Last week was rough, going 15-9 (62.5%) and pretty much ending any shot of going 75 percent on the season. I have to go 64-12 the last regular season weeks (or 21.3 wins per week) to get there - it's obviously not happening. Now the goal is just to get back to 70 percent on the year. My overall record is 130-58 (.692) through eight weeks.
Below are the 22 other games of note that I'll try my best at predicting a winner for in addition to the deeper-dive games in 7-6A:
DeSoto downing Mansfield Summit; Cedar Hill defeating South Grand Prairie.
(Rankings for each team can be found in our Week 9 Top 10 Area Rankings)
The first three games are Thursday night matchups; the final 19 are Friday night games.
There were a lot of great games last week. Top-ranked Westwood holding off 5th-ranked Round Rock in overtime; #2 Westlake edging #3 Lake Travis in overtime to mirror their first matchup; the twice-weekly demolition derby known as District 25-6A. Great stuff.
What there was not a lot of last week was movement in our Power Rankings. None of those really great games impacted the rankings all that much when taken in context with the season overall. Yes, Lake Travis fell to Westlake – in overtime and by the same amount they’d beaten the Chaps in OT last month. And since they beat Bowie in their first matchup, they stayed put in front of the Dawgs.
Yes, Round Rock fell to Westwood. But the Dragons took the Warriors to overtime at Westwood before falling – and defeated Vandegrift comfortably last month. So, they also stayed put. Same with the four 5A teams ranked #7-#10. None of the results in their games were dramatic enough to shake up the rankings.
We finally saw some movement with Liberty Hill and Vista Ridge flip-flopping after the Panthers scored 100 points in one game and the Rangers suffered a critical upset against an unranked opponent.
Finally, we alluded to it last week that Austin LBJ was on the cusp of cracking the Rankings after soundly defeating New Tech. This week, the Jags thumped a very young Legacy Ranch program, but then the Wranglers upset the Titans. Voila! Welcome to the Power Rankings, Austin LBJ.
This week marks the last full week of the regular season. Here are the updated rankings as they round the final turn and head towards the regular season Finish Line.
VYPE's Austin Boys Public School Basketball Rankings
(Last week’s rankings in parenthesis)
1. (1) Westwood Warriors (6A) – 26-2 (Def. #5 Round Rock 62-56 OT)
2. (2) Westlake Chaparrals (6A) – 25-6 (Def. #3 Lake Travis 56-53 OT; def. Del Valle 72-51)
3. (3) Lake Travis Cavaliers (6A) – 23-8 (Lost @ #1 Westlake 56-53 OT; def. Akins 73-61)
4. (4) Bowie Bulldogs (6A) – 26-6 (Def. Akins 56-49; def. #15 Austin High 69-60)
5. (5) Round Rock Dragons (6A) – 22-7 (Def. Hutto 54-41; lost @ #1 Westwood 62-56 OT)
6. (6) Vandegrift Vipers (6A) 25-6 (Def. Cedar Ridge 74-50; def. Manor 74-48)
7. (7) Hendrickson Hawks (5A) – 26-6 (Def. Pflugerville 53-50; def. Pflugerville Connally 82-38)
8. (8) Glenn Grizzlies (5A) – 23-9 (Def. Hays 56-50; def. #9 Cedar Park 69-60)
9. (9) Cedar Park Timberwolves (5A) – 20-8 (Def. Lockhart 53-46; lost #8 Glenn 69-60)
10. (10) East View Patriots (5A) – 22-8 (Def. Elgin 69-48)
11. (12) Liberty Hill Panthers (5A) – 19-10 (Def. Lehman 100-42; def. Hays 61-58)
12. (11) Vista Ridge Rangers (6A) – 19-11 (Lost @ McNeil 63-56; def. Cedar Ridge 63-49)
13. (13) Rouse Raiders (5A) – 18-13 (Def. Leander 54-47; def. Lehman 72-39)
14. (NR) Austin LBJ (4A) – 19-12 (Def. Legacy Ranch 88-37; def. Northeast 82-60)
15. (14) New Tech Titans (4A) – 25-5 (Def. Travis 90-62; lost vs. Legacy Ranch 72-62)
On the radar: Austin High (15-15); Akins (15-10); Hays (15-15)
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