EIH's Pre-Season 4A and 3A Top Tens

[EastIowaHawk]

For what it's worth, since I'll undoubtedly forget about some teams, I'll start the discussion of the best 4A and 3A teams. Should be a great season of hoops, with the usual surprises and dark horses. Probably a little more wide-open this year than most years, especially 3A, but also 4A..

4A Top Ten
1. Iowa City West. Strong front court and tough back court. Patrick McCaffery, anyone?
2. Dubuque Senior- Veteran team with five solid seniors led by Noah Carter.
3. North Scott- Another veteran outfit with terrific guards.
4. Des Moines North- Locure and company ready for a deep run.
5. Cedar Falls- Green may be gone, but a lot of strong players return.
6. Bettendorf- Yes, Mr. Carton is still there with some talented newcomers/transfers around him.
7. Cedar Rapids Prairie could be ranked higher with the twins back in the tough MVC.
8. Waukee is always good, it seems.
9. Valley of West Des Moines is consistently competitive.
10. Dubuque Hempstead is young but very talented with the Duax brothers.
Contenders- West Des Moines Dowling; Pleasant Valley, West Waterloo, CR Kennedy.

3A Top Ten
1. Oskaloosa lost a lot of talent, but can build on Foster and others. Question is their guards.
2. Glenwood. Defending champion is superbly coached and really impressed me last year.
3. Davenport Assumption. This may be the year all pieces fall in place.
4. Sergeant Bluff-Luton. Relying on what others say about this talented team.
5. Cedar Rapids Xavier. Lost some studs, but wealth of tall talent returns.
6. Norwalk- Des Moines- area power reloads.
7. Pella- returns some talent to build on
8. Sioux City Heelan hopes to return to state prominence.
9. Carroll. Solid team returns some experience.
10. Solon- Another traditionally solid program.
Contenders- Waverly- Shell Rock, Dubuque Wahlert, Fairfield, Mt. Pleasant, DC-G.

 

[todd_schisler]

For what it's worth, since I'll undoubtedly forget about some teams, I'll start the discussion of the best 4A and 3A teams. Should be a great season of hoops, with the usual surprises and dark horses. Probably a little more wide-open this year than most years, especially 3A, but also 4A..

4A Top Ten
1. Iowa City West. Strong front court and tough back court. Patrick McCaffery, anyone?
2. Dubuque Senior- Veteran team with five solid seniors led by Noah Carter.
3. North Scott- Another veteran outfit with terrific guards.
4. Des Moines North- Locure and company ready for a deep run.
5. Cedar Falls- Green may be gone, but a lot of strong players return.
6. Bettendorf- Yes, Mr. Carton is still there with some talented newcomers/transfers around him.
7. Cedar Rapids Prairie could be ranked higher with the twins back in the tough MVC.
8. Waukee is always good, it seems.
9. Valley of West Des Moines is consistently competitive.
10. Dubuque Hempstead is young but very talented with the Duax brothers.
Contenders- West Des Moines Dowling; Pleasant Valley, West Waterloo, CR Kennedy.

3A Top Ten
1. Oskaloosa lost a lot of talent, but can build on Foster and others. Question is their guards.
2. Glenwood. Defending champion is superbly coached and really impressed me last year.
3. Davenport Assumption. This may be the year all pieces fall in place.
4. Sergeant Bluff-Luton. Relying on what others say about this talented team.
5. Cedar Rapids Xavier. Lost some studs, but wealth of tall talent returns.
6. Norwalk- Des Moines- area power reloads.
7. Pella- returns some talent to build on
8. Sioux City Heelan hopes to return to state prominence.
9. Carroll. Solid team returns some experience.
10. Solon- Another traditionally solid program.
Contenders- Waverly- Shell Rock, Dubuque Wahlert, Fairfield, Mt. Pleasant, DC-G.

Valley and Waukee are stronger teams than Bett and Prairie-- and I would say SC East in for Hempstead. Otherwise pretty solid 4A list. I agree Hempstead has talent, but I think they are a year away from being top 5-10.

 

[EastIowaHawk]

Doesn't Bett still have D. J. Carton and another fairly new talented kid? They played Senior tough in the tourney last year and Senior won only after a Bettendorf soph missed his free throws at the end of the game. Prairie has Kenyon Murray's (former Iowa star) two sons starting for their third straight year. Might agree with Hempstead being a little on the young side; certainly not as strong as last year. Forgot about East Sioux City. Good point, Todd.

