I had 271 teams eligible to make the field with five wins (and one recently discovered CPL champion that I expect to finish with four wins). Many, many of my more perplexing problems came in trying to match up the Chicago Public League playoffs, the margins between a few of these teams is absolutely razor thin and can effect the field in numerous ways. I'm most unstable in these areas. There's also a number of notable teams facing do or die games against teams that by the numbers they should be substantial underdogs. I played it straight in all circumstances. I will constantly be adjusting these fields based on incoming results throughout the week. Those games along with the Public League scores are exactly what makes classificiation bubbles so interesting this season, shifts can happen and rather easily. The other thing was 5A got a little squirrely this week, not only with the large side bubble line, but with a few surprising developments (Morris victory, repeated forfeits and losses by Noble Street/C. Bulls).
The point cutoff appears to be 38. But 38 doesn't mean you get in, a second-stage tiebreaker (wins amassed by the teams you beat) needed to be enforced to get the field to 256. There aren't a ton of teams projected at 39, so to feel completely secure because of Week 9 upsets (and there are always upsets in Week 9), 40 points seems to be the magic number to totally security.
Last three teams in the field: 254) Bureau Valley, 255) Aurora Christian, 256) Alton,
First three teams out: 257) South Elgin, 258) Chicago Marshall, 259) Richmond-Burton.
Other teams that will miss on points: Toledo Cumberland, Vernon Hills, Lake Park, Rich East, Kankakee, Alton Marquette, Ridgewood, Fulton, East Dubuque, DePaul Prep, Buffalo Grove, Robeson, Salt Fork.
Class 8A
New teams in field: None
Teams leaving the field: None
General thoughts on the bracket: I wish I could switch at least one of the top four seeds to the South and if we operated in a venue where bracket balance was a thing, it probably should be done here. The presence of both Belleville East and Edwardsville forces the quads. I'm sorry Joliet West.
Smallest school in the classification: Benet
North Bracket
Lyons at Stevenson
Warren at Huntley
Taft at Loyola
Glenbrook South at New Trier
Niles West at Glenbard West
Oak Park-River Forest at Barrington
Fremd at Maine South
Palatine at Curie
South Bracket
(Quads for more fun!)
Downers Grove South at Simeon
Brother Rice at Homewood-Flossmoor
Bolingbrook at Bloom
Benet at Hinsdale Central
Metea Valley at Waubonsie Valley
Joliet West at Edwardsville
Belleville East at Oswego
Neuqua Valley at Naperville Central
Class 7A
New teams in the field: Hersey (still in danger on the point line, but in slightly better shape), Belleville West (OK, I'm paying attention now).
Teams leaving the field: Rockford Boylan (now in 6A), Buffalo Grove (loss costly as now they are a point casuality)
Notes about the bracket: I've spent way too much time trying to guess what the geographic breakdown of the South bracket will be, I've spun it six ways to Sunday and can't come up with a thing I'm honestly satisfied with. I think this is a case study against quads, it isn't helping at all here. It is making it worse and there's just no way to make sense of it from anyone's perspective. I tried anyway. I'm sure I failed.
Smallest school in the bracket: Reavis
Largest school in the bracket: Benet
North Bracket
Jacobs at Cary-Grove
St. Charles North at Machesney Park Harlem
Lake Zurich at Rockton Hononegah
Rockford Auburn at Geneva
Hersey at Highland Park
Carmel at Lincoln Park
Hoffman Estates at Addison Trail
Libertyville at Rolling Meadows
South Bracket (Once again in stupid quad form)
Fenwick at Lincoln-Way East
Reavis at T.F. South
Lincoln-Way Central at Lincoln-Way North
St. Rita at Batavia
Alton at Providence Catholic
Belleville West at Plainfield East
Quincy at Normal Community
Plainfield North at Bradley-Bourbonnais
Class 6A
New teams in the field: Galesburg (needed a win this week to stay alive and got it), Hubbard (this is a coin flip, no need to sugar coat it), Boylan (was in 7A).
Teams out of the field: Dunlap (upset loss to Limestone ousts them), Sacred Heart Griffin (back in 5A), Glenbard South (back in 5A).
Notes on the bracket: From week-to-week, this bracket seems to swing wildly based on the teams moving back and forth from 5 to 6. Obviously we will finally get some resolution this week, but every single swing game seems to effect where those teams fall. This is the bracket that could honestly look the most different between now and pairings night. And even though it seems quite strange, no quads in this bracket.
