It has been quiet on the high school rankings front. Changes from playoff upsets are just starting to roll in.
The 48-40 playoff elimination of Indiana’s highly ranked Bedford North Lawrence playing at home versus Columbus North was the big event as to ranking movements. Unfortunately, the most major story in the last week regarding high school girls basketball is the already well publicized incident of Murfreesboro (Tennessee) Riverdale High School and district rival Smyrna High School both attempting to throw their game for placement in the regional tournament (next post season step). More on this in a separate piece I have written (see link).
Current state of affairs
Mater Dei High School [Congratulations to its Katie Lou Samuelson who was recently named WBCA National High School Player of the Year!] of Santa Ana, California, and Neumann-Goretti High School of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, continue locked at the top each with 98 of the possible 100 points and both schools receiving two first place votes. This has been the case since our original prep poll of polls in January. Only one school dropped out this week and four moved in, all near the bottom.
The start of late season poll shuffling
Bedford North Lawrence’s loss was only accounted for in the MaxPreps poll which came out later than the other three polls. Look for that school to drop further in our next release scheduled for the week of March 8 by which time several other states will be finished for the year. Look for more significant shake-ups then!
The system
The four national polls (links below) were reviewed and 25 points assigned to the team ranked first down to one point for a team ranked 25th. Then the points were added up (maximum score 100) to create the ranking order.
Here are the links to the individual polls:
Blue Star Media: QUIET: Blue Star media Elite 25 girls’ basketball rankings static; No. 1 Neumann-Goretti (PA) nabs title – Blue Star Media
ESPN: espnW 25 Power Rankings – ESPN
MaxPreps: MaxPreps Top 25 national high school girls basketball rankings – MaxPreps
USA Today: Girls Varsity Basketball Expert Rankings | USA Today High School Sports
Swish Appeal Prep Poll of Polls (from polls released week of February 22, 2015)
1-2 Mater Dei High School (Santa Ana, California) 98 (2 first place) (#1-2)
1-2 Neumann-Goretti High School (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) 98 (2 first place) (#1-2)
3 St. Mary’s High School (Stockton, California) 87 (#3)
4 Blackman High School (Murfreesboro, Tennessee) 85 (#4)
5 Whitney Young High School (Chicago, Illinois) 78 (#6)
6 Myers Park High School (Charlotte, North Carolina) 65 (#7)
7 Bedford North Lawrence High School (Bedford, Indiana) 63 (#5)
8-10 Elizabethtown High School (Elizabethtown, Kentucky) 60 (#8)
8-10 Miami Country Day School (Miami, Florida) 60 (#9)
8-10 Poly (Long Beach, California) 60 (#10)
11 Cypress Woods High School (Cypress, Texas) 58 (#11)
12 Dillard High School (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) 55 (#12)
13 Ridgeway High School (Memphis, Tennessee) 49 (#13)
14 Paul VI High School (Fairfax, Virginia) 47 (#14)
15 Hopkins High School (Minnetonka, Minnesota) 29 (#15)
16 Marian High School (Bloomfield Hills, Michigan) 28 (#16)
17 Desert Vista High School (Phoenix, Arizona) 24 (#17-18)
18-19 Gonzaga Prep (Spokane, Washington) 22 (#17-18)
18-19 Lawrence North High School (Indianapolis, Indiana) 22 (#22-25)
20 Eastview High School (Apple Valley, Minnesota) 21 (#19)
21 Columbus North High School (Columbus, Indiana) 17 (#22-25)
22-23 Cumberland Valley High School (Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania) 16 (#21)
22-23 Olive Branch High School (Olive Branch, Mississippi) 16 (#20)
24 St. Rose High School (Belmar, New Jersey) 13 (NR)
25-28 Braintree High School (Braintree, Massachusetts) 11 (#22-25)
25-28 Capital Prep (Hartford, Connecticut) 11 (NR)
25-28 Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School (Atlanta, Georgia) 11 (NR)
25-28 Northwest Guilford High School (Greensboro, North Carolina) 11 (NR)
Dropped out:
Manasquan High School (Manasquan, New Jersey) (#22-25)
Notes:
Teams with location are listed according to number of points garnered with prior poll standing in parenthesis. Where there are ties, teams are listed alphabetically. NR stands for “not ranked” in last poll. Again, for more details on each team, see the four polls individually. Hopefully, our next update will be posted in about two weeks depending on the publication of the individual polls.
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