Michael O'Brien's basketball notebook

Here are some of my impressions from the first ten games of the season...

-North Lawndale guard John Taylor looks much improved this season. Taylor received a lot of hype and some way too elevated rankings after he torched Young last year, then he sort of fell off the radar after Young held him scoreless in the rematch. Wednesday against Hales he played a lot more under control and showed some ability to get to the basket that I hadn't seen before.

-Waukegan is the real deal. Stephen Connor and point guard Mike Springs are terrific high school basketball players. They are excellent complementary players to the two Division I stars, Jereme Richmond and Colin Nickerson.

-This is the best Neuqua Valley team ever. Rahjan Muhammad was great against Morton last week. Derek Raridon can play. Kareem Amedu is a solid big man. About the only guy that wasn't really good was Dwayne Evans, the star of the team. He put up some decent numbers, but I had expected a bit more. That said, the second half letdown against the Mustangs was a bit disturbing. Neuqua doesn't have enough ballhandlers to effectively run a spread-offense and kill eight minutes of clock. Not against a team as good as Morton.

-Joliet junior Anthony Shoemaker is the best player you've never heard of. He's a 6-5 shooting guard that can pass, hit the three and throw down three or four dunks a game. These weren't fast break dunks he had against Bolingbrook either. He was getting by three or four Bolingbrook defenders in the half-court set and throwing them down. The Raiders have two Division I players, Diamond Taylor and Troy Snyder, and it was clear that Shoemaker was the best player on the court.

-Props to Schaumburg, which probably didn't get enough preseason respect. Nobody really noticed, but last week they beat Farragut and Rockford Boylan on the same day. Now, neither program is having the best year ever, but that is an impressive feat.

-Keep an eye on St. Rita freshman Deonte Johnson. He's only 5-8, but he's full of energy. I really enjoyed watching him against Northside Prep.

-Now it's time to grade myself. Preseason rankings are always pretty tough. Here are my initial impressions, based on the the teams I have seen so far.

Overrated: Evanston, St. Joseph, Bolingbrook, Lincoln Park

Underrated: Seton, Neuqua Valley, Joliet, St. Ignatius

Just right: Waukegan, Morton, Mount Carmel, North Lawndale, Zion-Benton

-I probably had De La Salle too low, based on their results so far, but I haven't seen them play yet. Same goes for Schaumburg.