Smallest school in the field: Lincoln-Way West
Largest school in the field: Boylan
North Bracket
Hubbard at DeKalb
Prairie Ridge at King
Rockford Boylan at Belvidere North
Lake Forest at Wheaton St. Francis
Deerfield at Nazareth
Grayslake North at Antioch
Marmion at Lake Villa Lakes
Riverside-Brookfield at Crystal Lake Central
South Bracket
Galesburg at Peoria Notre Dame
Normal West at Hinsdale South
Crete-Monee at Oak Lawn Richards
Morgan Park at Yorkville
Thornton at Lemont
Oak Forest at RIchwoods
East St. Louis at Lincoln Way West
Glenwood at Centennial
Class 5A
New teams in the field: Glenbard South (was in 6A), Sacred Heart Griffin (was in 6A), Morris (upset victory gets them in), Triad (I've had a bad read on them all season, I think they are good now).
Teams removed from field: Kankakee (points problems, particularly the last two weeks), Cahokia (narrow loss against Althoff puts them back out), Noble Street/Bulls (if they bother to show up this week they could probably get themselves into the field, but back-to-back weeks of losing to a one-win team and a forfeit doesn't give me confidence that will happen), Woodstock North (still like this team, but need a win over Grayslake North and I'm not sure they get it).
Thoughts on the field: I still don't like this field very much, but I do like it better than last week. There's still a fair amount of wiggle in these seeds with several pivotal games potentially changing the stacking of the teams particularly in the North Bracket. The South Bracket has a few wildcards in there for good measure.
Largest school in the field: Glenbard South
Smallest school in the field: Geneseo
North Bracket
Tinley Park at Solorio
Burlington Central at Montini
St. Laurence at Glenbard South
St. Viator at Urban Prep-Englewood
Wheaton Academy at Geneseo
North Lawndale Charter at Sterling
Woodstock Marian at Joliet Catholic
DuSable at Westinghouse
South Bracket
Broken into quads
Morris at Normal University
Mahomet-Seymour at Washington
Champaign Central at Metamora
Decatur MacArthur at Peoria
Mascoutah at Sacred Heart Griffin
Triad at Marion
Waterloo at Highland
Jersey at Taylorville
Class 4A
New teams in field: Bishop McNamara (was in 3A), Greenville (was in 3A), Raby (wins CPL conference).
Teams removed from field: DePaul Prep (points issues), Payton (expected CPL playoff loss), Chicago Marshall (on the wrong side of the points bubble).
Thoughts on the bracket: Once again the bracket balance isn't all that good between northern and southern schools. Rochester's loss this week throws a little wrinkle into things and the fact that Geneseo sneaks into the field as the largest school in the bracket adds a little more.
Largest school in field: Payton
Smallest school in field: Bishop McNamara
North Bracket
Payton at Manteno
Mendota at Bishop McNamara
Evergreen Park at Johnsburg
Marengo at Phillips
Rock Island Alleman at Rockford Lutheran
Plano at Coal City
Genoa-Kingston at Elgin St. Edward
Aurora Central Catholic at Dixon
South Bracket (Broken into quads)
Bloomington Central Catholic at Quincy Notre Dame
Effingham at Herscher
Stanford Olympia at Rochester
Mount Zion at Canton
Belleville Althoff at Greenville
Freeburg at Herrin
Breese Mater Dei at Carterville
Murphysboro at Columbia
Class 3A
New teams in the field: Sterling Newman Central Catholic (was in 2A), Auburn (was in 2A), Elmwood (was in 2A), Poplar Grove-North Boone (keep flip-flopping on them), Raby (have them taking down a coin toss game in CPL playoffs, could really go either way), Oregon (slight upset gets them back in), Pana (has a true toss-up game with another 3A 4-4 team Hilllsboro)
Teams removed from the field: Sterling Newman (now in 2A), Poplar Grove-North Boone (yet another flip-flop), Hillsboro (chose Pana in toss-up game), Bishop McNamara (now in 4A), Greenville (now in 4A).
Thoughts on the bracket: This bracket doesn't balance very well. That being said, the North looks deeper, but the problem there is one quad is a bit more skilled than the other., and when I say a bit, I mean a whole bunch.
