Goss: Bolingbrook, Romeoville 1-2 in H-N boys basketball rankings

With a week of vacation at hand, I won’t be covering any boys high school basketball until the Christmas holiday tournaments get rolling next week.

That makes this a good time to unveil our first boys basketball area rankings of the season.

1. Bolingbrook (7-1): The Raiders, after whipping Romeoville on the strength of a huge third-quarter explosion, split in their weekend trip to Iowa, where they faced two of that state’s best teams. They rallied to beat Cedar Falls, 83-81, behind 34 points from Tyler Cochran before losing to Iowa’s No. 1 team, Iowa City West, 81-65.

That loss, however, does nothing to diminish what we think of the Raiders. Cochran, Joseph Yesufu and Kaleb Thornton are as good a three-guard tandem as you will find in the state, and coach Rob Brost’s team deserves to be ranked among Illinois’ best. Imagine if guard Jordan Myrick, who transferred in from Simeon, continues to progress as he gets accustomed to his new environment.

2. Romeoville (9-1): The Spartans are an excellent, talented team as evidenced by their victory over Hillcrest and playing Bolingbrook on even terms for a half. However, if they do have another meeting with the Raiders in the Romeoville Sectional final, which appears at this juncture to be a possibility, they will have to figure out a way to handle Bolingbrook’s pressure.

3. Joliet Central (7-1): The Steelmen lost an overtime game to Romeoville in the WJOL Tournament, when the Spartans were without Eddie Creal. They are quick, and you know a Lawrence Thompson Jr. team will be well-coached. Recall last season when the Steelmen came so close to derailing Bolingbrook and Joliet West at different times.

4. Lincoln-Way East (6-2): The Griffins feature Southern Illinois-bound Sam Shafer, and coach Rich Kolimas’ team sports other quality experience. There is difficult competition to face in the Southwest Suburban games, but East will not be an easy touch for anyone.

5. Lemont (6-4): The Indians have plenty of quality size. When they get consistent guard play, they are a difficult team to beat.

6. Lockport (5-4): For this spot, we could have gone with any of the teams that are ranked sixth through 10th. Separating them is difficult at best. Plainfield North looked like a good choice for this spot, but then when you consider Lockport has won five of its past six, including a 51-47 win over North, you have to go with the Porters. Coach Brett Hespell’s team has a challenging upcoming schedule, but won’t be facing Bolingbrook every night.

7. Plainfield North (4-4): Coach Bob Krahulik’s Tigers grab this spot based somewhat on the game they played last Thursday against Romeoville, where they were tied with the Spartans, 32-32, heading into the fourth quarter before falling, 51-38.

8. Minooka (5-4): Losing to Lincoln-Way Central after leading 28-9 at half Saturday night comes into play here. Otherwise, the Indians would have been ranked a bit higher. The opposite situation occurred Friday when Minooka trailed Plainfield East by seven points after three quarters and rallied to win.

9. Joliet West (5-4): Coach Nick DiForti’s Tigers have done some good things, and sometimes they look like the inexperienced team that they are. They have no size but they have quickness that can be an issue for any opponent that does not come to play against them.

10. Lincoln-Way Central (4-5): The Knights get recognized after their huge comeback against Minooka. They had been struggling for a while before that, yet they have the pieces to begin getting the record turned around.

Honorable mention: Plainfield East (4-5) has talent and will be one of many Southwest Prairie Conference teams that will be involved in tossup games more often than not. Having a seven-point lead at Minooka going into the fourth quarter gives good indication what they can be. Providence (4-5) could crash the rankings later on. Plainfield East beat the Celtics, 51-46, when they met earlier.

Small schools: Among the small schools in the Joliet area, Seneca (6-3), Gardner-South Wilmington (5-4) and Coal City (5-4) having winning records, while Peotone (4-5) is on the cusp. However, Seneca, Coal City and Peotone all are a notch or two below .500 in the Interstate Eight Conference.

At this juncture, there is little separating any of them from the rest. It’s not unlike the rankings of our large schools in the bottom half of our top 10.

Looking at the rankings as a whole, we have a state-caliber team in Bolingbrook and perhaps another in Romeoville, we have Joliet Central and Lincoln-Way East that may be capable of knocking off one of the big boys and we have at least of handful of teams that have the potential to enjoy winning seasons.

All in all, that’s a pretty fair season in the making for the Joliet area. It will be worth your while to get out and enjoy some basketball.

• Dick Goss can be reached at dgoss@shawmedia.com.