To me at this point in the season, St. Henry, Highlands, NCC, Connor, and Beechwood seem to be rather evenly matched.

 

Sure, a case could be made for this team over that team, but I believe that on any given night anyone of these teams could beat the other, and maybe even at a 50/50 rate all around.

 

As some have said that it's a down year for the 9th, I ain't buying it. With these first 5 teams that I've mentioned there's some incredible talent all around. Sure CovCath is in another prep school league of their own, but aside from them, it's another exciting year in the 9th with lots of talented teams.

 

Same thing regarding being evenly matched could be said about Holy Cross, Holmes, Lloyd, Cooper, Newport, Ryle, and maybe even Dixie with their horrible w/l record.

 

There's also some decent talent that can be found with that bunch.

 

Boone hangs there alone in being lesser than the aforementioned teams, and better than the rest of the pack.

 

Then you have Ludlow and Villa pretty close.

 

Then Dayton

 

Then Bellevue and Heritage

 

Then there’s Covington Latin unsurprisingly sitting there in the far corner of the basement all by themselves.

 

Lol, you’re in trouble now! Haha!

St. Henry getting some love in the state rankings.

St. Henry is 3-0 against these teams, and will play Highlands at home on February 19th .

 

I love me some St. Henry Crusaders and have been fascinated by what they've accomplished thus far this season, and down deep I think that they might have a slight edge on the other 4 teams mentioned in that their machine is clicking on all cylinders and they have a great basketball I.Q. to go along with phenomenal team dynamics.

 

With that said NCC is coming back strong after being plagued by injury, Highlands and Connor have proven themselves strong, and BW is the team of those 5 that I'm the least impressed with considering I believe that they're not quite using what they have efficiently. Still they have what it takes to do damage so when all is said and done it won't surprise me if any of these 5 are there in the end to face CovCath.

Bump.

I have seen most of the top teams. Here is where I would put everybody right now:

 

1. CCH - If they had a really bad night perhaps 2 or 3 could beat them, but I don't think they can have that bad of a night.

 

2. St. Henry - Really close call between them and Connor for #2 but I like Vieth a lot so I will give Saint Henry the edge.

 

3. Conner - Very similar to Saint Henry in so many ways. Scott is a talented, skilled player. Good team depth.

 

4. Highlands - I think there is a gap after 3 to the teams that follow including Highlands. Not a huge gap but a clear gap. Highlands doesn't quite have enough weapons to be ranked ahead of St. Henry and Conner.

 

5. Beechwood - The Tigers have some really good individual players but they just don't seem to connect as well as the teams above. They are not very good shooting the ball overall and are not good at all shooting three pointers. If they can find team chemistry, focus on attacking the rim on offense, they have the potential to be #2.

 

6. Newport Catholic - Speaking of potential, we all know the story. Until they are able to get a healthy team on the floor and show it, they can't be ranked any higher than this.

 

The rest is an on any given night and matchup driven group. Several teams are capable of upsets but if any of them were to beat the 6 listed above, it would be just that - a definite upset.

In response to DukeDog. I agree based off the head to head and St. Henrys overall resume they should be #2, however I do understand why PP1 would have Conner #2.

 

I doubt anyone that didnt see this game would know Conner was without a starter who averages 8points and leads team in rebounding. Not sure if this would've made a difference in this game but I do think it would provided another scoring threat and a extra body to compete against St. Henrys dynamic duo.

 

In addition Conner has only two losses this year when having everyone available (Cov Cath and Harvest Prep).

 

I dont think any team not named Cov Cath would see this as a dream match up come regional if both are fortunate enough to make it that far.

Edited February 5, 20206 yr by UCME