bluclearsky

The only rationale that I can see is that Cleveland was eliminated by the State Champion (#1), Bearden by a semi-final team (#4) and SDHS by a quarter finalist (#8). All games were by a 1 goal difference. In this poll, like many, the last game seems to weigh heavily in the voters mind.

I have great respect for Bearden. Their record for the last 3 years is one that any coach, player, parent or fan would want for their team. However, if you had made your "bet" before the season, you would not have done well at all. Bearden did play #4 - #7 this year and lost 75% of the time. Could it be that, in the end, those who vote on the rankings cast their ballot on this year's results rather than reputation?

This raises an interesting question. Should the recognition be on the player's 2008 high school season or should it look at past accomplishments and resume as well?

Could it be because there are far more schools and players in both AAA and A/AA than there are in D2?

MVM - You watched Clair play most every game I would guess and that makes your belief in her understandable because you have seen her at her best and on occassions where she might have been average. Her equals on other teams, you have seen once, twice or not at all. Perhaps when you saw them, they did not have their best day due to injury, illness or whatever. I had not seen the D2 teams play this year but have heard many good things about their defenders. So I do not feel able to declare one player or another to be the best. However, I do respect your strong feelings for your team's players.

No doubt Claire Lantner is a strong defender but let us not overlook the other strong defenders both in Chattanooga area AAA schools as well as A/AA and Division II. More than one among that group is equal in both skill, tenacity and leadership qualities. Relying on the Goals Against stat can be misleading if you do not factor in strength of schedule. Looking at that, you will see that other defenses gave up more goals but played much more challenging schedules. Defenders are most definitely at a disadvantage for Player of the Year awards. There are no individual stats which help their cause. It makes comparison among them difficult. That is where offensive players have the clear advantage in award selections.

Although I did not see Brentwood this season, I did get to see many top teams. siegel was with out question the best. I would pick siegel to win tomorrow.

CAK 4 Station Camp 1 http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/nov/05/c...s-state-opener/

As reported in Knoville News Sentinel: http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/nov/05/c...s-state-opener/

Blue clear sky was a phrase used in Forrest Gump in 1994 and then again in a George Strait song in 1996. /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

Interesting that you would leave off a District Defensive MVP while including a teammate at the same position. That certainly casts a shadow of doubt on your list as a whole.

Cleveland - Siegel http://www.clevelandbanner.com/index.cfm?e...74F120086233C90

Siegel - Cleveland http://www.dnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A...025/1006/SPORTS Riverdale - Soddy Daisy http://www.dnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A...EYvAQqKD8B1g%3D

Soddy-Daisy/Cleveland http://www.clevelandbanner.com/index.cfm?e...754CCC90A4E781B

MVM did that on 10/8 and, based on his post that day, it would have been Cleveland @ 2-4-1. That may have changed in the last 3 weeks though. Many games have been played since then. Nevertheless, you and I seem to agree that it is tonight that matters. Our hope is that all players, coaches and referees will have their best game of the season tonight and be able to leave the field with the pride of a game well played.

I think a win tonight is more important than a meaningless ranking. Worrying about rankings now takes the focus off the task at hand. And Bearden is a big task.

I think that the upsets are more likely to occur in region and substate rather than in later rounds. Look at region 3 in 2006 where neither district champ advanced to region final or the 2007 region 3/4 substates where both region runner up teams advanced to state. You are correct however in that picking the dark horse is " a different matter..."

So, you are saying when things go poorly that it is the coach's fault but when things go well that the coach had nothing to do with it. Hmmmmm.

Actually, according to the Hamilton County Department of Education website (http://usps.whitepages.com/service/post ... ce&z=37379) does not recognize the hyphen either. Based on those two official government sources, I would have to conclude that MVM was correct in his spelling. I think you owe him an apology, Rouser.

MVM - First let me say that I have lived in West Knoxville for many years. Bearden is to my east and Farragut to the west. So, I hear a lot about the two schools up here, as well as Oak Ridge and others, and will admit to a bit of home town bias. Looking at the games played so far by both Farragut and SDHS, I noted that the opponents in Farragut's 13 wins have won 41 more games than they have lost. Soddy's 13 wins have come against teams that have lost 5 more than they have won. (Disclaimer - This is based on records reported on Eurosport.) I conclude that Farragut has had the tougher schedule week in and week out. That and Farragut's recent win over Oak Ridge influenced my pick. As far as passing the road test, I did not see the game but, as I read the articles in your local press (http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2008 ... utout-ccs/), CCS was missing 2 starting defenders and Logan Mays left with an injury early in the game. I wonder how the game would have turned out if Soddy Daisy was the team missing 3 starters. Maybe, it would have not changed the final out come but I do wonder. Now, I may be wrong but I don't recall picking against SDHS any time other than the CCS game. So, I do not feel there is a personal bias. In fact, you should be pleased that I picked Farragut since I am almost always wrong when I make a pick. /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

Farragut 1 Soddy Daisy 0

And what are the 3 games that Greeneville has not posted on Eurosport? BTW, all of Eurosport schedules omit the ranking for teams from other divisions. Greeneville's page on Euorsport does not show that ECS and Briarcrest are ranked teams. Yet, you noted it in your original post.

Where did you get your numbers? Eurosport has a 9-6-1 record for G'ville. And Soddy has played 4 ranked teams (Riverdale, Notre Dame, GPS & CCS). Nevertheless, I do agree with some other parts of your analysis. I had similar thoughts when I read MVM's post on unranked 10 win teams. When you get right down to it though, in post-season, rankings won't matter but experience and preparation will.

It seems to have served Soddy Daisy well to have a schedule where there was only 1 week with 3 games and 2 of those were against teams that were not the most challenging opponents. With no tournament play, they have built a record that impresses many based on various rankings. I am unfamiliar with the injury situation there but would guess that they have had far fewer than some teams who played 5 - 6 games in a 7 day stretch. In the end, we will know if the schedule prepared them well for post season or not.

TSSAA does not count tournament games as scrimmages. Those games are counted in the 16 regular season games that are permitted. The tournament counts as 2 games even if more than 2 are played. Therefore, including tournaments in the orignal analysis was appropriate.