Originally posted by o2bahawk:
Dark Thunder we have been down this road before. I can't speak for any other school, but the group of girls at Assumption have been classmates together since grade school so are you insinuating that they recruited these girls at an very early age to attend private grade schools? Isn't it sort of ironic that posters rarely talk about open enrollment in public schools where kids transfer from within a school district and even from one school district to another during H.S.
This post was edited on 7/11 8:05 AM by o2bahawk
Of course I was joking, but yeah sure I'm absolutely serious about those girls being recruited before preschool and then were groomed in a scientific laboratory for the next several years to become dominating athletic....athletes, or something like that.
Private schools in the big metro areas often compete with the large class public schools for kids. They also occasionally compete in athletics and especially do if they play in the same conference (Heelan, Dowling, Xavier, Assumption).
Assumption is one of the exceptions. They play in a city of 99,000+ people, which makes it one of the 5 largest in Iowa.
Certainly other smaller private schools are entrenched in bigger cities. St Eds at Fort Dodge (20th largest), Newman at Mason City (16th), St. Albert at Council Bluffs (7th), Regina at Iowa City (6th), and Columbus at Waterloo (5th)
But what separates Assumption from these schools is the conference they play in and the competition they face throughout the year.
This was actually the point we had discussed earlier.
While most of those schools I listed above have hovered around the 1A/2A level for the last couple of decades, they also play in conferences relative to their size, as well as in the playoffs.
Assumption, however, plays in a 4A/5A conference and predominantly plays a 4A/5A schedule.
Very few 3A schools see this kind of schedule that Assumption gets. They have built themselves up as the premiere athletics program in a city of 99,000. They play in a 4A/5A conference against 4A/5A competition. It bears repeating. THEN...then they drop down and take on a few 3A teams who either have not played a team like Assumption all season, or haven't been tested by the same schedule as Assumption, who in turn is trying to build their "smaller" athletics program to compete in a 4A/5A conference.......while the vast majority of their opponents in postseason play have been geared to compete against 3A competition, sometimes smaller depending on the make-up of their conference.
It is a very large advantage that Assumption has to compete against the teams they do and then step down and be rewarded by playing teams in smaller classes than what they had been competing against all season.
But there's nothing wrong with it, of course. The issue is you look at the results. If, for example, Assumption is one of two premiere teams from their conference and they sweep the other top team from their conference, who then goes on to win state in 4A/5A, and Assumption wins it all in 3A, is that really enough for Assumption? As long as they win a title, doesn't matter what class it's in (could be 2A, could be 1A), that's good enough for them? Even if they are better than the best in 4A/5A? Especially if they were from their conference?
And why Assumption remains the exception after these facts is
because they play a predominantly 4A/5A schedule.
St. Eds sees a handful of 3A teams (WC, CL, IF-A) and maybe a 4A team (girls) if they play in a tournament (FD Invite), but then so does most of their competition.
Assumption plays against competition at the highest level and then drops down to 3A. Their competition does not, most often.
All you need to do is admit you'd be happy playing in a larger class relative to the competition you beat and are better than in the regular season.........just sayin.
This post was edited on 7/12 9:28 PM by DarkThunder#61
