If you missed tonight’s Varsity Insider Chat, watch it on demand at LoHud.com/VCLive. On the show, I revealed the latest rankings, which come after last week’s midseason hiatus.
So, without further, meandering introduction, here is my latest Top 10, followed by the latest class-by-class rankings:
TOP 10
1. MOUNT VERNON — No reason to bump the Knights, whose only losses so far this season came against Top 100 teams Montverde Academy and Taft. But their biggest challenge by far comes tomorrow night against St. Anthony’s, a team ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 in the country by national polls.
2. NEW ROCHELLE — The two teams the Huguenots have lost to so far would be ranked top-two on this list, so there’s no shame in that. Their defense, size and dominance of P.J. Torres should send them into the postseason as Class AA’s No. 2 favorite, if not the No. 2 seed.
3. MOUNT ST. MICHAEL — Despite an impressive 18-0 record, the Mount still doesn’t have the same credentials as New Rochelle. Tomorrow night’s game at Stepinac could prove to be the toughest yet — and a major challenge to the perfect record.
4. STEPINAC — The Crusaders have won seven straight since a 66-60 loss at Mount St. Michael. Sure, they have five losses, but four — if not all five — of them came against higher-quality opponents than any team ranked below them has beat this season. They keep the spot.
5. POUGHKEEPSIE — The Pioneers have six games left and nary a challenge. They do face Peekskill at New Rochelle High School in their season finale and the Red Devils should be as good as their going to be by that point. Still, I don’t think any opponent prevents Poughkeepsie from an 18-0 finish.
6. KENNEDY — No, Albany Academy is not the Albany Patroons, but Kennedy’s 30-point win against the Section 2 school should serve some notice. First of all, it proves the Gaels are playing their best, but it also proves they can be dynamic against a quality opponent.
7. HORACE GREELEY — Like clockwork, the Quakers beat opponents in their league with precision, including Byram Hills, which appears to hold the fast track for second place in the league. But I just don’t believe Greeley is as strong at full strength as Kennedy, which provided a far more convincing result against Albany Academy, a team Greeley squeaked by in the Slam Dunk.
8. NORTH ROCKLAND — Unless Tappan Zee magically flipped a switch, North Rockland’s win over TZ should be a serious harbinger for a bright future. Right afterward, TZ knocked off Albertus Magnus and Spring Valley in impressive fashion, leading me to believe the Red Raiders, league champs yet again, are surging toward another County Center push.
9. TAPPAN ZEE — Round and round they go in Rockland, the best beating one another in a season-long race to the top of a crowded hill. I may have just overlapped thoughts there, but the Rockland race is just that confusing. After slumping during losses to Suffern and North Rockland, TZ has recovered, showing its hopes at a second straight gold ball are not yet dashed. Right now, the Dutchmen sit atop the league with just one loss to Albertus and Pearl River’s two.
T10. ALBERTUS MAGNUS — I still like the Falcons as the Class B favorite, but they lost some shine after a convincing loss to TZ at home. But Albertus could have the highest upside of any team in the county and has plenty of time to recover.
T10. PEARL RIVER — The teams are virtually even. Both have two losses, one to each other and one to TZ. It’s impossible to separate them, unless Pearl River falls tomorrow night to North Rockland, a team Albertus beat.
On the bubble: Salesian, White Plains, Yorktown.
Rockland Top 5
1. North Rockland
2. Tappan Zee
3. Albertus Magnus
4. Pearl River
5. Clarkstown South
Class AA
1. Mount Vernon
2. New Rochelle
3. Poughkeepsie
4. Horace Greeley
5. North Rockland
Class A
1. Kennedy
2. Tappan Zee
3. Pearl River
4. Byram Hills
5. Brewster
Class B
1. Albertus Magnus
2. Briarcliff
3. Dobbs Ferry
4. Blind Brook
5. Valhalla
Class C/D
1. Tuckahoe
2. Haldane
3. Lincoln Hall
4. Hamilton
5. Children’s Village
20 Comments
Any way we can get current standings of each league?
