Monday, October 23, 2017

The final rankings...

...are in and it's interesting to compare them with those from the preseason. (Obviously, all three news services will continue compiling rankings until the end of the playoffs, but what's the point? The results from here on out will be determined on the field.)

Lincoln-Way East (above), which tops all three, was noticeably absent from MaxPreps's original top ten. Prairie Ridge and Maine South, meanwhile, remained at or near the top of all three for the entire season. Barrington, which appears on everyone's final list, wasn't on anyone's preseason top ten radar. And finally, Waubonsie Valley was highly-ranked in all three before Week One but finished the season at 4-5. What happened out there?*

In the current rankings, there was no change for a second week in a row to Beth Long's and Mike Clark's at the Sun-Times and Tribune, respectively. And in MaxPreps there was only a slight jumbling, inserting Naperville Central and Rochester into the top ten to replace Phillips and Loyola. (Who knows what those computers are thinking?) Here they are, with Week One's immediately following. (All teams undefeated unless otherwise noted.)

Tribune:

1. Lincoln-Way East
2. Maine South (8-1)
3. Prairie Ridge
4. Loyola (8-1)
5. Phillips
6. Glenbard West (8-1)
7. Marist
8. Homewood-Flossmoor (8-1)
9. Lake Zurich
10. Barrington

Sun-Times:

1. Lincoln-Way East
2. Prairie Ridge
3. Maine South (8-1)
4. Phillips
5. Loyola (8-1)
6. Marist
7. Glenbard West (8-1)
8. Lake Zurich
9. Homewood-Flossmoor (8-1)
10. Barrington

MaxPreps:

1. Lincoln-Way East
2. Maine South (8-1)
3. Prairie Ridge
4. Homewood-Flossmoor (8-1)
5. Barrington
6. Lake Zurich
7. Marist
8. Huntley (8-1)
9. Naperville Central (7-2)
10. Rochester

WEEK ONE

Tribune:

1. Glenbard West
2. Maine South
3. Waubonsie Valley
4. Lincoln-Way East
5. Prairie Ridge
6. Loyola
7. Lyons
8. Homewood-Flossmoor
9. Naperville Central
10. Lake Zurich

Sun-Times:

1. Prairie Ridge
2. Maine South
3. Loyola
4. Waubonsie Valley
5. Lyons
6. Glenbard West
7. Lincoln-Way East
8. Phillips
9. Homewood-Flossmoor
10. Marist

MaxPreps:

1. Prairie Ridge
2. Loyola
3. Marist
4. Maine South
5. IC Catholic Prep
6. East St. Louis
7. Sacred Heart-Griffin
8. Rochester
9. Lyons
10. Waubonsie Valley

* The Warriors weren't the only underperforming program this year. A number of other perennial playoff teams failed to make the postseason, including Wheaton Warrenville South (2-7), Brother Rice (2-7), Joliet Catholic (3-6), St. Patrick (2-7), Carmel (1-8), Prospect (3-6), Elk Grove (0-9), Fremd (1-8) and Rockford Boylan (4-5).

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