City, South Suburbs, North Suburbs, Rockford Thanksgiving Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We are so close to the start of Thanksgiving Tournaments across the state of Illinois!&nbsp; Here is a look at a few of the best in Chicago, south suburbs, north suburbs, and Rockford!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em><strong>Chicago Heights (Marian Catholic and Bloom)</strong></em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Teams<br></strong><br>Bloom<br>Hillcrest<br>Lincoln Way Central<br>Longwood<br>Homewood Flossmoor<br>Marian Catholic<br>St. Francis de Sales</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Storylines</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The balance of this event this year is extremely interesting.&nbsp; I don't think there has been this many teams that can win it in a while and no prohibited favorite.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Names to Know</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kiewon Gulley (Bloom), [player_tooltip player_id='2323269' first='Max' last='Carmicle'] (Hillcrest), [player_tooltip player_id='2467517' first='Darrius' last='Hawkins'] (Homewood Flossmoor), [player_tooltip player_id='2540205' first='John' last='Brown IV'] (Homewood Flossmoor), [player_tooltip player_id='2632037' first='Landon' last='Mays'] (Marian Catholic), [player_tooltip player_id='1900158' first='Stephen' last='George'] (St. Francis de Sales)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Pick to Win</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Homewood Flossmoor</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><em>Windy City Classic (St. Ignatius and De La Salle)</em></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Teams<br></strong><br>Hope Academy<br>St. Ignatius<br>Westinghouse<br>Yorkville Christian<br>Benet<br>De La Salle<br>EPIC Academy<br>King<br></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Storylines</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Like this tournament as it is a pair of 4 team pools with a crossover game with St. Ignatius and De La Salle being the host schools.&nbsp; Sneaky amount of star power in this event with small school state title contenders from Chicago and a trio of premier big school programs.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Names to Know</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2338332' first='TyJuan' last='Hunter'] (Hope), [player_tooltip player_id='2372438' first='Jaiden' last='Simmons'] (Hope), [player_tooltip player_id='2323283' first='Chris' last='Bolte'] (St. Ignatius), [player_tooltip player_id='2531962' first='Amir' last='Tucker'] (St. Ignatius), [player_tooltip player_id='1874810' first='Jayden' last='Riley'] (Yorkville Christian), [player_tooltip player_id='2105376' first='Colin' last='Stack'] (Benet), [player_tooltip player_id='2105390' first='Jayden' last='Wright'] (Benet), [player_tooltip player_id='2323620' first='Ed' last='Stasys'] (Benet), [player_tooltip player_id='2532031' first='Roosevelt' last='Thomas'] (De La Salle).</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Pick to Win</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Benet over St. Ignatius</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><em>New Trier/Loyola</em></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Teams<br></strong><br>Bulls Prep<br>Lake Forest<br>Loyola<br>New Trier<br>Lake Forest Academy<br>Lake Zurich<br>Mt. Carmel<br>Niles West</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Storylines</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Interesting group of teams here with quite a few ranked prospects!&nbsp; New Trier should get a nice test in pool play from Loyola and Lake Forest before having a potential crossover title game.&nbsp; Debut of the Mt. Carmel star freshman.&nbsp; Lake Forest Academy playing regular Illinois high school teams is always good to evaluate their prospects.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Names to Know</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2499191' first='Rory' last='Haas'] (Lake Forest), [player_tooltip player_id='2839873' first='Dominic' last='Mordini'] (Lake Forest), [player_tooltip player_id='1552480' first='Trey' last='Williams'] (Loyola), [player_tooltip player_id='2442160' first='Samuel' last='Golden'] (Loyola), [player_tooltip player_id='1554516' first='Christopher' last='Kirkpatrick'] (New Trier), [player_tooltip player_id='1552486' first='Danny' last='Houlihan'] (New Trier), [player_tooltip player_id='2631375' first='Ben' last='Hamm'] (New Trier), [player_tooltip player_id='2405910' first='Denym' last='Wallace'] (New Trier), [player_tooltip player_id='2632005' first='Levente' last='Tallos'] (Lake Forest Academy) [player_tooltip player_id='2632014' first='Boti' last='Szabo-Zsamaba'] (Lake Forest Academy), [player_tooltip player_id='2125684' first='Tej' last='Johnson'] (Lake Forest Academy), [player_tooltip player_id='2404320' first='Tyler' last='Reed'] (Lake Zurich), [player_tooltip player_id='2432328' first='Adrian' last='Riep'] (Lake Zurich), [player_tooltip player_id='1522682' first='Kain' last='Kretschmar'] (Lake Zurich), [player_tooltip player_id='2915584' first='DK' last='Heard'] (Mt. Carmel), [player_tooltip player_id='2767906' first='Ronald' last='Johnson'] (Mt. Carmel), [player_tooltip player_id='2832912' first='Luke' last='Segroves'] (Mt. Carmel), [player_tooltip player_id='2217986' first='Trey' last='Nguyen'] (Niles West)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Pick to Win</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>New Trier over Mt. Carmel</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><em>Fred Van Vleet Classic</em></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Illinois Teams<br></strong><br>Rockford Auburn<br>Belvidere North<br>Michelle Clark<br>Geneseo<br>Hononegah<br>Hyde Park<br>Intrinsic Downtown<br>Rockford Jefferson<br>Springfield Lanphier<br>Larkin<br>Morgan Park<br>Rockford East<br>Warren<br>Whitney Young</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Storylines</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This event is more of a shootout than tournament with a ton of games all week!&nbsp; Always fun to see some top teams travel out to Rockford to play squads out there which is an underrated area.&nbsp; It will feature two of the premier teams in the state with stars in [player_tooltip player_id='2323571' first='Jaxson' last='Davis'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1552475' first='Marquis' last='Clark'].&nbsp; Also love that Fred Van Vleet is involved as he was a player I really advocated for when I was first starting.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Names to Know</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2323571' first='Jaxson' last='Davis'] (Warren), [player_tooltip player_id='2437519' first='Braylon' last='Walker'] (Warren), [player_tooltip player_id='1552475' first='Marquis' last='Clark'] (Whitney Young), [player_tooltip player_id='2886496' first='Travis' last='Jamison'] (Whitney Young), [player_tooltip player_id='1845353' first='Amir' last='Danforth'] (Rockford Auburn), [player_tooltip player_id='2105407' first='Champ' last='Parker'] (Rockford Auburn), [player_tooltip player_id='2540031' first='Kye' last='Ward-Owens'] (Hyde Park), [player_tooltip player_id='2835362' first='Durant' last='Stokes'] (Rockford Jefferson), [player_tooltip player_id='2877511' first='Da'Quinn' last='Hill'] (Rockford Jefferson), [player_tooltip player_id='2831305' first='Morris' last='Pryce'] (Morgan Park), and [player_tooltip player_id='2864688' first='Maurice' last='Holland'] (Rockford East).</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Three Must See Games</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Rockford Auburn vs Warren<br>Rockford Auburn vs Hyde Park<br>Rockford Jefferson vs Whitney Young</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->