Pre-Season Rankings

[dins8]

Hey, is Akula bending MJ's ear a bit? Just saw the rankings and Alcoa appears a bit high. Great 2A side last year but struggled playing "up". Record was 1-4 vs 3A schools--Mcminn/W (3-1), OakRidge/L (0-1), Maryville/L, (1-3), Farragut/L, (1-4) and Bearden/L, (0-1). Definately a force to be reckoned with at 2A but #14 overall and #7 in east Tennessee appears a bit strong. Oh, well, it won't be long until things start being decided on the pitch-hurry up spring!

 

Alcoa proved just how good they were last year by beating Catholic in the Regionals and then going all the way to the State Championship Game. Also, if you can compete against McMinn, Oak Ridge, Maryville, Farragut, and Bearden you can play with anybody. Beside, we played them twice last season, I KNOW how good they are.

 

Bottom line - pre-season polls are just for fun. Every year the teams are different, in strengths, weaknesses, personnel, team chemistry, etc. But as always it should be another exciting season. I am so ready for practices to begin.

 

MJ is probably factoring in the post-season. Let's remember that Alcoa won when it mattered, and it is hard to not give lots of pre-season buzz to a team that made such a great run in the playoffs.

[akula21]

Wiredtowin, no bribing from me to MJ, he did these rankings a long time ago and he usually does a great job, but no one really knows what the landscape is going to look like. I really pay little attention to rankings, they are certainly nice for the kids and can provide some motivation, but I have too much to worry about to look at rankings untill the end of the year when they actually can have some accuracy. But with that said, we did struggle in our matches with some of the bigger teams, They were certainly stronger on those days than we were, but it gave us some invaluable experience in finding ways to win some other games in May. I will take that trade anytime. We all make the tournament and that is the real season, I could care less about a pretty record or a ranking.

 

Good luck to everyone!!! Can't wait to get going. Stop by and say Hi at the Scrimmage this year, wiredtowin, love meeting "T'ers" in person.

[BigG]

Regardless of wins or losses with those "bigger" teams, it has done Alcoa good to do so. Look where they ended up. Playing a tough schedule during the regular season can help you prepare for post. Akula has done a good job in prepping his teams.

[for7dollars]

franklin shouldve been higher, at least in the top 10... they only lost two graduated seniors and have 11 returning seniors. every player has at least 6 years of d1 travel experience. all there seniors played on the 2nd and 3rd best teams in state for travel. 2 juniors were on the region 3 premier league champions

[SoccercatDad]

May I suggest that Dobyns-Bennett should be ranked before Sullivan South or Science Hill. Coach Woods will field a disciplined, experienced team that has a lot to prove after 2 years of post season disapointments. I believe they will be Dist 1 and Region 1 Champs. They will have a strong attack, led by David Geno, however defense will need to be tested.

 

Is that you Chris? I can verify that the team will be disciplined and prepared with Coach Woods

[OnThePitch]

May I suggest that Rankings mean nothing! Was it not last year even the knowledgeable Rankings had Cleveland in a top 10 in the Nation and #1 in the state and Farragut gave them their first loss.......or 4 years ago when Bearden was ranked 8th in the State and they won the State Tournament....or Alcoa that was ranked under everyone came in Second last year.

Rankings are for fun and to set up big attendance at the games because you have some idea that it willbe a good game. Teams that cry about their rank need to prove it on the field , then cry if not recognized. Schedule has alot to do with whether you are a real power or not and some teams go

26-1 , yet played very weak teams to do so and when they get in the heat of real powers fold. Really any ranking system should have a RPI to have any validity at all.

HERE AQRE MY TEAMS TO BEAT THIS YEAR

AAA- Farragut

AA/A Alcoa---no I was not paid to say that ( Also watch Kingsbury if they held their roster from last year

Div !! Father Ryan

 

Don't knock my rankings until the final state Whistle Blows, I think all those teams may have a hiccup or two but will still be standing the last day. I could go on and on about my reasoning and yes I realize that all of you have an opinion but I am pretty sure I have hit 2 out of 3 State Champions with my picks.

I could also argue why we should go back to the format of the 80's and have only 1 state Champion, since some schools get a unfair advantage in the division they play in and Soccer being a sport that often times big or little schools don't necessarily mean you have a bigger pool draw. Think of this if in a small school 10 % of the male population comes out for soccer and in a big school only 1/2 % of the male population comes out and they all play club soccer is the small school at a real disadvantage?

Or take a small school like Oneida where the population of Soccer players is almost non existant and put them up against the schools they play where soccer is huge.....thus my call for 1 State Champion to level the field or have a ranking system to move teams up or down on past years success or failures........but like everything else in the world FAIR just doesn't happen!!! Save my predictions they are close to the money!!

[BigG]

HERE ARE MY TEAMS TO BEAT THIS YEAR

AA/A Alcoa---no I was not paid to say that ( Also watch Kingsbury if they held their roster from last year

Love it. Glad that Alcoa is getting well deserved recognition! I love the competition and look forward to our game(s)!

 

I agree with Kingsbury. They could be a tough school. I don't know what the student turn over is there.

[chattablack]

Chattanooga A/AA, good to see Notre Dame in pre season rankings. Should emerge as a strong team, young last year. Expecting a great season at Boyd. Great senior class, very impressive two years ago when I scouted during tourney time. East Ridge will be dangerous, great morale, physical team, and Hixson has a number of skilled and dangerous players. Curious to know how they were affected by graduation. We (CCS) will hopefully continue to mature. 4 seniors led by Cory Wilson. Strong group of juniors led by mid Adam Ryan, Rocklin Shumaker, and Roy Anderson, 10 sophomores and freshmen. We played 5 freshmen in that great match with Alcoa. DII-Baylor will be better than last year, a team very diificult to score on, added some talented freshman, boarders, McCallie very dangerous up top with Arturo, sometimes overlooked right forward (Garrett) who is very good. Success in tourney may depend on return of standout senior midfielder Hudson Brock, recovering from broken leg. Missed last season due to unrelated broken leg. Superb player not on the radar.

[mjuhb]

HERE ARE MY TEAMS TO BEAT THIS YEAR

AA/A Alcoa---no I was not paid to say that ( Also watch Kingsbury if they held their roster from last year

Love it. Glad that Alcoa is getting well deserved recognition! I love the competition and look forward to our game(s)!

 

I agree with Kingsbury. They could be a tough school. I don't know what the student turn over is there.

kingsburry was a stange team they had mexicans, blacks and arabs plus i no clue how they communicated

 

my buddy who was with me at state last year pretty coached them from the parking lot

 

they really only had 1 kid and he is gone and the rest of the team were really disoriganized

 

i think they will get to state but i don't think they will be a problem

[ClemsonSoccer]

Kingsbury is defintely one to watch. Very international as mentioned, much like Sheffield, I believe, was in 2004 and 2005 when they made their A/AA state tourney runs. As I recall their 'best' player was a senior, but there was also a lot of random individual talent. They got much support on their road to AAA state last year. They really came out on nowhere and snuck up on teams in Memphis. They didn't have the resources to be able to travel to state and folks jumped on the story and donated $$$, equipment, etc. to get them to state at the last minute. Now this year Tim Howard heard their innner city Memphis economic plite and donated $15,000 for support. I here the boys put their own team together in the fall and played in an adult league in Collierville at the Mike Rose Complex. It's quite a story.

[uncbornandbred2310]

Where is ensworth?

[TheFactsOnly]

211 Ensworth Ave.

Nashville, TN 37205