As a pollster for Buffalo News, I'm asked to send in my weekly ballots ranking the top ten large and small schools. The polls are based on games played through Sunday of each week. Here's a look at how I see them and some of the rationale used to get there.
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6
Large Schools
1. Niagara Falls (AA) – Only undefeated large school in WNY. Top ranked Class AA team in the state. Beat numbers two and five below. Alma mater to a Super Bowl champion.
2. Jamestown (AA) - From the sounds of things, the alley-oop from Darin Butts to Jaysean Paige finished with a reverse dunk against Frontier, might be the highlight of the season. Now, can someone get that clip to me?
3. Williamsville South (A1) – The Billies finally get a game against a ranked opponent in Timon this week.
4. St. Joe's (MMAA) – The Marauders hope to send a very angry Timon team to Williamsville on Friday, by first beating them for a second time on Thursday.
5. Canisius (MMAA) – Looked tough on Friday night in all phases. Travel to Rochester this weekend to face a Bishop Kearney team that has already beaten St. Joe's and Timon.
6. East (A2) – McKinley is the only team in the city that has played a close game with the Panthers.
7. Bennett (A1) – Head-to-head win in the first meeting gets them this spot over…
8. McKinley (AA) – the Macks, who have a rematch with Riverside on Tuesday, after the first meeting went to overtime.
9. Lancaster (AA) – Followed a win against Williamsville North with a second strong performance against Jamestown. The Redskins are playing their best basketball right now.
10. Cheektowaga (A2) – The pollsters gave this spot to Maryvale, but I voted for these Warriors because they beat the Flyers by 17 earlier this season and battle them for a share of first place in ECIC III on Friday night.
Small Schools
1. I-Prep at Grover (C) – Does anyone else wish we could see these guys play East at the end of the season, rather than hand out two Yale Cups?
2. St. Mary's (MMAA) - I really thought about sliding Wilson into this spot, but then I took another look at some of the wins for the Lancers this year: Clarence, Hutch Tech, Depew, Newfane. However, they need to win convincingly over the last few games (the way Wilson does) to keep this spot next week.
3. Wilson (B2) – The Lakemen were without do-it-all forward Tyler Truesdell in their 25-point win over Albion on Thursday.
4. Dunkirk (B1) – Beat Maritime Charter by 56 last week.
5. OTC Middle College (C) – Emerson and Seneca are the most recent teams to get rolled by the Kats.
6. Newfane (B1) – Interesting nonleague game at Starpoint this Friday follows round two of trying to solve Akron's zone defense.
7. Tapestry Charter (C) – Reached a new season low in futility for scoring, when they only put up 70 points on Class AA and seventh ranked large school McKinley.
8. Lackawanna (B1) – The win against Batavia was enough to catapult them back into the poll, a spot ahead of Tonawanda, who they beat earlier this year.
9. Tonawanda (B1) – Biggest game for the Warriors in almost 50 years is this Friday, when they visit Lackawanna, looking to avenge an earlier loss and clinch ECIC IV.
10. Maple Grove (C) – I was stunned to read that they lost to Pine Valley, a team that just lost to North Collins.
-centercourt
Leave a Reply to Lucky13Cancel reply