Largest school in the field: Roxana
Smallest school in the field: Auburn
North Bracket (broken into quads)
Aurora Christian at Chicago Bowen
Byron at Oregon
Westmont at Erie
Raby at Harper
Paxton at Williamsville
Elmwood at Wilmington
Peru St. Bede at Tolono Unity
Monticello at St. Joseph Ogden
South Bracket (broken into quads)
Pleasant Plains at Carlinville
Auburn at New Berlin
Pana at Sullivan
Marshall at Decatur St. Teresa
Newton at Robinson
Fairfield at Roxana
Vandalia at Nashville
Anna-Jonesboro at Mt. Carmel
Class 2A Field
New teams in field: Sterling Newman Central Catholic (was in 3A), Bureau Valley (still very much on points bubble has coin flip game this week I have them winning)
Teams removed from field: Orion (now in 1A), Deer Creek Mackinaw (now in 1A)
Thoughts on this bracket: There's very little bracket equity between the north and south here, and one of the north quads is silly deep. I have a hard time with many, many things going on in the south bracket.
Smallest school in the field: Maroa-Forsyth
Largest school in the field: Sterling Newman
North Bracket (Broken into quads)
Bureau Valley at Pearl City-Eastland
Spring Valley Hall at Taylor Ridge Rockridge
Amboy at Sterling Newman
Hales Franciscan at Uplift
Kewanee Wethersfield at Momence
Clifton Central at Mercer County
Knoxville at Fieldcrest
Gibson City-Melvin Sibley at El Paso
South Bracket
(Broken into quads)
Nokomis at Lawrenceville
Johnston City at Tuscola
Eldorado at Chester
Carmi White County at Shelbyville
Illini West at Rushville
Tri-Valley at Villa Grove
Sangamon Valley at Athens
Maroa-Forsyth at Georgetown-Ridge Farm
Class 1A
New teams in field: Orion (was in 2A), Deer-Creek Mackinaw (was in 2A)
Teams removed from field: Toledo Cumberland (points issues), Hardin-Calhoun (costly loss this week).
Notes on the field: I wish all classes were as reasonable as 1A. All of you other classes, take a lesson from 1A!
Largest school in the field: Deer Creek Mackinaw
North Bracket
Broken into quads
Monmouth United at Stark County
Princeville at Ottawa Marquette
Flanagan at Hope Academy
Orion at Polo
Alden-Hebron at Rockford Christian Life
Galena at Aquin
Warren at Forreston
Lena-Winslow at Stockton
South Bracket
Triopia at Carrollton
Arthur at LeRoy
Oakland at Bismarck-Henning
Milford at Casey-Westfield
Deer Creek Mackinaw at Abingdon
White Hall North Greene at Pawnee
Astoria South Fulton at Arcola
Greenfield at Camp Point Central
The point cutoff appears to be 38. But 38 doesn't mean you get in, a second-stage tiebreaker (wins amassed by the teams you beat) needed to be enforced to get the field to 256. There aren't a ton of teams projected at 39, so to feel completely secure because of Week 9 upsets (and there are always upsets in Week 9), 40 points seems to be the magic number to totally security.
Last three teams in the field: 254) Bureau Valley, 255) Aurora Christian, 256) Alton,
First three teams out: 257) South Elgin, 258) Chicago Marshall, 259) Richmond-Burton.
Other teams that will miss on points: Toledo Cumberland, Vernon Hills, Lake Park, Rich East, Kankakee, Alton Marquette, Ridgewood, Fulton, East Dubuque, DePaul Prep, Buffalo Grove, Robeson, Salt Fork.
Class 8A
New teams in field: None
Teams leaving the field: None
General thoughts on the bracket: I wish I could switch at least one of the top four seeds to the South and if we operated in a venue where bracket balance was a thing, it probably should be done here. The presence of both Belleville East and Edwardsville forces the quads. I'm sorry Joliet West.
Smallest school in the classification: Benet
North Bracket
Lyons at Stevenson
Warren at Huntley
Taft at Loyola
Glenbrook South at New Trier
Niles West at Glenbard West
Oak Park-River Forest at Barrington
Fremd at Maine South
Palatine at Curie
South Bracket
(Quads for more fun!)
Downers Grove South at Simeon
Brother Rice at Homewood-Flossmoor
Bolingbrook at Bloom
Benet at Hinsdale Central
Metea Valley at Waubonsie Valley
Joliet West at Edwardsville
Belleville East at Oswego
Neuqua Valley at Naperville Central
Class 7A
New teams in the field: Hersey (still in danger on the point line, but in slightly better shape), Belleville West (OK, I'm paying attention now).
