After a great week of high school basketball in the Baltimore area, our rankings will see a major shake-up. Several ranked teams fell, and a few unranked teams staked their claim for a spot in the top 15.
As will be the case all season, these rankings reward results, taking into account opponent strength and margin of victory/loss. Teams will not be ranked highly because of the hype or upside surrounding their teams, rather the consistency and impressiveness of their play. Rankings are released every Monday.
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See past rankings: Preseason || Week 1
BSR Top 15: Week 2
- Mount St. Joseph’s, 9-0 (Last Week: #1)
- Patterson, 4-1 (LW: #2)
- John Carroll, 11-1 (LW: #6)
- Milford Mill, 2-0 (LW: #4)
- St. Frances, 5-2 (LW: #3)
- Dunbar, 4-0 (LW: #5)
- Edmondson, 5-0 (LW: #6)
- City, 4-0 (LW: #13)
- Arundel, 4-0 (LW: #12)
- Owings Mills, 3-1 (LW: #10)
- Poly, 4-1 (LW: #11)
- Forest Park, 4-1 (LW: Unranked)
- Gilman, 4-1 (LW: Unranked)
- Lake Clifton, 3-1 (LW: #8)
- Archbishop Spalding, 5-3 (LW: #9)
Notes
Mount St. Joe’s keeps the top spot in the rankings this week, as they stay undefeated and look like the MIAA’s best right now. Patterson could have overtaken MSJ with a win on Saturday night over Lincoln (NY), the best team in the New York City, but the Clippers hold strong in the second spot after a 71-66 overtime loss. John Carroll rounds out the top three after getting a big win over now-fifth St. Frances on Wednesday. No. 4 Milford Mill held off 10th-ranked Owings Mills in a tight rivalry game on Friday.
Dunbar, Edmondson, and City are a trio of talented Baltimore City teams, and with Poly, Forest Park, and Lake Clifton all in the top 15, the City League is loaded this year. Arundel beat main rival Annapolis in their opening game, and look to be the favorites in Anne Arundel County this season. Gilman and Archbishop Spalding are two MIAA teams playing some good basketball; even Nick Saban is taking notice.
Calvert Hall, McDonogh, and Digital Harbor find themselves on the outside looking in. St. Vincent Pallotti is also a team that could enter next week’s rankings if they can keep winning.
Key Games This Week
- Digital Harbor at #7 Edmondson, Monday, 12/19 5:15 PM
- #6 Dunbar at #14 Lake Clifton, Monday, 12/19, 5:15 PM
- #8 City at #2 Patterson, Monday, 12/19, 5:30 PM
- #15 Archbishop Spalding at #3 John Carroll, Tuesday, 12/20, 7 PM
- McDonogh at #5 St. Frances, Tuesday, 12/20, 7 PM
- #13 Gilman at McDonogh, Thursday, 12/22, 7 PM
- #11 Poly at #1 Mount St. Joe’s, Friday, 12/23, 6:15 PM
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Edgar Walker is a staff writer for Baltimore Sports Report, focusing on high school sports and the Ravens. Follow him on Twitter, and see his full archive here.
Check out all of BSR’s high school sports coverage here, and click here for the full archive of top 15 rankings.
Nice work on the rankings, like them much better than the Sun’s. By the way St Frances is 5-2.
Thanks for the heads-up. I fixed the record now.
As I said, The Sun tends to rank teams based on hype and surface talent, and not reward them for tough schedules and good wins. I think St. Frances is a top 3 team in terms of talent (maybe even the best), but they couldn’t get big wins against MSJ or JC.
Poly is also in the rankings because of that thought process. They beat a tough Forest Park team, and competed against St. Frances. I doubt you’ll see Poly in The Sun’s rankings all year unless they do something special, but I’m rewarding them for their current success.