The Chicago Tribune recently acknowledged the NCAA’s March Madness tournament, which began Tuesday, by releasing a list of what it called the 64 greatest Illinois high school basketball teams ever.
“With the nation’s original March Madness (that would be the Illinois high school basketball tournament) upon us for the 111th time, we came up with an all-time bracket featuring the best champions in state history,” the Tribune notes.
“We grouped our selections in four 16-team divisions: the top champions from the city, from the suburbs, from “downstate” — defined as anywhere in Illinois other than the city and suburbs — and the 16 best girls state champions. (The first girls state tournament was in 1977; the boys tournament started in 1908 at the Oak Park YMCA.)”
Proviso East teams appeared on the list three times (in the order of rank):
- 1969 state championship team (30-1)
- 1991 state championship team (32-1)
- 1992 state championship team (33-0)
Michael Romain
