Surprise, surprise - The Elite Eight no one expected

Darius Glover, a 6'4" combo forward has
increased his level of play for Westinghouse.

By Frank Rusnak
We hear it every year. "This time of the season anything can happen." Time and time again we hear it, but we never want to believe it. As a fan, we want the most talented, most captivating teams and players to advance Downstate so they will be on stage for everyone to see.

"Just because we are a suburban team everyone thinks that I'm some sort of genius that we've gotten this far. Well, I'll tell you what, we've got some great ball players that play with a lot of passion."

Rick Malnati
New Trier Coach

This year instead of potentially Whitney Young, West Aurora, Schaumburg and Proviso East, we have Westinghouse, Glenbard North, Highland Park and New Trier. The upper bracket is absolute chaos and no one could've predicted its outcome with these four teams left standing.

With no offense to the aforementioned teams, they just weren't the most hyped/talented teams. What has proven to be the key for these teams is the coaching.

After New Trier's surprising win over Proviso East in the first game of the double header supersectional at the United Center, the Trevian's coach Rick Malnati tried to set the record straight as he addressed the media afterwards.

"Just because we are a suburban team everyone thinks that I'm some sort of genius that we've gotten this far," said Malnati. "Well, I'll tell you what, we've got some great ball players that play with a lot of passion."

His speech was best summed up by the unbelieving media member that decided not to keep quiet, as he muttered under his breath (rather loudly), "No -- You're a genius."

The four coaches in the upper-half of the bracket, to have their teams advance this far, must not be too bad of coaches as there definitely were more "talented" teams that have already turned in their uniforms and are looking forward to next season.

Yes, 6'4" Darius Glover has showed that it might be easier to stop a speeding semi, then his 220-pound frame from scoring. Glover notched 26 points and 12 rebounds in the Warrior's City Title game over Farragut to reach the round of the Elite Eight.

Yes, absolutely everyone is starting to say, "Who's Greg Klos?" The guard from Glenbard North torched West Aurora with 29 points in the upset at the Northern Illinois University Super.

Yes, everyone is going to finally get to see "the state's best kept secret." Highland Park's 6'4" guard Joey Paul (a Bradley signee) will not only be getting a jumpstart at his play in the Carver Arena, but will be escaping the hidden underground known as the Central Suburban North and put his talents on display with a state-wide audience.

And, of course, everyone is realizing that Ted Rosinski combined with Santa Clara-bound guard James Romey give New Trier some serious talent to be reckoned with. "Not everyone in the state gets to play summer basketball, but this man (Rosinski) deserves his dues," said Romey of his teammate. "What a lot of people don't know is he is one of the best players in the state. It's about time Teddy got his due."

But, in the same breath, don't let it be an oversight that Chris Head, Bob Miller, Paul Harris and Malnati all know a little something about X's and O's.

Now that we've all learned our lesson of filling out our brackets ahead of time, lets not guess the outcome of the remaining eight teams, OK? Lets even see who can go the longest without predicting...Alright, I lose.

*2002 Class AA Elite Eight*
Westinghouse	Westinghouse				Lanphier	Lanphier
Glenbard North						Thornwood
		Westinghouse	Lanphier 2002 Class AA Champion	Lanphier
New Trier	New Trier				Moline	Centralia
Highland Park						Moline