It’s here, folks. Welcome to February – crunch time for high school basketball, with conference and district tournament championships up for grabs.
There are many meaningful regular season games ahead, holding both conference and district seeding implications. This is what we’ve waited for through November, December and the 50-day long (at least it seemed at times) January.
As with all of our power rankings in each team sport, these are based on dominance by Class, not head-to-head. It’s the “pound-for-pound” best teams in the Ozarks.
Recent success and strength of schedule are also a factor in the rankings.
Current record, Class and previous ranking are listed in parenthesis.
1. Walnut Grove (18-1, C1, PR: 1) – In a game that had no shortage of offense, the Tigers suffered their first loss of the season on Saturday night, falling 92-72 to Fair Grove in the championship game of the Sparta Tournament. To put a positive spin on it, the Tigers won’t see a Class 1 team akin to Fair Grove in districts and beyond. Also, the Tigers no longer have to stress about maintaining their undefeated record, as coach Darin Meinders said afterwards. WG remains at No. 1 thanks to an impressive win 77-59 win over Class 2 Mansfield (11-5) in last week’s tourney semifinals. Those turbo-clock wins over PCL foes Hermitage and Weaubleau, who were ranked No. 7 and No. 9, respectively, in last week’s Class 1 state poll, continue to help the Tigers’ credentials as well. Walnut Grove hosts Dadeville on Tuesday then plays at Halfway this Friday.
2. Kickapoo (17-2, C5, PR: 2) – No post-Tournament of Champions letdown for the Chiefs. Kickapoo defeated defending Class 3 state champ Barstow 93-78 in a neutral-site game on Saturday. Barstow features a trio of future Division I players and would be a Final Four candidate in Class 4, and perhaps even in Class 5 in the right district/pod. It was the Chiefs’ third win over a state-ranked opponent in the last two weeks – Bolivar (71-64) on Jan. 16 and Nixa (74-43) on Jan. 22 being the others. This week, Kickapoo has road games at Camdenton (Feb. 2) and Lebanon (Feb. 5).
3. Hartville (15-4, C2, PR: 4) – Speaking of teams that are exceling after a disappointing performance in a big tournament, let’s talk about those Eagles. I probably dropped the Eagles too far for their Blue and Gold showing – when they went 2-2, the losses coming to Strafford and Republic by a combined seven points – but they’ve been on a roll since. Hartville won the Mountain Grove Tournament over the weekend, blitzing the host school 55-31 in the finals. It was Hartville’s second win over Mountain Grove – which has been ranked at times in the Class 3 state poll this season – in eight days. Add in a blowout win over Licking (14-5 overall) and a last-second loss at home to Class 5 No. 10-ranked Nixa, and no team played better than Hartville in January. Hartville’s four losses have come to a Class 3 school (Strafford, 13-5 overall), a Class 4 school (St. Joseph Lafayette, 16-2 overall) and a pair of Class 5 schools (Nixa, 15-3 overall; Republic, 14-4 overall) by an average of four points. It wasn’t anything Bolivar has or hasn’t done to warrant the change; Hartville’s just been playing that well and deserves a bump up considering its Class 2 status. Hartville will finally face some similar sized competition this week, with games at Fordland (Feb. 4) and a neutral-site game this Saturday versus Class 2 state-ranked Iberia.
4. Bolivar (14-4, C4, PR: 3) – The Liberators, minus Johnny Scott, held off West Plains 63-60 to win their own tournament on Saturday night. Bolivar also posted lopsided wins over Savannah and Lamar in the tournament. If we’re comparing apples to apples here, both Hartville and Bolivar lost to Republic as well as a Class 5 state-ranked team (Hartville vs. Nixa, Bolivar vs. Kickapoo) in close games. With our power rankings, the Class 1-3 schools (such as Hartville) have a slight advantage over the Class 4-5 schools (Bolivar) since the small schools can play multiple levels above their own Class. This doesn’t diminish my view of the Liberators. Bolivar’s still a strong contender to win it all in Class 4. We’re splitting hairs with the Top 5 of our power rankings; all of these teams are capable of playing in the state championship game in their respective Classes. Bolivar plays at Hollister on Tuesday in its only game for this week.
5. Rolla (18-1, C4, PR: 5) – The Bulldogs blew out Joplin 80-46 on the road Jan. 29 in their only game last week. It was the seventh game this season that the Bulldogs have hit the 80-point barrier, and the 12th game in which they’ve surpassed 75 points. Rolla has a pair of Ozark Conference home games this week, hosting Lebanon on Tuesday then West Plains on Friday.
6. Nixa (16-3, C5, PR: 6) – The Eagles have rebounded well since those back-to-back losses to Class 5 state-ranked teams in Kickapoo (74-43) and Hazelwood Central (75-70). Nixa’s had four lopsided wins since, including 79-56 over Shawnee Mission North (Kan.) in the title game of its own tournament Saturday. Nixa hosts Branson this Friday.
7. Thayer (18-2, C2, PR: 7) – The Bobcats crushed Koshkonong 67-23 in their only game last week. It’s been more than a week since Thayer played Liberty, so they’ll fix that by playing on Tuesday in Mountain View in the fourth meeting of the season and theofficial SCA game. Thayer then travels to Cabool on Friday to face a good Bulldogs team (14-5 overall) that will be gunning to pull an upset.
