The sixth state rankings for the 2022 the season have been released by the NYSSWA. Below are the WNY teams that made the cut:
Class AA
Orchard Park #13
Jamestown #19
Class A
Canisius #14
Class B
Timon #5
Olean #7
Nichols #14
St. Mary's #21
Class C
Salamanca #8
Randolph #9
Class D
Westfield #5
Clymer #10
Panama #13
Pine Valley #18
According to the rankings...
- Orchard Park is up to #13 in NYS Class AA, one spot ahead of Aquinas, who had been previously unranked, but came crashing in all the way up to #14 after knocking off Canisius for a second time this season on Saturday. One of the teams they jumped in the rankings was #19 Jamestown, who Orchard Park plays this week.
- Canisius falls spots to #14 in NYS Class A for losing to Aquinas who got rewarded for the win with the above mentioned poll crash! Also, I believe during conversations this week about Class A rankings, it was suggested that St. Joes & Health Sciences were worthy of serious consideration and would be prime candidates for the magic of expanded rankings --- when they just add five teams to a classification (ranking 25 teams instead of 20). And I also believe that to combat the suggestion of ranking those two good Class A teams (Joe's & Health), the committee used their magic to take teams away instead...reducing the number of teams ranked in Class AA to 20. Well...22 I guess, because of the new magic that allows for three teams to be 'tied' for #20 in NYS Class AA. Uh oh, it's magic!
- Nichols falls to #14 in NYS Class B from #5 (that's right, they got bumped to #5 last week after the rankings were released and originally had them at #9). I know this all gets very convoluted. And magical. But anyway, Timon got sent back to #8 (not #9 where Nichols was when the rankings first came out, but #8) and Olean, the most steady hoops program in WNY, remained steady at #7 in NYS Class B. You all with me still? Ok, so Nichols loses to Class A (non-powers apparently) St.Joe's & Health and falls from #5 to #14. Meanwhile, St. Mary's loses by 35 points to Timon (#8 and #5 in NYS Class B all in the same week) and stays at #21 in NYS Class B...because Class B still ranks 25 teams, the only Classification that ranks more than 20. Except for Class AA which has ties & 22 teams. And Class C, which also has ties, but only 21 teams. :)
- Salamanca jumps two spots to #8 in NYS Class C, past Randolph who remains #9 in NYS Class C. They fell behind Randolph in last week's rankings after losing to the Cardinals and both teams have won all their games since.
- What sits smack dab in the middle of two hyphens? Crown Point does! After pointing out that Avoca-Prattsburgh was a hyphen and South Kortright/Andes was a backslash, the Avoca and Prattsburgh school districts were awarded a backslash in a formal ceremony at Tracy's house. But let's keep the celebration brief, because there's a serious investigation pending...are Crown and Point in fact two different schools looking to provide opportunities to kids by combining to make one super power? Hmmm. Are they a backslash? A hyphen? Or just a traditional school district like the ones Section VI sends to the Far West Regionals in Class D? More to come on this Crown Point.
Click HERE for complete NYSSWA State Rankings
-centercourt
Yawn!!!!
Posted by: Tracy Presler | Tuesday, January 25, 2022 at 04:01 PM
I'm sure Crown Point is a great team in Section VII, but as a High school Basketball history buff. I can tell you that Section VII has won one State Championship ever, and finished runner up three times. I was in attendance when they won their first one. Section Five has won 27 State Championships and finished runner up 28 times. Avoca finished 28-0 and won the Class D State Championship in 1989. They lost in the State Championship game in 1990. Prattsburgh finished 29-0 and won the Class D State Championship in 1991. So they each have one to match the entire Section VII.
Posted by: Bill Collmer | Tuesday, January 25, 2022 at 07:41 PM