AP Polls

[bballfever]

i was looking at the games gordonsville had played earlier in the year.gordosville must have gotten some football players playing on there basketball team.earlier,i saw that they lost by 27 to clay county and later defeated clay county by 25 at clay county.it looks like they are a better team then how they started out.they have won 13 straight according to there schedule.i admitt i havent scene them play but by looking at there schedule,they must be a much better team then how they started. greenfield and trenton have had very tough schedules but a .500 record maybe the reason neither are ranked.but really surprises me that jcs,middleton or goodpasture are not ranked.jcs lost to humboldt earlier this year by one point and humboldt is ranked 3rd in AA. middleton defeated jcs and plays bolivar although not a close game.what ive read about good pasture from other post seems to be very tough this year with some height. its kinda easy to leave some teams out when you look at some matchups.

[megluvsut]

AA and AAA look good...except that Jackson Northside might need to be a little higher....they're extremely talented.

[Dalton91]

Remember, polls are generally useless(i.e. Div I-A College football) except, they can be fun for starting some interesting discussions. Thank God, a playoff in March well settle everything!

[bobcatballer]

I"m as big of a Pickett Co. fan as anybody and i was happy to see the number 7 ranking..But i feel it is dumb that Red Boiling Springs won the district last year and has already beaten Pickett this year and was left out of the rankings..And Pickett also beat Gordonsville pretty easily so I don't think they should be number 1.In fact, I think 7a has 3 teams, pickett,clay co. and rbs that are better than Gordonsville.

[UncleStimpy]

I've seen Gordonsville play every game this year. While I agree they probably aren't the best team in the state, they are deserving of being in the top 10. The AP polls (or any polls for that matter) don't matter in the least because the whole thing has to be decided on the court in Murfreesboro.

 

I will say this. David Watson has to be considered one of the top coaches in Class A. When he took over this team this year's seniors were freshmen. The coach that was there left over the christmas break and Coach Watson took over. That year they didn't win a game until the last game of the year. He instilled a concept of team play and hard defense that the boys bought into and it is paying off this year. For the last couple of years they have depended on Jon Austin to carry them, but now other players have matured and have been able to step up and they have several players that can hurt you.

 

Regardless of where they should or shouldn't be ranked doesn't matter. What Coach Watson and the Tigers have accomplished over the last few years is commendable and should be noticed throughout the state.

[sleep23]

i believe gordonsville has every right to be where they are....they r just as good as any other team in that 10...it could be in any order though....most of the teams r pretty even in that 10....but austin is the real deal...they should make a good run towards the state,....

[gomab2]

I take heat on my polls, but wow...all this AP poll did is make me laugh...

 

Wilson Central is good, but an 18 point loss to an average Blackman team should count for something... And what the heck are Jeff Co, DB, and Maryville doing there??? What about Ridgeway at 10-2, Glencliff (best in Middle Tn), and Wooddale at 14-3 in murderous Memphis???

 

In AA, how can there be no BTW or Sheffield??? No Haywood either??? This is a huge joke... Those two Memphis schools are LOADED, and will compete for a State title from out West...

 

In A, Gordonsville is very good, but not #1. No Goodpasture, who may is my pick to win Class A (and should be top 5 right now)... No Greenfield or JCS???

 

AGain, I take heat on my rankings, but this is ridiculous.........

[dirtydawg15]

Do the writers not know that Bradley beat White Station in the Arby's? That should put them #1. Their loss was to a really good team out of Alabama. And DB is in the rankings on their name and reputation. They are 7-7 with their best win over an average Science Hill team. The first poll of the season is always a little messed up, but this one is pretty bad. We'll see what happens next week.

[Jumpshot]

GoMab

 

Every year when the AP poll comes out, it has been a joke.

 

I trust your thoughtful evaluation of teams' strengths and weaknesses far more than some small town sports writer who hasn't seen many teams play and feels obligated to vote for the local team.

 

I agree that any AA poll that leaves out BTW and Sheffield couldn't possibly be valid. I also disagree with a team being ranked based on last year's performance. That season is gone...let's live in the present! Giles has lost five games and is #2 in the state? Where did Humboldt come from? Kingsbury's record is misreported. They had lost three games before tonight when Raleigh Egypt beat them for a fourth loss, 70-58. BTW AND Sheffield are better than Kingsbury.

 

I have found in the past however that this poll is sooo mysterious and the voters are so secretive, that any objective argument is wasted. It just makes good cannon fodder for everyone to get riled up about.

[setter1704tgr]

Gordonsville has every right to be where they are in the AP polls. They have come from some pretty rough games in the early season to playing very well, and winning, as a team in the later portion. It's great to watch them play because now instead of relying on Austin to score, which he can do very easily, they also have four other starters plus a good bench that can contibute. Way To Go Tigers and Good Luck in the Rest of the Season!! I'll be cheerin for you!!

[BeachVol13]

Yes, Bradley should be the deserving #1 simply because they beat white station, totally agree...jefferson country, unless shaqs son is playing there now or somehting should be nowhere near a ranking or any sort, db is no good, and i think maryville might be better than given credit for but they havnt proved anything yet.....and memphis might be loaded but those teams might have more talent but they arent all better teams. The majority are not dicipined at all and play wild and free on the court which is cool and all at the park, but in the gym it gets beat by structure and dicipline any day.

[WriteStuff]

I am a writer who voted on the first AP poll of the season. Here are few facts people should be aware of:

 

1. Some Class AAA teams were listed as Class AA teams. You couldn't vote for them in Class AAA because the pull-down menu didn't have them listed.

2. I researched records by using CoachT.com's win-loss rankings. I checked out the teams with the best records and then looked to see who they played. Unfortunately, a team can slip through the cracks because of its losses. That almost happened in boys Class AA with Giles County, but I knew it was much better than its 12-5 record indicated and knew it had played a tough schedule.

3. Another problem with the poll is some writers vote based on their region, regardless of how good the team really is. Some smaller newspapers will even rank their "hometown" team No. 1 just to get them in the poll. This is absurd, but it happens.

4. As far as I know, there is no good way to figure out how good teams are across the state without the AP's help -- especially in the first poll. This year I received no listing of the state's "Top Teams" as the AP had sent out in previous years.

5. After viewing some of the responses on this thread, I will look at some teams who may have been overlooked this week.

6. Did I make some mistakes in the rankings? Yes. But I did try harder than some folks as I noticed Dobyns-Bennett with a record of 6-7 was ranked in Class AAA boys.

7. I'm not really trying to defend the polls, just trying to explain why they seem so ridiculous sometimes.