East St. Louis

Joe Henricksen breaks down Belleville West, the defending Class 4A champs, and the other top teams from around the state outside the Chicago area.

Mount Carmel beat East St. Louis 29-19 in the Class 7A quarterfinals at Gately Stadium, holding the Flyers to a season-low point total.

Class 7A's No. 1 seed Simeon  puts its unbeaten record to the test in the quarterfinals with a tough matchup against No. 8 seed Nazareth (10-1) on Saturday afternoon.

East St. Louis big man Jeremiah Tilmon, who signed with Illinois last month, was the star attraction in the Chicago Elite Classic at the UIC Pavilion on Friday. He and the Flyers were matched up against Curie and its pair of 6-8 twins, Treavon and Tyree Martin.

The Flyers beat Plainfield North 26-13 on Saturday at Memorial Stadium to win their eighth state championship.

East St. Louis big man Jeremiah Tilmon finally made it official on Thursday, announcing that he signed with Illinois on Wednesday.

Jeremiah Tilmon will announce his future college plans on Thursday at a ceremony at East St. Louis High School, one day after the early signing period concluded.

The Illinois fanbase has been through this before, but that won’t make it any easier. Tuesday afternoon it appeared that Signing Day would be a massive victory for John Groce and his staff. Then everything changed.

When the dust settles this week there will be close to 30 Division I signings from Illinois, with just five of those players signing with high-major programs.

A look at how competitive the Mr. Basketball race could be and the odds heading for each frontrunner heading into the season.