Sometimes I think I have a big mouth!
As we got to the end of the high school football season (a campaign that FLEW by this year), I mentioned both here at “The Shop” and on “RCN SportsTalk presented by The Morning Call” that our football poll season went by much too quickly and that maybe, if our audience was interested enough and would send me positive feedback, we might entertain the possibility of doing a scholastic hoops version of the poll for our viewers in the District XI area. This suggestion caused me to once again prove something I’ve known down deep for years…
The Lehigh Valley LOVES their high school sports!
Needless to say, I did get a number of people who said they’d like to see a basketball poll for the winter. So now, it’s time to put the wheels in motion (basketball practices did get underway last week, if you didn’t realize that in the middle of all this football playoff news).
First, we are going to present a “preseason” poll (we’ll publish this right around the start of our RCN broadcast schedule), including a ranking of teams from one to five (#1 being the best, then #2 for the 2nd best, #3 for the 3rd, etc).
Also, for our pre-season poll, we’ll also be asking our voters’ opinions for the following questions…
- Three players to watch for the upcoming season
- A “can’t-miss” game to watch this season
- “New” player to watch this season
- Top two “teams to beat”
- “Sleeper” team
Then, starting January 8 through the start of the playoffs, our voters will continue to rank their top-five teams each week. All District XI schools are eligible for the poll and will be divided into either our “big schools” (5A & 6A classifications) or “small schools” (3A & 4A) polls within the RCN footprint:
The “small schools” consist of Wilson, Saucon Valley, Bethlehem Catholic, Northwestern, Wilson, Palisades, Palmerton, Salisbury, Notre Dame-GP, Palmerton, Pen Argyl, Northern Lehigh and Catasauqua.
The “big schools” are Bangor, Central, Southern Lehigh, Whitehall, Allen, Dieruff, Easton, Emmaus, Freedom, Liberty, Nazareth, E. Stroudsburg North & South, Pocono Mountain East, Pocono Mountain West, Stroudsburg, Northampton, Parkland, and Pleasant Valley.
Last but not least, we are going to have some great basketball minds weighing in on our poll!
Among them:
- RCN TV Sports Director Gary Laubach
- RCN Basketball Commentators Tom Stoudt and Dennis Laub
- Lehigh Valley Basketball Ranking’s (and former high school and collegiate standout player) Toomey Anderson
- Morning Call Sr. Sports Writer/Lead HS Hoops Writer Keith Groller
PLUS…
We also will have local coaches giving their insights. Like the football season, we will not divulge their names publicly so that they can give their honest impressions, without having to worry about getting negative push-back from the teams they play and avoiding any potential “bulletin board” issues.
So thanks for everyone’s feedback and input suggesting we do a poll for the winter high school basketball season (despite the extra work—it will be fun to see the results for me, too–but don’t tell anyone J. Don’t forget to check back to the “SportsTalk Shop” in two weeks when our new basketball poll will debut for the season!
Last, but not least, we hope everyone has an enjoyable Thanksgiving Day holiday and enjoys the state playoff high school football action on RCN-TV this weekend. Also, please be safe if you do venture out and are traveling before Thanksgiving Day and/or on Black Friday!
