View from the Corner Desk

Hoops Rankings 12/31

With last week being Christmas and this week being New Years, not much to report on the high school basketball front. Games were limited for the most part. I saw no basketball either, as the only coverage I provided came from a Marquette Rangers game.

While there wasn't much on the Internet I could find to link to, there were a couple of rankings. MLive's blog did some for boys.

Negaunee came in third in Class C. In Class D, Cedarville slotted in at second, behind Wyoming Tri Unity Christian, who just knocked off a couple Class A schools. Forest Park was eighth.

Also, MaxPreps had an overall ranking based on some computer stuff. Cedarvlle was the U.P.'s only ranked school at 18th.

For girls, the Houghton Gremlins were also 18th.

My rankings

BOYS ABC

1. Negaunee (6-0; LW: 1) -- Took cruise control off against Manistique and cruised.
2. Marquette (6-2; LW: 2) -- Beat both Traverse City West and Central handily. A good sign for districts, but Alpena is doing well
3. St. Ignace (5-1; LW: NR) -- Only loss came to Cedarville. Has wins over Esky and Sault.
4. Escanaba (5-2; LW: 3) -- Before the loss, beat a Gaylord team said to be pretty good.
5. Houghton (4-2; LW: 4) -- They lost to Marinette and only put up 31 points, true. I can't find a story to read about the game either. But I'm not sure who else deserves top 5 right now.

HM: Norway (6-0; LW: HM) -- I'd still like to see them play some better opponents or win by more before I rank them. If they are deserving of Top 5, they'll bubble up soon enough.
HM: Menominee (3-2; LW: 5) -- Lost to GB Preble, which I assume is a bit bigger.

Intellectual exercise: Cedarville would rank third for me.

GIRLS ABC

1. Westwood (6-0; LW 1) -- Did not play!
2. Houghton (8-0; LW 2) -- Did not play!
3. Iron Mountain (7-1, LW HM) -- Beat rival Kingsford for a quality win. I think I underranked them, but their schedule is tougher than the below two teams so consider this a correction.
4. St. Ignce (6-1; LW 3) -- Did not play!
5. L'Anse (6-1; LW 4) -- Did not play!

HM: Hancock (6-0) -- Hey, why not? Did not play either.
HM: Marquette (4-4, LW: 5) -- Lost two a pair of Class A schools from Traverse City.