Rankings, ratings and other such nonsense
Every week the Indianapolis Star publishes the latest high school rankings by class. The boys poll is conducted by the Associated Press and the girls poll is conducted by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association. Somehow I lend the coaches more credence than I do the writers...
I always look through the polls to see if any area teams are listed among those ranked. Right now there are no area teams ranked in the top ten in their respective classes.
The Linton-Stockton boys and the White River Valley girls are among those teams listed as "Others receiving votes." In this week's poll, the Miners were ranked 14th in Class 2A and the Lady Wolverines were 11th in Class A.
Expand that outside the area to include potential sectional opponents and we find two more teams of interest. Class 2A Sectional 47 participant South Knox is ranked two spots higher than Linton-Stockton among "Others receiving votes" in Class 2A boys. Clay City, from Class A Sectional 57, is currently ranked eighth in Class A by the AP.
Everyone knows rankings are subjective and polls are meaningless.
Jeff Sagarin attempts to inject some objectivity into the process through his complex rating formula. So let's see what Jeff has to say.
Sagarin assigns a ranking to every high school team in the state, all the way from No. 1 Evansville Reitz through No. 417 Cannelton, based on his mathematical models. He also lists where each team falls in its respective class but does not change his overall ranking.
Sagarin's latest high school boys basketball ratings list South Knox 101st in the state, Clay City 125th and Linton-Stockton 140th.
Broken down by class, Sagarin has South Knox ranked ninth in 2A, one spot behind Evansville Mater Dei and ahead of Churubusco and Winamac, who were ranked in the AP top ten but are 11th and 15th respectively according to the Sagarin ratings. Linton-Stockton is also 14th in the Sagarin ratings for Class 2A.
Didn't Linton-Stockton just beat South Knox? At South Knox? Without Joe Dieball in the lineup?
To be fair and objective, South Knox did drop from 83rd to 101st after the Linton-Stockton loss and their narrow escape at Eastern Greene. But somehow, the Miners only went up one spot, from 141st.
I haven't really spent any time analyzing Sagarin's formula. I probably wouldn't understand it even if Jeff explained it to me.
I do know that Sagarin gives considerable weight to strength of schedule. By that measure, South Knox trumps Linton-Stockton ever-so-slightly. South Knox is 0-1 against the top 25, with that loss coming to No. 25 Barr-Reeve in the Graber Post Building Classic. Linton-Stockton has not played a top 25 team and is 0-1 against the top 64, that loss coming against No. 38 Terre Haute South in the Wabash Valley Classic.
I seem to recall Clay City beating South Knox 70-53 just two games later in that same Graber Post Buildings Classic. I know nothing about that game other than the score so I can't really comment.
It's just as puzzling on the girls' side. Sagarin has Wood Memorial ranked 11th, one spot ahead of White River Valley. Wood Memorial does have the edge in strength of schedule by virtue of losing 70-46 to No. 16 Princeton and 63-40 to No. 57 Southridge.
Both teams lost to No. 50 Barr-Reeve. WRV lost by four (40-36) to the Lady Vikings in the Blue Chip/SWIAC Classic at Shakamak over the holidays, while Wood Memorial lost 57-46 at Barr-Reeve.
Of course we all know what happened when White River Valley traveled to Oakland City to play Wood Memorial. The Lady Wolverines pounded them 70-44.
I can't wait for next Tuesday when Clay City visits Linton-Stockton, which will go a long way in deciding who will be the champion of the Southwestern Indiana Athletic Conference.
Both Joey Hart and Vance Edmondson will be the first to tell you that wins in February aren't nearly as meaningful as wins in March. And they aren't - but this is still a big game.
And there is this little matter of a conference championship on the line. Clay City is unbeaten at 5-0 in conference play. The Miners have one conference loss, to Bloomfield, but would be in position to secure a share of the title with a win Tuesday.
Terry Schwinghammer is a sports writer for the Greene County Daily World. He can be reached by telephone at (812) 847-4487, ext. 27. He can also be reached via email at tschwing32@yahoo.com.
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