Teams leaving the field: Rockford Boylan (now in 6A), Buffalo Grove (loss costly as now they are a point casuality)
Notes about the bracket: I've spent way too much time trying to guess what the geographic breakdown of the South bracket will be, I've spun it six ways to Sunday and can't come up with a thing I'm honestly satisfied with. I think this is a case study against quads, it isn't helping at all here. It is making it worse and there's just no way to make sense of it from anyone's perspective. I tried anyway. I'm sure I failed.
Smallest school in the bracket: Reavis
Largest school in the bracket: Benet
North Bracket
Jacobs at Cary-Grove
St. Charles North at Machesney Park Harlem
Lake Zurich at Rockton Hononegah
Rockford Auburn at Geneva
Hersey at Highland Park
Carmel at Lincoln Park
Hoffman Estates at Addison Trail
Libertyville at Rolling Meadows
South Bracket (Once again in stupid quad form)
Fenwick at Lincoln-Way East
Reavis at T.F. South
Lincoln-Way Central at Lincoln-Way North
St. Rita at Batavia
Alton at Providence Catholic
Belleville West at Plainfield East
Quincy at Normal Community
Plainfield North at Bradley-Bourbonnais
Class 6A
New teams in the field: Galesburg (needed a win this week to stay alive and got it), Hubbard (this is a coin flip, no need to sugar coat it), Boylan (was in 7A).
Teams out of the field: Dunlap (upset loss to Limestone ousts them), Sacred Heart Griffin (back in 5A), Glenbard South (back in 5A).
Notes on the bracket: From week-to-week, this bracket seems to swing wildly based on the teams moving back and forth from 5 to 6. Obviously we will finally get some resolution this week, but every single swing game seems to effect where those teams fall. This is the bracket that could honestly look the most different between now and pairings night. And even though it seems quite strange, no quads in this bracket.
Smallest school in the field: Lincoln-Way West
Largest school in the field: Boylan
North Bracket
Hubbard at DeKalb
Prairie Ridge at King
Rockford Boylan at Belvidere North
Lake Forest at Wheaton St. Francis
Deerfield at Nazareth
Grayslake North at Antioch
Marmion at Lake Villa Lakes
Riverside-Brookfield at Crystal Lake Central
South Bracket
Galesburg at Peoria Notre Dame
Normal West at Hinsdale South
Crete-Monee at Oak Lawn Richards
Morgan Park at Yorkville
Thornton at Lemont
Oak Forest at RIchwoods
East St. Louis at Lincoln Way West
Glenwood at Centennial
Class 5A
New teams in the field: Glenbard South (was in 6A), Sacred Heart Griffin (was in 6A), Morris (upset victory gets them in), Triad (I've had a bad read on them all season, I think they are good now).
Teams removed from field: Kankakee (points problems, particularly the last two weeks), Cahokia (narrow loss against Althoff puts them back out), Noble Street/Bulls (if they bother to show up this week they could probably get themselves into the field, but back-to-back weeks of losing to a one-win team and a forfeit doesn't give me confidence that will happen), Woodstock North (still like this team, but need a win over Grayslake North and I'm not sure they get it).
Thoughts on the field: I still don't like this field very much, but I do like it better than last week. There's still a fair amount of wiggle in these seeds with several pivotal games potentially changing the stacking of the teams particularly in the North Bracket. The South Bracket has a few wildcards in there for good measure.
Largest school in the field: Glenbard South
Smallest school in the field: Geneseo
North Bracket
Tinley Park at Solorio
Burlington Central at Montini
St. Laurence at Glenbard South
St. Viator at Urban Prep-Englewood
Wheaton Academy at Geneseo
North Lawndale Charter at Sterling
Woodstock Marian at Joliet Catholic
DuSable at Westinghouse
South Bracket
Broken into quads
Morris at Normal University
Mahomet-Seymour at Washington
Champaign Central at Metamora
Decatur MacArthur at Peoria
Mascoutah at Sacred Heart Griffin
Triad at Marion
Waterloo at Highland
Jersey at Taylorville
Class 4A
New teams in field: Bishop McNamara (was in 3A), Greenville (was in 3A), Raby (wins CPL conference).
Teams removed from field: DePaul Prep (points issues), Payton (expected CPL playoff loss), Chicago Marshall (on the wrong side of the points bubble).
