We are just one night into Summit Athletic Conference boys basketball action and already, I’m not sure what to think.
We had a mild upset in Bishop Luers over Northrop. We had a significant upset in Wayne over Snider. And where Bounce was, at Bishop Dwenger, there were enough flashes that I had to think ‘maybe, just maybe’ the likes of Owen Shively and Brenden Lytle could make things too frantic for Homestead.
Then, there are the pending seeds for the SAC Holiday Tournament. Late Friday night, the first official Sagarin ratings came out; those will be used to seed this year’s tournament. And with everyone in conference, save for Carroll, taking a loss already this season, they don’t line up with what I would have projected at all. Granted, more games will come into play before the ultimate announcement but don’t expect those seeds to change much from:
- Carroll
- Homestead
- Snider
- South Side
- Wayne
- Bishop Luers
- Bishop Dwenger
- Northrop
- Concordia
- North Side
That is not at all how I would have seeded them coming into this season, but that shows already how frantic that things are after night one. Coming into the season, which is still young, we thought that the hierarchy was pretty clear. Homestead, then Snider, then almost everyone else with a couple outliers at the bottom. And one night in, I’m going to hit the panic button a little bit; yes, I will be that dramatic. Can anyone win on any given night?
With teams fighting through significant to their lineup injuries (South Side’s Ashton Johnson and Northrop’s Qualen Pettus have both missed time) and other absences (we all noticed Michael Eley out of the lineup for Snider on Friday), some teams we thought could have a leg up on certain nights may not actually have that. Which sort of changes things.
Changing things too already are teams that are more advanced than we thought they’d be in mid-December. Wayne was going to get good. Why? Solid senior leadership, decent play and a new coach who is knowledgeable and precise about the game in Byron Pickens. But beating Snider night one of league play? Didn’t have that marked down. Bishop Luers finally has stability on the sidelines with a guy who is passionate about their product in Fonso White. 3-1, showing a lot of good things against Warren Central and beating Northrop on opening night of league play? Most outside of that program weren’t going to predict that either.
And Carroll…always steady, maybe lacking some flash Carroll: well all of the sudden they take a driver’s seat approach as they will likely be the top team in the SAC Holiday Tournament. Jalen Jackson, just a sophomore, could really be their major scorer of the future.
This folks, is an instant reaction. Maybe even an overreaction. But the SAC got wild on Friday night and because of the use of Sagarin ratings, may stay wild until the calendar hits 2020. And I’m here for it. After all, I push for a hook for the Holiday Tournament that has grown stale and let me tell you, I expected December 26-28 to be anything but that now.
These opinions represent those of Bounce and Outside the Huddle. No opinions expressed on Outside the Huddle represent those of any of our advertisers. Follow Bounce on Twitter at Bounce_OTH
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