Maxprep is not currentI think that we should change this to the Rockland Journal News forum, it seems like Rockland teams are the only ones being followed besides Mt. Vernon now.
Don’t worry when playoff time comes most will drop like flies
Was wondering where peekfatdaddy was all year. Stop bellyaching for years we had to listen to you about Peekskill, Peekskill , Peekskill. The Rockland league is better than Westchester right now in A so live with it. For years all we read about how you fawned over Mookie, then Brickhouse. Well suck it up. Im sure there is another player coming along who you can attach yourself to. Last year and this year Rockland A better than Westchester. Just a fact
Hi Josh,
Thank you for your rankings. I always appreciate reading them. It’s also nice to see your journalistic touch manifesting in your writing. Anyone who can make ‘nary’ flow in a basketball anaylysis gets a thumbs up from me. I just had one question. If you said New Ro might get the #2 AA Seed if things work out for them how would the top 4 in AA play if everyone wins out with MV beating New Ro again as a possibility? MV does not get penalized for their loses so this should be interesting. Would it look like?
1.) MV
2.) Pok
3.) New Ro
4.)Greely
5.) No Rock
Statesman… I didn’t mean New Ro would get the No. 2 seed. I meant it would be, in my eyes, the second choice behind MV. Obviously, I don’t expect Poughkeepsie to lose, which would make it 18-0 in NYS compared to New Ro’s 11-3 (or whatever it will end up at). In fact, I think Greeley will finish ahead of New Ro if it wins out because it will have just one loss.
Josh… Got you, point understood. Makes perfect sense, I was just trying to figure things out. AA and A will be a puzzle and a wild and exciting Sectional Field—is Spring Valley in serious jeopardy of not qualifying? If so that’ll be a tough pill for the Tigers’ program to swallow..
Sidebar… Albertus will be a tough out in B for sure, but Lourdes moving down complicates things. They play a tough schedule for a B team based on being around AA and A teams like Beacon, JJEF, Ketcham, Arlington and Pok. It might not be the stiffest of competition (lol) but now that Lourdes will be competing in B in Sectionals—if they cant make a push this year I’d be somewhat disapointed.
pearl river 4th in rockland??? when was the last time they lost? tz has 4 losses to pearl rivers 2 and tz still has to play albertus and at spring valley..your losing your credibility josh i thought you knew what you were talking about but i guess i was wrong
ball… The top four are tough. Yes, TZ still has to play Albertus and Spring Valley once each, but TZ beat both teams convincingly already — and did it recently. Plus, TZ leads the league right now with one loss. Pearl River and Albertus have two apiece. When you look at quality wins for all the schools, here’s what separates them: TZ is 1-0 vs. Albertus. However, Albertus has beaten North Rockland, a team that beat TZ. Pearl River is 1-1 vs. both TZ and Albertus and has yet to play North Rockland.
Give me a better explanation than mine above for why Pearl River should be ranked higher than TZ.
Hoops, I am not bellyaching because Peekskill is not being mentioned. They don’t deserve to be mentioned because they suck this year. I don’t get off like some people on here talking about how they know this kid or that kid, so keep your damn mouth shut. I only said that because there are plenty of good teams in Westchester that get no mention at all and all we hear about is North Rockland, Tappan Zee, Albertus Magnus, Spring Valley, Pearl River, and the meaningless Rockland County Championship. Check the records, every year besides last year (Tappan Zee) and Nyack when they had a good run, there is always a good Rockland team, but they never win anything. I’m not saying that they shouldn’t be mentioned, but there are plenty of other teams that could be talked about like Greeley, etc. I didn’t say anything to you, Hoops, when you were drooling all over Iona Prep the last couple of years.
Peekfat, I tend to agree with pretty much everything you write, but I have to disagree in regards to your coverage point. Josh is hitting on all the top teams. MV, New RO are always well covered(and deservedly so). Greeley has been covered too. Townsend has gotten a lot of press and he should. Throw basketball out of the mix, this kid is the valedictorian(There was a great piece on him the other day on MSG varsity) So bright and articulate. Kids like this don’t come around too often.
