Mighty 9 basketball
OK, I've been slightly delayed on blogging the first in-season Mighty Nine basketball polls -- I blame our many area football teams in the state championships, but sorry to those who were impatiently awaiting an explanation for why I have both Page and Grimsley, boys teams that finished last season under .500, in the poll.
Well, first, here are the polls which first appeared in Tuesday's paper and will be out each Tuesday (except maybe over the holidays) through the end of the regular season. Records include last night's games:
MIGHTY NINEBOYS
School / Record / LW*
1. Greensboro Day / 10-0 / 1
2. Dudley / 0-0 / 2
3. Ragsdale / 4-0 / 4
4. Trinity / 5-0 / 5
5. Glenn / 0-0 / 6
6. Andrews / 0-1 / 3
7. Reidsville / 0-0 / 7
8. Page / 3-0 / 9
9. Grimsley / 2-0 / --
Dropped out: Cummings (8).*_Last week’s ranking
GIRLS
School / Record / LW*
1. Grimsley / 2-0 / 1
2. Bishop McGuinness / 3-0 / 2
3. Page / 3-0 / 3
4.Rockingham County / 3-0 / 4
5. Southeast Guilford / 3-0 / 7
6. Northwest Guilford / 3-0 / --
7. East Davidson / 2-1 / 5
8. Southern Alamance / 0-0 / 9
9. Eastern Guilford / 5-0 / --
Dropped out: Northeast Guilford (6), Ragsdale (8).*-- Last week’s ranking
Boys poll: As per usual, Freddy Johnson has managed to squeeze in 9 or 10 games on to Greensboro Day's schedule before the public schools have gotten cranked up. The Bengals have won all of them and, in their blowout win of Mt. Zion that I attended last week, they looked very good in the process. Javan Mitchell, at about 6-7, has given them a legitimate inside presence. Dudley is yet to play -- a game against Hillside was postponed, so the Panthers open at home Friday against rival Smith and their new coach, Gene Banks.
Ragsdale is 4-0 after last night's 79-63 win over Grimsley, as the triumvirate of Wally Jones-Jay Canty-Ladarious Canty makes the Tigers a definite team to keep an eye on. They're up from No. 4 to No. 3 this week. Trinity knocked down Andrews 45-42 last week. Page was 10-17 last season but has looked good in its 3-0 start and appears to have a solid lineup that should keep the Pirates in or on the cusp of the poll all season. Grimsley, after a 2-0 start, was handled pretty easily by Ragsdale this week, so perhaps its stay in the Mighty 9 will be short-lived. As we showed in the football poll, we like that No. 9 spot to be a rotation of the week's hottest up-and-coming team. Maybe next week it'll be Northern Guilford, Stan Kowalewski's team of fabulous freshmen and sophomores. The Nighthawks are 3-0, but we'll wait and see.
On the girls side, Grimsley has been strong early but will have to beat Page twice and Northwest Guilford along the way to stay unbeaten, and at the top of the poll. Bishop McGuinness is lurking at No. 2. Northwest has jumped in at No. 6 after Northeast Guilford dropped a couple of early games, including one to Eastern Guilford, which showed it's a team to watch after a 5-0 start. The Wildcats also beat Williams and are No. 9 with a bullet. Southeast Guilford looks sharp early with a solid win over Anna Freeman and East Davidson.