Coach Sly: Going to be a wild week!

Friday might have been the most exciting night of the boys basketball season around the Tri-Cities.

But it's not crazy to say that this coming week could get even juicier, highlighted by East-North on Wednesday and North-Geneva on Saturday.

The Fighting Saints seemed like they were on life support a couple weeks back, losing four in a row and getting their posteriors handed to them at home by Larkin. But things are starting to click in a big way for East now and beating Elgin has to be a huge confident boost going into the "We St. Charles, Yeah, Yeah" Bowl on Wednesday at East.

North is at the other end of the spectrum. The North Stars have played good ball lately but took a heavy-duty (or is that doo-doo) step backward on Friday in a costly L at Geneva. North has some guys who have played enough varsity ball to rise above the chippiness and solve a variety of defenses but the North Stars couldn't do it. With East lurking Wednesday and another crack at Geneva on Saturday, North can still make a go of it, but they better learn from this one in a major way.

If you look at the rosters of the four leaders in the River, Geneva, East, North and Elgin, you figure most would rank the Vikings #4 on that list, talent-wise. But right now, where it counts, Geneva is #1.

Make that hold up for two more weeks, and the Vikings will have had themselves an extremely special regular season.