Why Manual and Notre Dame basketball will be playing in a different class this season

Peoria's high school basketball postseason just got a bit more interesting.

Manual and Peoria Notre Dame will be in Class 2A for the upcoming 2024 and 2025 Illinois High School Association boys basketball state tournaments. The Rams last made an appearance in the second smallest of the state's four classes in 2010. This is PND’s first time in 2A.

For at least the last four years, Manual had petitioned to play up in Class 3A despite having a 2A enrollment. That request to bump up a class didn’t come this year from the Rams, whose IHSA enrollment is listed at 593.5 — well within the 2A range of 286.01 to 656 students.

What the move means for Manual

Manual wasn't among the schools electing to play up a classification when the IHSA released its September board meeting minutes on Monday.

“Naturally, we’re supposed to be in 2A,” Manual coach Marvin Jordan said. “Every sport we have in the building is supposed to be in 2A.”

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During that season 13 years ago, Manual finished as the 2010 2A state runner-up as part of a three-year run that included 72 wins along with another state second-place finish in 2008. Since the move to Class 3A, Manual has been a perennial state contender with seven regional plaques, three Elite Eight berths and two state trophies (third in 2016 and fourth in 2019).

Manual’s schedule won’t change much. The Rams head to the Decatur Thanksgiving Tournament, host Springfield Lanphier, play at the Pontiac Holiday Tournament and then head to January’s Metamora Shootout.

“It’s always been like that,” Jordan said of playing tough opponents. “We’ve always been in that 2A class, but we’ve always had that 3A/4A schedule every year.”

What the move means to Notre Dame

This is the first time PND, which has an enrollment of 563.5, will be 2A after spending the last 35 years in Class AA, then as a 3A school since the 2008 four-class split. One AA regional (1998), five 3A regionals (2011, 2014, 2015, 2019, 2020) and a 2014 Elite Eight appearance came during that three-and-a-half-decade span for the Irish.

Coach Tom Lacher, though, has already adjusted this season’s schedule to include more 2A teams. The PND coach has shootout games at Taylorville, Fulton, O’Fallon and Riverton, while playing at the Bloomington Central Catholic tournament in mid-January.

“We knew we had to at least add some, as many as we could 2A games,” Lacher said. “… We’re playing some really good 2A teams on our schedule … we’ll see what happens, right? It’s going to be fun, though, I think.

“It’s going to be a learning process for us. … It’s a fun challenge.”

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That doesn’t mean the Irish are taking the other parts of their schedule any lighter.

PND opens the season at the Kevin Brown Memorial Tournament of Champions, faces Rock Island, then heads to the Pekin Holiday Tournament. Not to mention an incredibly difficult Big 12 Conference slate with the likes of Normal Community, Richwoods and Peoria High on the docket.

Coincidentally, Manual and PND are set to open to Big 12 Conference play on Dec. 1.

“It will be fun,” Lacher said. “We’re both playing for the city championship. We’re both playing for the conference championship and now, we’re hopefully, playing for something good in 2A over the next few years.”

Also of note, the Irish girls basketball team has likewise made the move to 2A, making them an instant favorite to compete for the program’s first-ever state title. Manual girls have played in 2A the past two postseasons.

Adam Duvall is a Journal Star sports reporter. Email him at aduvall@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @AdamDuvall.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: IHSA basketball: Peoria Manual, Notre Dame move from Class 3A to 2A