Coach Sly: Some post-Christmas tourney thoughts

Now that that the Christmas tournament dust has settled, here are a few thoughts on what went down in the waning stages of 2011 on the hardwood:

• Great week for Marmion. If Sly has to single out one team that was especially impressive in Christmas tournament action, it'd be the Cadets. Marmion made it to the championship game of the Dayton tournament and gave a pretty good Moline team a great game in the final. No team in the area has improved more from the start of the season to now ... now, the question is, can the Cadets keep it up?

• Staying on an SCC note, kudos to St. Francis for a good showing at the very solid Jack Tosh tourney. Any time you can notch a couple Ws against that field, it shows you have a legit squad. Already owning a key road win at Marmion, the Spartans are looking like a viable threat in the conference chase.

• STC East has to rev it up. Sly's not going to blow any rose petals the Saints' way for going 3-1 at Glenbard West this week. Truth is, against that field, the Saints had business being in the championship game, not settling for fifth by the hair of their chinny-chin-chin. Sly's not giving up on the Saints by any stretch and it's good to see Mr. Stephens back on his feet, but if East is going to be stick around in the River race over the next two months, the Saints need to pick it up a notch or two.

• Geneva holding its own. Vikings beat the teams they should beat and lost to the teams they should lose to at East Aurora. Vikes remain an intriguing team to watch in the conference picture.

• North still has something to prove. The North boys certainly didn't embarrass themselves down at Pontiac. But North still has to actually beat a few good teams, rather than just hang close, before the season is going to take any kind of real turn for the better. Big chance for North to start heading down that road next week against East.