavia, and Hershey are knocking, and ESTL is in top 7 imo. All eyes on IC and Rochester for 4A.

In between, anything can happen week to week, win to win from 7-35 ranked teams imo.
 
The Top 30 is all over the place lol.......so which schools have deserved a spot in the upcoming Top 30 Chicagoland poll?
1. Mt. Carmel
2. Loyola
3. Lincoln-Way East
4. Batavia
5. York
6. Prairie Ridge
7. Maine South
8. Sycamore
9. Hersey
10. Downers Grove North
11. Barrington
12. Kankakee
13. Lake Zurich
14. Cary-Grove
15. IC Catholic
16. St. Rita
17. Joliet Catholic
18. Geneva
19. Morris
20. Richmond-Burton
21. Lockport
22. Morgan Park
23. Brother Rice
24. Oswego
25. Wheaton North
26. Montini
27. Carmel
28. Palatine
29. Warren
30. South Elgin

Two others worth mentioning because they are unbeaten: Antioch and Maine West
 
1. Mt. Carmel
2. Loyola
3. Lincoln-Way East
4. Batavia
5. York
6. Prairie Ridge
7. Maine South
8. Sycamore
9. Hersey
10. Downers Grove North
11. Barrington
12. Kankakee
13. Lake Zurich
14. Cary-Grove
15. IC Catholic
16. St. Rita
17. Joliet Catholic
18. Geneva
19. Morris
20. Richmond-Burton
21. Lockport
22. Morgan Park
23. Brother Rice
24. Oswego
25. Wheaton North
26. Montini
27. Carmel
28. Palatine
29. Warren
30. South Elgin

Two others worth mentioning because they are unbeaten: Antioch and Maine West
I dont hate it, but why no Sandburg?
 
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I dont hate it, but why no Sandburg?
The two-point home win over Lockport was a noteworthy victory. However, their play in the other three games was not at that same level.

The Southwest Suburban Blue is an excellent conference (probably the second best in the state), and Sandburg is a good team. I see them finishing in a three-way tie for second place in the conference, along with Lockport and Bolingbrook. Still, looking at their remaining schedule it seems likely they will finish the regular season with more overall losses than Lockport, so I ranked Lockport ahead of them.
 
  1. Mt. Carmel 4-0
  2. Loyola 4-0
  3. Lincoln Way East 4-0
  4. York 4-0
  5. Batavia 3-1
  6. Hersey 4-0
  7. Downers Grove North 4-0
  8. St. Rita 3-1
  9. Maine South 3-1
  10. Barrington 4-0
  11. South Elgin 4-0
  12. Wheaton North 3-1
  13. Geneva 4-0
  14. Prairie Ridge 4-0
  15. Glenbard West 2-2
  16. ICCP 4-0
  17. Cary Grove 4-0
  18. Kankakee 4-0
  19. Joliet Catholic 3-1
  20. Naperville North 3-1
  21. St. Charles North 3-1
  22. Sandburg 3-1
  23. Lockport 3-1
  24. Bolingbrook 3-1
  25. Carmel 4-0
  26. Lake Zurich 4-0
  27. Oswego 4-0
  28. Montini 4-0
  29. Glenbard South 4-0
  30. Sycamore 4-0
 
  1. Mt. Carmel 4-0
  2. Loyola 4-0
  3. Lincoln Way East 4-0
  4. York 4-0
  5. Batavia 3-1
  6. Hersey 4-0
  7. Downers Grove North 4-0
  8. St. Rita 3-1
  9. Maine South 3-1
  10. Barrington 4-0
  11. South Elgin 4-0
  12. Wheaton North 3-1
  13. Geneva 4-0
  14. Prairie Ridge 4-0
  15. Glenbard West 2-2
  16. ICCP 4-0
  17. Cary Grove 4-0
  18. Kankakee 4-0
  19. Joliet Catholic 3-1
  20. Naperville North 3-1
  21. St. Charles North 3-1
  22. Sandburg 3-1
  23. Lockport 3-1
  24. Bolingbrook 3-1
  25. Carmel 4-0
  26. Lake Zurich 4-0
  27. Oswego 4-0
  28. Montini 4-0
  29. Glenbard South 4-0
  30. Sycamore 4-0
It is a good list... but

Naperville North and St. Charles North are both 2-2. I don't know if that would change your ranking.

Also, to me, South Elgin would need to finally do something in the playoffs before I would believe they are the 11th best team in the Chicagoland area. Maybe this will be the year.
 
It is a good list... but

Naperville North and St. Charles North are both 2-2. I don't know if that would change your ranking.

Also, to me, South Elgin would need to finally do something in the playoffs before I would believe they are the 11th best team in the Chicagoland area. Maybe this will be the year.
Thats fair.. my thoughts are South Elgin lost to a top 5-7 team last yr in playoffs. Year before they lost to a top 10-15 team in playoffs. Hard to rate them, but I think they are top 20 in state. In 8A maybe that puts them top 8 or so, but I do see them winning 2 games in playoffs this yr.

NN and STCN must have overlooked 2-2 records. That may push them out, I’d have to look a bit more.
 
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Playoff success for me is a criteria between teams in the same class but even that is subject to luck. I can't remember the last time we got a pushover in rd 1 regardless of our record. In 13 we were 9-0 and got Marist in rd 2.
 