8. Fair Grove (16-3, C3, PR: 11) – Multiple teams in this 8-through-14 range lost last week, so we have some significant changes here. Fair Grove wasn’t one of those teams that lost, so the Eagles return to the Top 10 for the first time since the early part of the season. Fair Grove lit up the scoreboard to defeat Class 1 Walnut Grove in the title game of the Sparta Tournament on Saturday. Games like that are why I think Fair Grove, among our local Class 3 teams, holds the highest “ceiling” when it’s playing at its peak. The Eagles have multiple offensive weapons, length and athleticism. Getting out of a district that includes Clever, Conway and Strafford won’t be easy, but Fair Grove has positioned itself for the 1-seed in the tournament. Fair Grove hosts Reeds Spring on Tuesday, then travels up Highway 65 to play at Skyline on Friday night.
9. Crane (13-4, C2, PR: 12) – I’ve had trouble slotting Crane all season. Top 10 felt a little too high at times for the Pirates; their No. 12 rankings last week felt way too low. In Crane’s defense, the Pirates have been the most consistent Class 2 program in the O-Zone era, winning three straight district titles and being two points away from going to consecutive Final Fours. The Pirates, who defeated Morrisville at home last week in a physical game, are in good shape to make another deep postseason run come early March. It’s a challenging three-game week ahead for Crane, which plays at Sparta on Tuesday, at Clever on Thursday in a makeup game, then Saturday in Bolivar against Walnut Grove.
10. Glendale (11-7, C4, PR: 8) – In one of the highest-scoring regulation games locally this season, the Falcons fell 94-73 at Ozark last Friday night. Glendale’s 11-7 record is a little deceiving; four of those losses were to out of state teams and the other three were to strong, local Class 5 teams in Nixa, Kickapoo and now Ozark. The Falcons are likely to be the top seed in the Class 4, District 11 tournament next month, the final one before they move up to Class 5 next season. As the past has shown, Class 4 is wide open and our local teams (Republic, Hillcrest) have shown they’re capable of making a run at a state title. Glendale has the talent to be a similar threat.
11. Ozark (14-5, C5, PR: 14) – A trademark Ozark win last Friday night against Glendale, as the Tigers used balance scoring and a 35-point fourth quarter to approach the century mark in a 94-73 victory. Ozark had four players in double figures, including 25 points from Kyland Hewett-Newbill and 21 points from Riley Simmons. As coach Mark Schweitzer said, when the Tigers share the ball and “trust” each other, they’re hard to guard. Ozark hosts Willard on Friday.
12. Strafford (13-5, C3, PR: 13) – The Indians won the Conway Tournament on Saturday, beating the host school 56-54 in the title game. Strafford also had two turbo-clock victories earlier in the tournament, beating Niangua and Stoutland to cap off a 3-0 week and undefeated month. Since falling 68-60 to Fair Grove on Dec. 30 in the Blue and Gold 3rd place game, Strafford has won seven straight, including wins over MV-BT/Liberty, Marshfield, Crane and Conway. The latest Conway win gave Strafford a 2-1 edge in the season series and will be key for district seeding purposes going forward. The Indians have a busy, four-game week ahead. Strafford plays at Pleasant Hope on Tuesday, then hosts Springfield Catholic on Thursday and Stockton on Friday night. The Indians then travel to Jeff City on Saturday for a neutral-site game.
13. Clever (14-5, C3, PR: 9) – The Blue Jays took a pair of losses at the Nixa Invitational last week. After beating Harrisonville in the opening round, Clever lost 65-48 to Class 5 Nixa in the semifinals then 51-36 to Class 4 Aurora in the 3rd place game. Three of Clever’s losses have come to teams (Bolivar, Nixa, Hartville) ranked above them on this list, while Aurora was previously ranked in the Top 15 earlier in the season. Class 3 continues to be the most competitive, tightly bunched race among the five Classes locally. Clever has three league games ahead this week, playing at Forsyth on Tuesday, hosting Crane in a makeup game Thursday then facing Spokane at home Friday.
14. Mtn. Grove (15-4, C3, PR: 10) – The Panthers’ second meeting with Hartville in eight days – this time in the Mountain Grove Tournament title game – didn’t turn out to be nearly as competitive. Hartville’s 55-31 win over the Panthers was by far Mountain Grove’s most lopsided loss of the season. Mountain Grove will set its sights on an SCA title in the next three weeks, starting with a Tuesday night home game versus Salem and a Friday night road trip to MV-BT/Liberty this week.
15. School of the Ozarks (13-3, C1, PR: Unranked) – Weaubleau and Hermitage are state ranked, but for my money, the second-best local team in Class 1 right now behind Walnut Grove resides in Point Lookout. The Patriots torched the nets last week in a home win over Greenwood – a game I covered – and followed that up the next night with a 22-point home win over a young but talented Blue Eye team. The Patriots were 9-for-12 on 3-point attempts against Greenwood, then went 7-for-18 on 3s against Blue Eye. S of O has some knock-down shooters surrounding senior forward Keaton Tillack, who’s averaging about 16 points and 7 rebounds per game this season. The Patriots are about 10 points away from being undefeated (losses: 69-68 to Class 4 Reeds Spring, 54-52 to Mountain Home, Ark. and 81-76 to Class 3 Mountain Grove). School of the Ozarks plays at New Covenant Academy on Tuesday then hosts Seymour this Friday.
Knocking on the door: Hurley (13-7, C1), Hermitage (15-5, C1), Bakersfield (12-5, C2), Mansfield (12-5, C2), Licking (14-5, C3), Republic (14-4, C5)
