Monday, January 23, 2012

Charlotte Catholic joins Sweet 16; some movement, too

As we head down the home stretch of the high school basketball season, the Observer’s Sweet 16 poll is beginning to see less and less movement as the top teams have established themselves.

Olympic (boys) and Myers Park (girls) are still unbeaten and ranked No. 1.

Charlotte Catholic joins the boys poll this week, putting a stamp on a solid 15-win season. The
Cougars are still in the hunt for a conference championship and have a game with No. 1 Olympic later this season that could determine it.

In the girls poll, Providence Day fell from No. 2 to No. 6, allowing some other teams to move up. Berry moved to No. 2.

No new girls teams joined the poll this week.


Boys
Rk.    School    Rec.    Prvs.

 1.    Olympic (4A)    18-0    1
2.    North Mecklenburg (4A)    16-2    2
3.    Concord (3A)    15-0    3
4.     Harding (3A)    15-3    5
5.    West Charlotte (4A)    14-5    8
6.     Lancaster SC (4A)    17-2    7
7.     Berry (3A)    14-4    11
8.     Freedom (3A)    17-2    4
9.    Cuthbertson (2A)    16-1    9
10.     North Rowan (1A)    14-2    10
11.    East Rutherford (2A)    14-2    12
12.    Robinson (3A)    14-3    13
13,    Hickory (3A)    16-2    16
14.    Charlotte Christian (IND)    14-6    14
15.    South Mecklenburg (4A)    14-4    15
16.    Charlotte Catholic (3A)    15-3    NR

Dropped out: Northside Christian (IND, 18-1). Northside drops out of consideration because the school does not meet the Observer’s requirements for inclusion (see rules below). On the bubble:  Lincolnton (2A, 13-2); Shelby (2A, 12-4); Statesville (3A, 12-3); Sun Valley (4A, 14-4); Weddington (3A, 13-5). Records are through Friday’s games.
Girls
Rk.    School    Rec.    Prvs.

1.    Myers Park (4A)    18-0    1
2.    Berry (3A)    16-1    3
3.    Hickory (3A)    17-1    4
4.    Ardrey Kell (4A)    15-3    5
5.    Charlotte Christian (IND)    14-3    6
6.    Providence Day (IND)    17-3    2
7.    Salisbury (2A)    14-2    7
8.    Bandys (2A)    17-0    8
9.    Mallard Creek (4A)    13-3    9
10.    Porter Ridge (4A)    15-1    10
11.    R-S Central (3A)    15-1    11
12.    Carson (3A)    16-1    12
13.    Newton-Conover (2A)    15-3    13
14.    Forestview (3A)    14-2    14
15.    Harding (3A)    13-2    15
16.    North Stanly (2A)    16-0    16


Dropped out:  None. On the bubble: Alexander Central (4A, 14-4);  North Iredell (3A, 11-5); Rock Hill Northwestern (4A, 14-3). Records are through Friday’s games.
Note: To be ranked in the Observer’s Sweet 16, a team must be in the newspaper’s coverage area, must field football and basketball teams and not allow a student-athlete to re-class once they’ve started ninth grade. For a detailed look inside the poll, including the criteria used to compile it, visit this link: http://bit.ly/prNoYM

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's totally ridiculous to eliminate Northside Christian from consideration simply because they don't have a football team. Many colleges choose to participate in some sports and work to have an excellent program in those while not participating in all sports. What a mindless policy.

Anonymous said...

Ummm, maybe, just maybe they have a re-classed player...........

Let me help you out....they do.

Anonymous said...

How in the world did it take 19 games for the crack staff at the Observer to realize they didn't have a football team at Northside? Don't the same guys who cover high school basketball cover high school football.

Anonymous said...

I love the jealousy on here when a private school does well. I am sure this happened because a school that couldn't beat Northside on the court had to figure out a way to try to slight them. I don't know what football has to do with basketball but I heard that Olympic High School doesn't have water polo! Maybe they should be eliminated from consideration! What a joke!

Anonymous said...

the guy that cover sports is not fair at all

Anonymous said...

The rule has always been in place that you have to have a football team to be ranked in the basketball poll.

Northside is taking the formula Charlotte Christian used in the early part of the decade, but to an ever greater extreme. United Faith is the same way. The schools are trying to be basketball factories. Be more concerned with your national ranking then where you stack up in Charlotte. When Northside had a football team they tried to do the exact same thing. It's too hard to do it when you have to have 15 good players versus just 4 or 5.

Anonymous said...

This is totally funny. Earlier today he posted a different Sweet 16, received lots of comments of his ignorance and changes and rereleases it this evening. Even removing all of the posts from earlier today that ridiculed him and reposted some of the other posts to a time stamp of this evening. Totally worthless - both the writter and the CO. And they wonder why people keep dropping the print edition.

Observer Sports said...

Anonymous 8:52 p.m., the earlier poll, which is still there, is from last week. This is a new one.

Anonymous said...

Mallard Creek basketball gets no kind of love girls or boys

Unknown said...

Not that we care, but for the record, when we were put in the original poll I personally called Langston and informed him that we did not have football. His response was "I KNOW BUT I AM GIVING YOU GUYS A FOOTBALL WAIVER". Now, after 19 games and hater complaints, the so call football waiver has been retracted! Great work by the Observer! What we do have at NCA is a great Christian academic environment that is preparing kids for college and life! Our team is academically qualified for college with their classroom work as well as their SAT/ACT scores and are receiving college scholarship offers not because they play basketball but because they are student athletes! How about the observer come out with a STUDENT ATHLETE POLL or maybe you need to play football for that as well! AND BY THE, NCA HAS NO SCHOLARSHIP ATHLETES! OUR PARENTS ARE MORE THAN WILLING TO PAY FOR WHAT NCA HAS TO OFFER ON AND OFF THE COURT!