 

[Red87]

Doesn't Bett still have D. J. Carton and another fairly new talented kid? They played Senior tough in the tourney last year and Senior won only after a Bettendorf soph missed his free throws at the end of the game. Prairie has Kenyon Murray's (former Iowa star) two sons starting for their third straight year. Might agree with Hempstead being a little on the young side; certainly not as strong as last year. Forgot about East Sioux City. Good point, Todd.

Didn't Bettendorf beat Senior in that game?

 

[EastIowaHawk]

No, Senior survived by a point or so, even though Carton had around 36 points.. They lost to North Scott in the next game, as the Lancers pulled away at the end.

In opening action Tuesday night- already losing are Des Moines North, Norwalk, Mt. Pleasant, Dub. Hempstead, DC- Grimes, Valley of West Des Moines, Solon, Fairfield, Sergeant Bluff- Luton, Pella, Waverly and WDM Dowling. So much for the rankings!!! Lot of parity this year.

 

[Hawkeyefan565]

Just curious, what's the rationale behind Mount Pleasant being a contender? They lost their coach and all five starters.

 

[Red87]

No, Senior survived by a point or so, even though Carton had around 36 points.. They lost to North Scott in the next game, as the Lancers pulled away at the end.

In opening action Tuesday night- already losing are Des Moines North, Norwalk, Mt. Pleasant, Dub. Hempstead, DC- Grimes, Sergeant Bluff- Luton and WDM Dowling. So much for the rankings!!! Lot of parity this year.

That's right. North Scott upset Senior.

 

[EastIowaHawk]

Hawkeyefan565-- Didn't know they lost their coach. Mt. Pleasant mentioned just to get the conversation started. They lost their starters, but have been a solid program, and put up a good fight against Xavier. 12 teams from my list have already lost. Wow.

 

[Case I H]

I am not sold on Oskaloosa. Trust me, I am a fan who watched them several ti.es last year. Osky just lost a lot of leaders, and roll players. Most people are only seeing them as having Foster and Henry, although Yates could be the leading scorer this year. Osky just barely beat Fairfield this week, and they only played 6 guys. I am not sure Osky has enough talent in the roll ayer department.

 

[EastIowaHawk]

Good point, Case. Maybe there is no clear favorite in 3A this year. I just posted a couple of top tens, just to get the ball rolling. As soon as the first IowaPrep.com ratings come out, I'll back off. Just to show what kind of a dogfight it's going to be this year, of the 28 or so teams "ranked" at the beginning of this thread (in 4A and 3A), 14 have already lost and we haven't even played the Friday night, Nov. 30, games yet!

 

[FarmFam]

I am not sold on Oskaloosa. Trust me, I am a fan who watched them several ti.es last year. Osky just lost a lot of leaders, and roll players. Most people are only seeing them as having Foster and Henry, although Yates could be the leading scorer this year. Osky just barely beat Fairfield this week, and they only played 6 guys. I am not sure Osky has enough talent in the roll ayer department.

Osky will be fine. Hard to say at this point if they will win it all but they will be right there. Fairfield finished winning 9 of 10 last year and just missed state. They returned 4 starters and solid players. Fairfield is better than people think and they had a great game plan to limit possessions and the officials allowed them to be very physical. Word has it Fairfield beat Norwalk handily in a scrimmage this summer.

Osky has 3 extremely talented players and the other two starters are talented in many areas but just didn't get the minutes last year cause they weren't needed. One is an all state football and baseball player and the other has been a varsity contributor at state in golf, football, baseball, and basketball. They can play and they compete like crazy. Things will start to jell soon. These kids haven't played ball together all summer like some teams because they play multiple sports and because Xavier and Cole were both traveling the country playing high level stuff. The 6th man may be the best athlete on the team and he is gaining basketball maturity and IQ very quickly. There are three other bench players who are decent as well but there wasn't a good time to get them acclimated in the first game as it was very close the entire way. We will know more after the next two weeks.

 

[iowa12]

For what it's worth, since I'll undoubtedly forget about some teams, I'll start the discussion of the best 4A and 3A teams. Should be a great season of hoops, with the usual surprises and dark horses. Probably a little more wide-open this year than most years, especially 3A, but also 4A..

