Henricksen: Thanksgiving leftovers

The season tipped off last week with seven days of high school basketball action. Yes, there were even games on Thanksgiving in central Illinois and an event locally on Sunday.

There was a lot to take in across the state. The City/Suburban Hoops Report sorts out the Thanksgiving leftovers.

➤ There was certainly an edition or two of the many City/Suburban Hoops Report’s preseason top 25 rankings rough drafts that included Oak Park-River Forest. The final published top 25, however, didn’t include the Huskies, who were just outside at No. 30. But coach Matt Maloney really has a nice blend of senior veterans to go with up-and-coming young talent.

While the 79-62 win over Riverside-Brookfield was an eye-opener, the Huskies would like nothing more than to knock off city foe Fenwick at UIC this Friday night. Fenwick beat OPRF 55-46 last year and 47-40 the year before in the Chicago Elite Classic. The last win for Oak Park over Fenwick came in December of 2011.

➤ The belief was St. Charles East was a year away from being a ranked, top 25 team. And maybe at the end of the day the Saints are a year away from big things. But after watching coach Pat Woods’ team take down St. Joseph, maybe we can speed up that process.

St. Charles East received a stellar four-game stretch from junior Justin Hardy (23.5 ppg in four wins), but the Saints also showed a higher level of defensive play. Over the years the Saints have consistently shown offensive firepower. While it’s a small sample size, the Saints allowed a tournament-best 48.2 points a game defensively in winning its own Thanksgiving tournament.

➤ Speaking of St. Charles, we can’t forget about St. Charles North. The North Stars were one buzzer-beating loss away from being 4-0 themselves, losing to rival St. Charles East in the championship game. Along the way St. Charles North ripped off a 19-point win over highly-ranked Downers Grove South.

➤ South suburban basketball was expected to be alive this winter. Thanksgiving week confirmed that belief. It’s going to be fun sorting out the hierarchy of the south suburbs over the next three months.

➤ No one was talking about De La Salle in the preseason. But behind tournament MVP Stone Parker, a veteran senior point guard, the Meteors went 4-0 in winning the Glenbrook North/St. Patrick Thanksgiving Tournament. Among the wins was an impressive 67-56 win over St. Pat’s.

➤ Way down south there is a player putting up some astronomical career scoring numbers. Okawville’s Noah Frederking, a strong-bodied, basket-making 6-4 senior who averaged 20.4 points a game last season, has already surpassed 2,000 career points. At his current pace Frederking will climb well beyond 2,500 career points. Frederking signed with Evansville earlier this month.

➤ Here is one significant advantage Kenwood will have when it meets Whitney Young this weekend in one of the highest profile games the program has played in: coach Marlo Finner’s team has four games under its belt while Young will be playing its season opener.

➤ Maybe defending Southwest Prairie champ Minooka isn’t ready to go away just yet.

Last year the Indians, behind the savvy veteran play of Joe Butler and Larry Roberts, made some history with the program’s first regional title since 1977 and 23 wins. With Roberts and Butler having graduated, the Indians still jumped out to a quick 4-0 start over Thanksgiving weekend. The run included wins over Lincoln-Way West and Joliet Central.

And guess who’s on tap for the conference opener? Unbeaten and state-ranked Joliet West, brand new to the Southwest Prairie this year, comes to Minooka Friday night.

➤ While we’re on the topic of Southwest Prairie basketball, it was a rough week for the Plainfields. By the time last Friday wrapped up the four Plainfield schools were a combined 0-12. Following three wins on Saturday the record did improve to 3-13. But when you combine Oswego’s 0-4 start, those five schools are a combined 3-17 coming out of the holiday weekend.

➤ With my first look of the season at the City/Suburban Hoops Repot’s No. 2 ranked team, Evanston, I came away so impressed with the suffocating team defensive effort the Wildkits showcased in a win over Conant. That type of defense is good enough to carry teams on any given night.

➤ Fremd is ready to go toe-to-toe with much-talked-about Conant in the Mid-Suburban League West. The Vikings were absolutely dominant in wins over Warren, Lake Forest Academy, Elk Grove and Mundelein. A veteran and seasoned Fremd won all four games by double digits and with a ridiculous average victory margin of 30 points per game.

➤ The West Suburban Silver, where Oak Park-River Forest, Lyons Twp. and Downers Grove North are expected to fight for the top spot, went a combined 23-6 over Thanksgiving with three tournament championships from the three favorites.

➤ It’s great to hear Da’Monte Williams put together a monster performance and stat line in Peoria Manual’s matchup with Springfield Lanphier. The 6-3 Illinois recruit is a dynamite player with all the physical tools you look for in a top prospect. The missing piece has been consistent assertiveness and take-over ability.

➤ How about these numbers: Taylor Bruninga of Illini Bluffs, a Class 2A school southwest of Peoria, had a season-opening five-game run where he averaged 38.4 points and 16.8 rebounds a game. Bruninga is a 6-7 stretch 4-man who has been vastly under-recruited.

➤ Come on, as if Bolingbrook needed any more ammunition …

The Raiders impressed in rolling through the Decatur Turkey Tournament. And it wasn’t Nebraska-bound Nana Akenten who was named tournament MVP. Although Akenten was an all-tournament selection, 6-5 Malik Binns was MVP and provides coach Rob Brost a major presence on the glass and with his added physicality.

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