Well you knew it had to be done.
Gonzaga lost. Sure it was a close game and sure it was the opening game of the season against a team that had already played twice. But it had to be dealt with. So Gonzaga drops from #2 to #7. We're pretty confident they will work their way up after that and they will have every opportunity because their schedule includes almost exclusively ranked teams—the only chance they aren't ranked would be in the Gonzaga Classic, and on their tour to Italy, which, of course, will be pretty tough, too.
Gregory the Great moves up. We don't put them at #2 or #3 ... yet. But they have already created a body of work. So another result and a faltering by someone else will see them shoot up. Remember that moving up in the rankings is kind of like trying to fly. It's a lot easier to get to low altitude and rise quickly at low altitude. But once you get into that thing air way up there, it takes a supreme effort to move up one spot.
East HS drops after the Puriri Tournament but we caution everyone that preseason tournament play is not something to lock in when it comes to rankings. We've made this mistake before, keeping a team lower (or higher) than they should be because of a 40-minute preseason loss or win. East HS drops down a bit right now and maybe they were just testing things out. East has a habit of finishing strong in Utah so expect them to move up. This kind of brings us to Jesuit New Orleans, which lost to Brother Martin, but in a preseason warmup game. When the two played in league play, it was Jesuit that won. We throw out the earlier result and move on.
Next up, St. Ignatius Cleveland gets on the field this coming week, so that should be fun. The California Single-School competition culminates in the next two weeks. Several state leagues kick off in March, as well. So we'll be busy.
