Preseason ranks not a big deal
What do you have to do to earn a little respect? One year after finishing 5-5 and going to the playoffs as a third seed in the district, the Warren County Pioneers are getting no love from the pollsters.
In the Sonny Moore Power Ratings just released, Warren County is fourth from last in the state in 5A, or 231st out of 323 teams of all categories in the state. By the way, Red Boiling Springs, a small 1A school, has the distinction of being ranked last in the state.
The Pioneers, with a power ranking of 91.16, are ranked higher than just two teams on the schedule, which happen to be their first two games, those being Bradley Central and DeKalb County, both of which accounted for wins last season.
Meanwhile, the Pioneers are ranked significantly behind teams they beat last year like Cumberland County and Franklin County. The top ranked team in the state, Riverdale, according to the poll, has a 146.60 power rating.
The Pioneers will not have to test this large gap in power ratings, at least not during the regular season, although a last seed in the district for playoffs generally means a first round game with region foe Riverdale in the opening round.
However, unfortunately for the Pioneer?s opening day opponent, Bradley Central, the Bears will have to put their 87.11 power rating up against the second best rating the state, a 144.37 held by Oak Ridge, meaning the Bears will likely be trying their hardest to win their home opener to avoid starting the season 0-2 as the Oak Ridge game is a foregone conclusion.
While it?s fun to see the preseason predictions, they really don?t mean much at this level seeing I doubt the folks who put together the rankings have personally went to the training camps of all 323 teams in the state. Plus, the Pioneers were ranked below all but DeKalb last year, given their long winless streak going into the season, yet they had a playoff year. Frankly, until the schools have a couple of games under their belt, I think it?s a waste of paper to even rank teams past the top 10 and really, I think the pollsters basically make up some of the rankings based on past reputations of schools.
As for the top 5A teams in the state as projected by Sonny Moore, there is little imagination as he has Riverdale, Oak Ridge and defending champ Ravenwood in that order starting the poll, followed by Kingsport, Cookeville and Franklin. These are teams which will normally grace the top 10 in everyone?s poll, teams I would throw in the top 10 along with others like Brentwood, Gallatin, Germantown and Ooltewah almost every year just based on reputation.
Personally, this preseason, when put head-to-head, I like the Murphy Fair top five for its imagination as the high school prep prognosticator is taking Franklin at the top spot followed by a resurgent Gallatin, followed by Oak Ridge, Riverdale and an improving Smyrna squad.
For those who have forgotten, Franklin made it to championship game the year before last, falling to Riverdale in the finals before having a lackluster 8-4 season last year. Am I calling them as the front-runner? Ask me after they play Ravenwood, the team which nipped them by a single point last season.