Anonymous said...

It's a crime that Charlotte Catholic is JUST making the Sweet 16. They beat both Berry and Harding, who are ranked significantly higher

Anonymous said...

Wow, you people still have not mentioned they have a re-classed player which is ALSO in the guidelines.

Seriously people, I hope for Northside's sake none of you went there.........

Anonymous said...

Wow smh why put olympic in this? Sound's like some bodies bitter because they were reading there own press an could get it done playing a cup cake schedule smh the facts are as a few here have stated they have reclass kids I don't know about football they had a football team at one time but its a dang ranking poll it don't mean anything win a state title an put kids in college that is all

Observer Sports said...

Guys, every year, we get many new private schools and charter schools and unaffiliated schools that ask to be part of the Sweet 16. It has become a source of pride to schools to be ranked or even to be in consideration. For that, I am very pleased.

The poll has been around since 1984 and has woven itself deeply into the framework of area high school sports.

Northside Christian does not have reclassed athletes currently, to the best of my knowledge. They did not field a football team this year. They have in the past, but apparently not enough boys were interested this season.

Currently our rules say you must have football and basketball and follow the 8 semester rule for inclusion. We made those changes several years ago. At the time, there were a lot of new private schools coming on board (like now) that were small schools putting together big basketball teams.

We didn't think it was fair to our normal high schools to rank them against teams that were recruiting players from all over and reclassing many of them. To combat this, we made the 8 semester rule a requirement as well as the football piece.

Given Northside's football history, I did decide to include them after a lot of thought this year. It was a gray area. They have long had football, but didn't have it this year because of numbers. I didn't think it was fair to not include them when they were in fact following the 8 semester rule.

But by the letter of the law, they should not be included. I'll have to fall on the sword for that one and I apologize to the Northside folks.

I also started Davidson Day in the poll this year, some of you may recall, because they had begun to follow the 8 semester rule. We removed them, it turns out, because they still had reclassed athletes in school, grandfathered in. When those athletes leave, they will be eligible for inclusion.

Moving forward, I'm going to give the whole Sweet 16 some thought now and try to figure out what's best moving forward.

The times are changing again. We have several more private schools coming on board next year and more charter schools, too.

Anonymous said...

For the guy that keeps saying Northside has reclasses players I hope you enjoyed the last comment by Langston. It was because of football so take your jealousy for a upstart and successful program elsewhere. Northside is a classy school with a classy athletic director and basketball coaching staff. That can't be argued. Langston, thank you for your honesty and hopefully this is something that can be changed in the future.

Steven said...

The question is what made you change your mind Langston? Don't give haters a voice. You have seen Northside play as well as the other teams in the sweet 16. You know they are a great team and that they are lead by a classy coach. I wish you would reconsider.

Anonymous said...

I clown Langston a lot in these blogs. I think he is often bias towards certain schools,like his beloved West Charlotte Lions his cough cough alma mater. Today I am surprised. He was honest and didn't hide behind the glass. I know north side had been whining to get in the poll and ol Langston used a loophole to let his boy Dinc in. And don't think for a second Dinc ain't his boy. For him to post what he did and when he did makes me respect him a bit though he still ain't fair to ALL schools. Like I guarantee you tonight's WC-North game will get MAJOR coverage. I know North Side begged to get in and they should not be allowed. Thank you Wertz for for once doing the right thing

Anonymous said...

Apparantly the person that likes to clown Langston is a clown himself and can not read!

Anonymous said...

Langston thanks for the explanation. As a Northside parent we have always wanted to get into the poll and were disappointed to find out yesterday that we're being removed. I understand why. I think a lot of you are misguided about our school. We are a God first place and our kids do school before sports. Coach Dinkins and Coach Badgett have done a wonderful job devoting our young men and representing our school.

We will likely have football again and we will be readyntomget back into the poll,one day as well

Anonymous said...

The Observer shouldn't have private schools including Catholic in the Sweet 16 to begin with

Anonymous said...

Look people, if the staff at Northside doesn't want to come clean that's fine. They have a kid that played 3 years at another Charlotte high school and is now in his second at Northside. How do I know? He played with mine for 3 year at that other high school.

If your school or coaches don't want to come clean that's fine. Let's go ahead and say it's football, but that doesn't change the other fact. It's a shame someone played the "Christian" card here because your staff is not telling you everything about your team. Are they obligated to tell you? Who knows. I guess that's on you to decide.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 4:45:

You are a grown man arguing about high school sports. What a joke!

Anonymous said...

For the person who is all bent out of shape about reclassed players playing at Northside, guess what, it is LEGAL in NC to do that if you do it before a certain time. And do you think Northside is the only one playing with reclassed players?...definitely think again!! So that argument is lame. And your attacks on Northside's integrity and honesty are either because you don't know anything about the school or you have a kid on another team that has been beaten by Northside. The truth is this...Northside is 19-1 losing only to a well coached Davidson Day team. They have beaten the likes of Mooresville and Kennedy Charter and will certainly prove they are one of the better teams in the Charlotte area come state tournament time.

Anonymous said...

Hey, I think he was trying to point out that Langston and others on here were deflecting the reclass deal and just concentrating on no football. The Observer made the rules whether you agree or not and should stick by them for the reasons they made them or change them in some way that reflects the state of high school basketball which in my opinion sucks. Just say it is AAU lite with some education thrown in and leave it at that. True high school teams just don't exist much anymore.

Anonymous said...

Bring Northside Christian to Freedom High School in Morganton. I would love to see how they fare against a State Championship favorite in 3A. If they can beat the Patriots, I will give them props. Of note: We are currently ranked #5 in the Sweet 16 pole.