In the A, the Rockland teams are heavily covered this year and to be honest they deserve it. I go back to the 80’s and it hasn’t been this competitive in a long long time. Not to say there weren’t better players back then, but the level of intensity, sell out games and rivalries is far and away better than it has ever been. Josh also has hit on Kennedy a lot. He even rated them higher and continues to against the Rockland teams(which I agree with)
The lower levels, personally it isn’t my thing, so I can’t comment.
Overall I think the coverage has been solid. Just my opinion.
If the teams are in the upper tier of teams competing for a championship in their classes, then why shouldn’t they receive the coverage they are getting. Albertus, PR, and TZ all have legitimate shots to win a Gold Ball and perhaps the best team in Rockland won’t even sniff a championship (NR). This is the best that Rockland ball has been in a while. BTW, the Rockland Championship is not meaningless. It is for you, because you are a Westchester guy, but it obviously should be a goal to win it for every Rockland team to begin the season.
I have no problem with the Rockland coverage, I mean, it’s likely that the top individual performance of the year will come from Rockland (Houston’s 49). Plus it sounds like the passion of the upper echelon games and crowds can’t be matched over here, except when MV/NR/WP go at it. So cut Josh some slack, he’s been more than fair.
As for the seeding, I predicted a while ago that it would be 1. Pok 2/3. MV/Greeley 4. New Ro, and it’s looking more like that now.
Rockland teams are getting much more coverage this year because their is more good teams in Rockland then normal this year (North Rockland, TZ, Albertus, Pearl River and even South, Suffren, And Valley have great players on their teams as well). Also while Westchester still has the best teams like Mount Vernon and New Ro some of their top programs are down like white plains and peekskill. Normally Westchester has all the best teams and all the best players because they are four times the size of Rockland. Obviously almost every year Westchester is far superior but this year is the best I can remember Rockland in a long time. I think another factor is that every game in Rockland has huge crowds and high intensity levels that most westchester games cant match. Obviously the New Ro mount Vernon game and some other are packed but besides that Rockland has the better fans.
Also if you compare Westchesters Junioir Class vs Rocklands Junior class it looks like Rockland Might have the better players. Thats the first class I can ever think of where this is the case. Mcguiness, McCahey, Sayer, Peterson, Haye, are all great players and Westchester does not really have one great junior. They may not be better but its awfully close
Peekfatdaddy,
Not all teams can be covered so this year it is Rockland’s turn. There are better matchups in Rockland this year. Too bad there is not more coverage ability but Josh is only one guy. Josh is there any way people who attack other people can be blocked. This is really getting out of hand.
josh im mistified how u took salesian out of your top 10 when their 5 losses came to Rice(AA), All Hollows(AA), Mount(undefeated) and Don Bosco Prep(top 20 in the tristate area) and none of those tams beat them by more than 10pts… i’d like to see your bottom 6 teams play that schedule and see how they do.. also slaesian played 2 of your top ten teams and blew them out in their home courts…
Wasn’t this suppose to be a down year for North Rockland?
I think Irvington boys will be tough in the B bracket , they have 2 scores but have others who can step in if needed , they could be a dark horse in the playoffs that is overlooked !!!!!!
North Rockland by default will always have a good team because of how ginormous their school is.
[...] Jan. 27: Top 10 and class-by-class rankings | Varsity Insider If you missed tonight's Varsity Insider Chat, watch it on demand at LoHud.com/VCLive. On the show, I revealed the latest rankings, which come after last week's. Other recent entries. BREAKING NEWS: Cimmino to coach East at McDonald's All-American Game · Watch VI Chat LIVE and listen to Kennedy stars, the latest Top 10 and more · Football Carbone to succeed Conklin · Football DiFusco commits to Fordham · Kennedy stars to appear on VI Chat . [...]