Playoff success for me is a criteria between teams in the same class but even that is subject to luck. I can't remember the last time we got a pushover in rd 1 regardless of our record. In 13 we were 9-0 and got Marist in rd 2.
That happens alot in 8a. In ‘18 we went 9-0 and got to go to Loyola in rd 2
 
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Is Joliet West close to getting in. Looking at their remaining schedule, they should be the favorite in every game and have a legit shot of finishing the regular season 8-1.
Love me some Joliet West.....but the conference is still not good.....and I can see them winding up 7-2 range
 
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Sycamore is in a Chicagoland conference at least
Debatable, but I guess it depends on how far out we're considering Chicagoland. In a conference with Morris, LP, Kaneland, Ottawa, Woodstock and Woodstock North. All of which are at least 60 miles from Chicago.
 
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The definition of the Chicago metro area, or what we call the Chicagoland area, encompasses Morris and Sycamore with ease.

The speedway is down the road from Morris, tell them they aren't Chicagoland.

But if you disagree sure.
 
Ottawa is the only debate to me, but the Ottawa area now is part of some of the stats groupings.
 
There was a story on the news last week where they referred to downstate Monee. Does that mean they should be eliminated from this too? :p
 
The definition of the Chicago metro area, or what we call the Chicagoland area, encompasses Morris and Sycamore with ease.

The speedway is down the road from Morris, tell them they aren't Chicagoland.

But if you disagree sure.
With ease? So where does "Chicagoland" end in your opinion?

Honestly the speedway is even a stretch in my opinion and probably used the Chicago name more for marketing and familiarity than anything. Morris to the speedway is 30 miles and speedway to Chicago is 50 miles.

From Morris, so know all of these schools well, with the exception of the Woodstock's and if I have access to multiple corn or bean field entering or leaving the town it's hard to consider it Chicagoland. Obviously, this is all very subjective but growing up in Morris I never considered us Chicagoland or a suburb.

I don't see how Ottawa is a debate, they are over 80 miles from Chicago and closer to Bloomington than Chicago. Going north or south rather than west and that gets you into Wisconsin or further south than Kankakee.
 
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With ease? So where does "Chicagoland" end in your opinion?

Honestly the speedway is even a stretch in my opinion and probably used the Chicago name more for marketing and familiarity than anything. Morris to the speedway is 30 miles and speedway to Chicago is 50 miles.

From Morris, so know all of these schools well, with the exception of the Woodstock's and if I have access to multiple corn or bean field entering or leaving the town it's hard to consider it Chicagoland. Obviously, this is all very subjective but growing up in Morris I never considered us Chicagoland or a suburb.

I don't see how Ottawa is a debate, they are over 80 miles from Chicago and closer to Bloomington than Chicago. Going north or south rather than west and that gets you into Wisconsin or further south than Kankakee.
"With ease" is in reference to the literal statistical census area I mention. Both towns are well centralized in their respective area.

Once again, I'm going off of the census, who says Ottawa is a part. Thus I say debate it, because like you I think that it's far out.

So go literally argue with the census, or disagree, but I'm not getting into the why. It's a census definition of Chicagoland, that's why, deal with it.
 
There are numerous different criteria that might be used to define the Chicagoland area, some better than others and many being subjective. Perhaps the most important thing is to be consistent from year to year. Even there, though, the criteria might occasionally change as a metropolitan area grows. I think Edgy has been largely consistent.

If one were to draw a semicircle on a map of Illinois, starting with Kankakee and moving north and west, the following communities would establish the perimeter of the Chicagoland area as used for the Chicagoland Top 30 rankings. Some of you might choose to use different criteria if it were up to you and that is certainly okay, but again, Edgy has been consistent.

The perimeter line would move from Kankakee to Braidwood and Coal City, from Coal City to Morris, from Morris to Sandwich, from Sandwich to DeKalb, from DeKalb to Genoa, from Genoa mostly north but also a little bit east to Marengo, then continues north along Route 23 to Harvard, and then finishes in a northeast direction to Hebron near the Wisconsin border. All of these aforementioned communities are about the same distance to downtown Chicago. The boundary just defined seems both reasonable and useful.
 
There are numerous different criteria that might be used to define the Chicagoland area, some better than others and many being subjective. Perhaps the most important thing is to be consistent from year to year. Even there, though, the criteria might occasionally change as a metropolitan area grows. I think Edgy has been largely consistent.

If one were to draw a semicircle on a map of Illinois, starting with Kankakee and moving north and west, the following communities would establish the perimeter of the Chicagoland area as used for the Chicagoland Top 30 rankings. Some of you might choose to use different criteria if it were up to you and that is certainly okay, but again, Edgy has been consistent.

The perimeter line would move from Kankakee to Braidwood and Coal City, from Coal City to Morris, from Morris to Sandwich, from Sandwich to DeKalb, from DeKalb to Genoa, from Genoa mostly north but also a little bit east to Marengo, then continues north along Route 23 to Harvard, and then finishes in a northeast direction to Hebron near the Wisconsin border. All of these aforementioned communities are about the same distance to downtown Chicago. The boundary just defined seems both reasonable and useful.
For purposes of this discussion there's an easy answer. @edgy, for your Chicagoland poll what are your boundaries?
 
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