Clay What About St. Mikes

[Hoopsking]

Clay, St. Mikes has one loss during the season and that came to Woodson when Georgetown signee Alexa Roche went down for the season with an ACL tear. It was a close game and the injury decimated the teams psychi for the remainder of that game when St. Mikes was winning.

They knocked off Shabazz which is ranked as on of your top teams. Do you plan to move them into the top 20 Clay?

They also beat a top team in Hampton this past weekend.

What about it Clay? What about giving St. Mikes there just due.

[ClayKallam]

Shabazz will indeed drop out of the top 25, because they lost to an unranked team and have no wins against elite teams. Since St. Michael lost to Woodson head-to-head on a neutral court, the Eagles pretty much have to be behind Woodson -- and Woodson just lost to Bergtraum. (As for the injury, those kinds of things can't be taken into account. Would that mean Ursuline should still be in the top 25 because if DelleDonne would have played, they would have won a bunch more games?)

More telling, Woodson has a loss to Punahou as well as to St. John the Baptist. And St. John the Baptist has lost, among others, to Seton Keough, which lost only in Texas. So if you go through the trail of wins and losses, St. Michael is a ways away.

All that said, winning the New York title and beating Bergtraum would pretty much change everything. That appears to be St. Mike's only shot at knocking off a nationally ranked team. When will those two meet?

[Hoopsking]

Come on Clay. They have one loss during the season and have played high caliber opponents. Everyone is impressed with them Clay. Give them a break.

Clay, the only shot they have to play Bergtraum is if they meet in the NY State Federation.

St. Mikes would have to beat St. John the Baptist and then Christ the King to get to Bergtraum if everything falls in place like I think it would.

But, be that as it may. St. Mikes has to get past King and they haven't done that yet. Until then, they have a lot to prove.

I still think they should be ranked in the top 25 Clay.

[glenn]

Actually, HK makes a couple good points.

First, I don't think he was arguing that St. Mike's be given a break, in general, because of Roche's injury. He was making a very valid point that such a major injury to such a critical player had to have had an adverse psychological effect on the team that game.

Secondly, I think the back-to-back quality wins backs that up. Hampton was a T-Mobile participant and its two best players had every college coach in the house drooling. And Shabazz was a ranked team, by every outlet that ranks high schools. You cannot say now, in retrospect, well, they don't have any quality wins.

[Ohyeah_9]

I am with Clay on this St.Mikes did play some very good teams but the teams they played have also played some good teams. Now Bergtraum on the other hand only played one ranked oppponent I believed but if St.Mikes beats them than its fair to say they moved into the top 25.

[txbasketball24]

Shabazz will indeed drop out of the top 25, because they lost to an unranked team and have no wins against elite teams. Since St. Michael lost to Woodson head-to-head on a neutral court, the Eagles pretty much have to be behind Woodson -- and Woodson just lost to Bergtraum. (As for the injury, those kinds of things can't be taken into account. Would that mean Ursuline should still be in the top 25 because if DelleDonne would have played, they would have won a bunch more games?)

More telling, Woodson has a loss to Punahou as well as to St. John the Baptist. And St. John the Baptist has lost, among others, to Seton Keough, which lost only in Texas. So if you go through the trail of wins and losses, St. Michael is a ways away.

All that said, winning the New York title and beating Bergtraum would pretty much change everything. That appears to be St. Mike's only shot at knocking off a nationally ranked team. When will those two meet?

A loss to a Texas team diminishes any teams' hopes for being nationally ranked, in so many words. It's getting deeper and deeper, Clay.

[Hoopsking]

Okay Clay, no sense in debating these issues as you have your opinion. I just find it ironic that you had Shabazz ranked in your top 25. Yet, when St. Mikes beat them, you basically stated Shabazz has no quality wins against elite teams. Okay, why were they in your top 25?

Anyway, it is what it is.

Oh, beware of Christ the King next year pal. Everyone talks about Bria Smith. Wait until everyone gets a look at 6'2" Jr. Forward transfer Ariel Edwards. She is the real deal and in my opinion the best player at Christ the King. She can do it all.

Glenn got a peak of her at the Metro Classic All Star game.

[ClayKallam]

The rankings are complicated, especially so this year.

A team like Shabazz, which has lots of talent, is going to get ranked as long as it's unbeaten. The same with Murrah of Mississippi, which lost and will also drop. Teams that don't play quality opponents, or only one or two, have no margin for error.

St. Michael beating Hampton and Shabazz back to back is impressive, and Hampton's a good team. (An injury's impact on the day of a game is obviously much more difficult to deal with, but when it comes to polls, that seldom is taken into account. If a college football team loses its quarterback in pregame warmups, and then loses, the voters don't really care that much.) So I would say that yes, St. Michael deserves consideration for next week, especially if Woodson continues to win.

As for the Texas teams, I should have said 'unranked Texas teams' ... though pretty good ones. In fact, as I look again, those are very good Texas teams, and Seton Keough may deserve consideration as well -- and has a win over St. John the Baptist. If Keough beats Riverdale Baptist Sunday, they're a candidate too.

That might also change my opinion in Texas, as Bellaire beat Seton Keough, which is one more intersectional win than DeSoto has.

[Hoopsking]

Okay Clay. All I was asking for was consideration. Thanks.

[txbasketball24]

Clay knows what's up but hasn't verified it, yet, nationally. I would put my money on either Cy-Fair or Bellaire to run the table against anyone outside our state! Everyone should understand that nothing is constant and change is inevitable.