I was just checking out the first edition of the Democrat & Chronicle polls for winter sports, and I'm very confused by the small school boys basketball one.
This is the poll in question.
Small schools
Rank/team
1. Bishop Kearney
2. Finney
3. Letichworht
4. Wellsviell
5. Oakfield-Alabama
6. Penn Yan
7. Dansville
8. Gananda
9. Dundee
10. Livonia
(tie) Marion
(not typos, this is directly from the D&C Web site)
I think the D&C does a great job with high school sports coverage, but I'm one of the first people to always question the lack of small school athletes that make the All-Greater Rochester teams. There is proof that they focus on the larger schools with these rankings.
First off, Letchworth is 4-1 and has a very good basketball team. I have the utmost respect for coach Tim McMullen. But how do they get a No. 3 ranking?
The Indians have a loss and are one of four Livingston Conference teams to make the top 10. Livingston is a decent basketball league, but the Genesee Region League is probably much stronger this season.
The only GR squad to make the list is Oakfield-Alabama at No. 5. The Hornets are stacked this season and are off to a 4-0 start. Surely the Hornets deserve to be ranked higher than Letchworth.
And I don't see how Notre Dame can be totally left off this top 10 list.
The Fighting Irish have only played two games, but have won both in blowout fashion and are a very talented and deep team. Notre Dame is also one of the best teams in the history of Section 5, so I don't see how they can be left off.
The other glaring exception is Batavia, which is ranked sixth in the small school wrestling poll. If Batavia is considered a small school, then they should be right near the top of this list. As good as the top teams on that list are, if they have to play the Blue Devils, they are probably going to lose. Batavia plays schools like Pittsford Sutherland, Pittsford Mendon and Victor, and just won a tournament with two defending state champions.
D&C does a lot of things well, but these rankings basically forget that Genesee County is on the map.