Thoughts on the bracket: Once again the bracket balance isn't all that good between northern and southern schools. Rochester's loss this week throws a little wrinkle into things and the fact that Geneseo sneaks into the field as the largest school in the bracket adds a little more.
Largest school in field: Payton
Smallest school in field: Bishop McNamara
North Bracket
Payton at Manteno
Mendota at Bishop McNamara
Evergreen Park at Johnsburg
Marengo at Phillips
Rock Island Alleman at Rockford Lutheran
Plano at Coal City
Genoa-Kingston at Elgin St. Edward
Aurora Central Catholic at Dixon
South Bracket (Broken into quads)
Bloomington Central Catholic at Quincy Notre Dame
Effingham at Herscher
Stanford Olympia at Rochester
Mount Zion at Canton
Belleville Althoff at Greenville
Freeburg at Herrin
Breese Mater Dei at Carterville
Murphysboro at Columbia
Class 3A
New teams in the field: Sterling Newman Central Catholic (was in 2A), Auburn (was in 2A), Elmwood (was in 2A), Poplar Grove-North Boone (keep flip-flopping on them), Raby (have them taking down a coin toss game in CPL playoffs, could really go either way), Oregon (slight upset gets them back in), Pana (has a true toss-up game with another 3A 4-4 team Hilllsboro)
Teams removed from the field: Sterling Newman (now in 2A), Poplar Grove-North Boone (yet another flip-flop), Hillsboro (chose Pana in toss-up game), Bishop McNamara (now in 4A), Greenville (now in 4A).
Thoughts on the bracket: This bracket doesn't balance very well. That being said, the North looks deeper, but the problem there is one quad is a bit more skilled than the other., and when I say a bit, I mean a whole bunch.
Largest school in the field: Roxana
Smallest school in the field: Auburn
North Bracket (broken into quads)
Aurora Christian at Chicago Bowen
Byron at Oregon
Westmont at Erie
Raby at Harper
Paxton at Williamsville
Elmwood at Wilmington
Peru St. Bede at Tolono Unity
Monticello at St. Joseph Ogden
South Bracket (broken into quads)
Pleasant Plains at Carlinville
Auburn at New Berlin
Pana at Sullivan
Marshall at Decatur St. Teresa
Newton at Robinson
Fairfield at Roxana
Vandalia at Nashville
Anna-Jonesboro at Mt. Carmel
Class 2A Field
New teams in field: Sterling Newman Central Catholic (was in 3A), Bureau Valley (still very much on points bubble has coin flip game this week I have them winning)
Teams removed from field: Orion (now in 1A), Deer Creek Mackinaw (now in 1A)
Thoughts on this bracket: There's very little bracket equity between the north and south here, and one of the north quads is silly deep. I have a hard time with many, many things going on in the south bracket.
Smallest school in the field: Maroa-Forsyth
Largest school in the field: Sterling Newman
North Bracket (Broken into quads)
Bureau Valley at Pearl City-Eastland
Spring Valley Hall at Taylor Ridge Rockridge
Amboy at Sterling Newman
Hales Franciscan at Uplift
Kewanee Wethersfield at Momence
Clifton Central at Mercer County
Knoxville at Fieldcrest
Gibson City-Melvin Sibley at El Paso
South Bracket
(Broken into quads)
Nokomis at Lawrenceville
Johnston City at Tuscola
Eldorado at Chester
Carmi White County at Shelbyville
Illini West at Rushville
Tri-Valley at Villa Grove
Sangamon Valley at Athens
Maroa-Forsyth at Georgetown-Ridge Farm
Class 1A
New teams in field: Orion (was in 2A), Deer-Creek Mackinaw (was in 2A)
Teams removed from field: Toledo Cumberland (points issues), Hardin-Calhoun (costly loss this week).
Notes on the field: I wish all classes were as reasonable as 1A. All of you other classes, take a lesson from 1A!
Largest school in the field: Deer Creek Mackinaw
North Bracket
Broken into quads
Monmouth United at Stark County
Princeville at Ottawa Marquette
Flanagan at Hope Academy
Orion at Polo
Alden-Hebron at Rockford Christian Life
Galena at Aquin
Warren at Forreston
Lena-Winslow at Stockton
South Bracket
Triopia at Carrollton
Arthur at LeRoy
Oakland at Bismarck-Henning
Milford at Casey-Westfield
Deer Creek Mackinaw at Abingdon
White Hall North Greene at Pawnee
Astoria South Fulton at Arcola
Greenfield at Camp Point Central
