Henricksen: Power program back to normal, 1,000 coaching wins, football impact on hoops and more

If you haven’t paid attention, high school basketball is back. Practice has started and games tip off next week with Thanksgiving Tournament play. Here is an opening week notebook.

Getting back to normal at Proviso East: The past two seasons have been a constant disruption at Proviso East due to on-again, off-again coaching turmoil and some eligibility issues.

The hope is the 2016-2017 season is controversial-free and the program gets back to its roots and identity under coach Donnie Boyce.

The 2014-2015 season was marred by the dismissal of Boyce. Then there was constant talk of Boyce returning at some point last season. He finally was reinstated in February, though he didn’t coach his first game until the regional opener.

While the Pirates don’t have any big names, Boyce likes what he sees and has going into the season. He also knows Proviso East breeds success.

“At Proviso East there are always some guys who have gone through the process here and waited their turn until it becomes their time,” says Boyce.

Seniors Tyler Chisom and Jamal Smith, along with junior guard Quinlan Bennett, are poised to get the Pirates back to the 20-plus win mark.

“We have to play together, but I think our late-season success will help,” says Boyce, whose team won a regional championship upon his return to the bench last season. “I like our potential.”

Closing in on 1,000 wins: The legendary Gene Pingatore, who remarkably begins his 48th season as coach at St. Joseph, is already the all-time leader in coaching wins in state history. He’s also just 14 wins shy of 1,000 career coaching victories.

Pingatore, who won his second state championship two years ago and finished fourth in the state this past March, has a career record of 986-343. With a talented team that’s surely to be ranked among the top 25 when the season begins, 14 wins this season appears to be a foregone conclusion.

Football impact: There won’t be a team to start the season that will be impacted more by the success of its football team than Fenwick.

Coach Rick Malnati’s top returning player, senior guard Jacob Keller, is the quarterback of the football team that will play in a Class 7A state semifinal this weekend. In addition, promising 6-5 junior Mike O’Loughlin is a wide receiver.

Both Loyola Academy and Benet Academy will also be shorthanded and impacted due to football.

Loyola senior guard Jack Martinus and junior Peter Mangan both figure prominently in coach Tom Livatino’s plans this season but play for the state’s top-ranked football team. Benet’s depth and roster will be impacted with several basketball players still playing for the state semifinalist football team.

Major event set for MLK weekend: Wheaton-Warrenville South will once again play host to an event during the Martin Luther King weekend in January. But this year it’s bigger and better than ever.

The field has grown over the years and has morphed into a traditional, 16-team bracketed tournament this January that will be seeded. This year’s field of teams is the strongest it’s been.

This year’s participating teams include Benet, Bloomington, Downers Grove South, Glenbard East, Hinsdale South, Homewood-Flossmoor, Huntley, Metea Valley, Notre Dame, Oak Park, Plainfield South, Rockford Auburn, Rockford Lutheran, Warren, Wheaton-Warrenville South and York.

Big blow to Glenbard East: After finishing in a tie for first in the Upstate Eight Valley and winning 17 games a year ago, the Rams figured to contend once again for a league title. But coach Scott Miller has already lost his top two returning starters –– one due to a disciplinary reason and the other to injury.

Mike Finley, a four-year starter and the heart and soul of the team, tore his ACL last week and has been lost for the season. Finley, a physical 6-3 wing, averaged 14 points and 8 rebounds a game last season.

Impact of conference shifts: There was some movement throughout the Chicago area when it came to schools changing conferences. And there will be a big impact in basketball as a result.

The biggest impact will come in the Southwest Prairie, a league Joliet West and Joliet Central are now a part of in 2016-1017.

Joliet West, led by the Division I tandem of Teyvion Kirk (Joliet West) and Trevian Bell (Wisconsin-Green Bay) becomes an overwhelming favorite in its new league. And rival Joliet Central, along with upstart and league holdover Romeoville, will likely be Joliet West’s toughest foes.

After 41 years in the Central Suburban League, Waukegan moves to the North Suburban. The move certainly adds to an already strong basketball league, where Stevenson has reigned supreme in recent years. Talented Waukegan may be the biggest threat to Stevenson this winter.

No Shot Clock is back: With the return of the high school basketball season comes the return of the No Shot Clock podcast with Joe Henricksen of the City/Suburban Hoops Report and Michael O’Brien of the Chicago Sun-Times. You can listen to the first podcast of the year –– and the 42nd episode overall –– right HERE.

Follow Joe Henricksen and the City/Suburban Hoops Report on Twitter @joehoopsreport