With this change, teams weren’t able to move up or down in conferences based on their records from the 2016-17 season. The administration temporarily suspended promotion and relegation for the 17-18 season until further notice.
It also affects one of the most thrilling elements of Chicago high-school hoops – rivalry games. For example: Simeon and Morgan Park, two of the South Side’s most storied adversaries, will no longer play each other twice a season. Although subtle, this erases the popular adage for rivals getting even with each other during the season and reduces the hype for rematches.
Lastly, the change disrupts the competitive balance. A belief amongst Public League coaches is that administrators created the “super conferences” format to level the playing field to distribute top programs throughout divisions, spreading contention. However, they still ended up lumping top programs such as Curie, Orr, Morgan Park, Whitney Young and Uplift into the Red South-Central and Red North-West divisions. Each of those teams won a state title at least once in the last four seasons.
The TRiiBE sat down with coaches from Morgan Park, Roberto Clemente, Westinghouse and Crane to get their thoughts on the new “super conferences.” They offered unique perspectives from the position of their student-athletes as well as what it means for the future of Chicago high-school basketball.