Cathedral comes into this matchup winners of the last 21 meetings. 21.

The last win for Brebeuf in this series was in March of 2001. Cathedral comes in as a decently heavy favorite, but this will be a definite test for Brebeuf's group of underclassmen. Last year's game was an OT win for Cathedral, and year before, Brebeuf got off to a horrible start before settling in.

It stands to reason, Brebeuf figures out to work through Cathedral's depth by being extremely good defensively, but Cathedral has a lot of weapons. Most of those weapons are known to Cathedral, but Kamari Slaughter's transfer from Portage gives them yet one more option and a solid replacement at the point to the graduated Tayshawn Comer.

Brebeuf needs to limit extra possessions (live ball turnover and offensive rebounds) which break down a team's defense, and Hayward and Butcher have to score big.

Penn's opening game comes against a much improved Clay team. It's a big test for Clay's freshman guard, Tyrese Jones, but seniors Ameer Harris and Jaden Pigee are off to great starts offensively. Penn, of course, features Markus Burton, Notre Dame and legitimate Mr. Basketball candidate, but the development and length of Josh Gatete and Dylan Derda brings a different set of problems for opposing teams.