4A Top Ten
1. Iowa City West. Strong front court and tough back court. Patrick McCaffery, anyone?
2. Dubuque Senior- Veteran team with five solid seniors led by Noah Carter.
3. North Scott- Another veteran outfit with terrific guards.
4. Des Moines North- Locure and company ready for a deep run.
5. Cedar Falls- Green may be gone, but a lot of strong players return.
6. Bettendorf- Yes, Mr. Carton is still there with some talented newcomers/transfers around him.
7. Cedar Rapids Prairie could be ranked higher with the twins back in the tough MVC.
8. Waukee is always good, it seems.
9. Valley of West Des Moines is consistently competitive.
10. Dubuque Hempstead is young but very talented with the Duax brothers.
Contenders- West Des Moines Dowling; Pleasant Valley, West Waterloo, CR Kennedy.

3A Top Ten
1. Oskaloosa lost a lot of talent, but can build on Foster and others. Question is their guards.
2. Glenwood. Defending champion is superbly coached and really impressed me last year.
3. Davenport Assumption. This may be the year all pieces fall in place.
4. Sergeant Bluff-Luton. Relying on what others say about this talented team.
5. Cedar Rapids Xavier. Lost some studs, but wealth of tall talent returns.
6. Norwalk- Des Moines- area power reloads.
7. Pella- returns some talent to build on
8. Sioux City Heelan hopes to return to state prominence.
9. Carroll. Solid team returns some experience.
10. Solon- Another traditionally solid program.
Contenders- Waverly- Shell Rock, Dubuque Wahlert, Fairfield, Mt. Pleasant, DC-G.

Solon will be down this year. Don’t see them anywhere near the top 10.

 

[Cheese2]

For what it's worth, since I'll undoubtedly forget about some teams, I'll start the discussion of the best 4A and 3A teams. Should be a great season of hoops, with the usual surprises and dark horses. Probably a little more wide-open this year than most years, especially 3A, but also 4A..

4A Top Ten
1. Iowa City West. Strong front court and tough back court. Patrick McCaffery, anyone?
2. Dubuque Senior- Veteran team with five solid seniors led by Noah Carter.
3. North Scott- Another veteran outfit with terrific guards.
4. Des Moines North- Locure and company ready for a deep run.
5. Cedar Falls- Green may be gone, but a lot of strong players return.
6. Bettendorf- Yes, Mr. Carton is still there with some talented newcomers/transfers around him.
7. Cedar Rapids Prairie could be ranked higher with the twins back in the tough MVC.
8. Waukee is always good, it seems.
9. Valley of West Des Moines is consistently competitive.
10. Dubuque Hempstead is young but very talented with the Duax brothers.
Contenders- West Des Moines Dowling; Pleasant Valley, West Waterloo, CR Kennedy.

3A Top Ten
1. Oskaloosa lost a lot of talent, but can build on Foster and others. Question is their guards.
2. Glenwood. Defending champion is superbly coached and really impressed me last year.
3. Davenport Assumption. This may be the year all pieces fall in place.
4. Sergeant Bluff-Luton. Relying on what others say about this talented team.
5. Cedar Rapids Xavier. Lost some studs, but wealth of tall talent returns.
6. Norwalk- Des Moines- area power reloads.
7. Pella- returns some talent to build on
8. Sioux City Heelan hopes to return to state prominence.
9. Carroll. Solid team returns some experience.
10. Solon- Another traditionally solid program.
Contenders- Waverly- Shell Rock, Dubuque Wahlert, Fairfield, Mt. Pleasant, DC-G.

The Gazette's First Poll of the Season

4A Top Ten
1. IC West
2. North Scott
3. Waukee
4. Des Moines Hoover
5. Ankeny
6. Davenport Central
7. Dubuque Senior
8. Bettendorf
9. Des Moines North
10. Sioux City East

3A Top Ten
1. Oskaloosa
2. Glenwood
3. Spirit Lake
4. Maquoketa
5. West Delaware
6. Carroll
7. Harlan
8. Carlisle
9. Norwalk
10. Winterset

Thoughts? Surprised Wahlert isn't on there in 3A. CR. Prairie played North Scott tough on the road as well in 4A. How about Ankeny being so high?

 

[ronsss]

harlan lost against blair , ne, and not sure how good they are...harlan plays denison friday, they will have there hands full...denison is good this year

 

[ronsss]

saturday, heelan loose,s to treynor by 20....how often does that happen