D6 girls rankings (mine)

[districtsixhoops]

AAAA
State College
Hollidaysburg
Altoona
Mifflin Co.

AAA

Forest Hills
LV
Huntingdon
Bellefonte
Johnstown


AA
Blairsville
Bellwood
Tyrone
Bishop McCort
Westmont
Penn Cambria
Marion Center
Juniata
Central Cambria
Penns Valley

A
BG
Portage
Claysburg
Bishop Carroll
United
Williamsburg
West Branch
JV
CV

[zonebreaker]

Thoughts...

-AAA very down. FH favorite.

-AA seems like its all about Blairsville and Bellwood. Hopefully, they will be seeded on opposite sides of bracket so they could potentially meet in finals. In single-elimination tournament, though, there are certainly some teams that could knock them off (haven't been following it closely but McCort, Westy, PC come to mind). Strange how LHAC downward trend has extended this long and you have smaller heritage teams winning titles in AA so much in last 5-6 years.

-Entering the year, I thought Portage would possibly become favorite as the year progressed with BG having to replace so much. However, BG is still very good. I still view them as favorite. Portage may be on same level. Do the Mustangs play in enough big, tough games to be ready to win the title? They definitely could but tough schedule helps. d6A it seems will definitely come down to BG and Portage.

[Manfred]

I'm curious why you think the FH Lady Rangers are the top dog in 3A. They have 4 losses, and clearly aren't the team they have been the past few years. The "potential" is there, but IMO they have not shown it yet. I back them all the way, but reserve the right as an alum to critique their performance.

[GreenMachine]

Thoughts....

-Entering the year, I thought Portage would possibly become favorite as the year progressed with BG having to replace so much. However, BG is still very good. I still view them as favorite. Portage may be on same level. Do the Mustangs play in enough big, tough games to be ready to win the title? They definitely could but tough schedule helps. d6A it seems will definitely come down to BG and Portage.

Ya the Lady Mustangs won't see much competition through the rest of the regular season EXCEPT the last game of the season at home against undefeated Berlin. This game will probably also be a preview of the WestPac Championship game so they'll play them back to back games. With D6A girls playoff competition being alright they'll be test somewhat through the run if they make it back to the D6 Championship again. Oh and BG did have to replace their top 6 players, HOWEVER 3 starting transfers from Central kinda filled that void pretty easily....ha ha

[rayderplayer]

In class A, JV has already shown it can take down Williamsburg and West Branch, but is still behind them both?? Of course, Penns Valley has also beaten Tyrone last week and the Rams are low on the Class AA list.

[Eaglealum]

Yes PV did... They also played at home, and took 31 foul shots with most of Tyrone's starters in foul trouble... When their uncles aren't blowing the whistles and play up here, ... It'll be a lil different

[zonebreaker]

Manfred...d6AAA is very down. I wouldn't like any of the teams to win d6AA or d6A. You are right about Forest Hills not doing that great lately but who else is there? Ligonier is decent and could beat FH but I would favor Rangers. Bellefonte recently lost handily to Penns Valley and Central (same Central team Rangers beat) and aren't that great. Don't know much about Huntingdon. The way FH is playing, I'm sure these teams could beat them in d6 playoffs but from just looking at it quickly, I gave FH favorite tag (that might be because they have won in past years though so seem to give them edge; it is hard to compare some of the mountain teams to LHAC). Years ago Lewistown and then Bellefonte were juggernauts in AAA but now no more Lewistown and Bellefonte went through down times. Little better now.

Regarding the last two posts...those rankings were just someone's opinion and they were made a bit ago.

[Manfred]

A fair enough assessment, zonebreaker. I really don't follow the other teams you mentioned, so I can't fairly critique them, and will bow to your ratings. The Lady Rangers have recently beaten a good PC team, though it wasn't easy, and was at home. The Coach's daughter has recently returned from a summer knee blowout, so the play should improve a bit.

[districtsixhoops]

AAAA is going to be very competitive in the playoffs. While Hollidaysburg is good they are not the team they were last couple years. State College might have the best individual player. Altoona has played a difficult schedule but has suspect guard play at the AAAA level.

I agree that AAA is down this year. FH has a couple pretty good players so that is why I'm keeping them at one but nobody in this classification is going to do anything in the state tournament. I have seen both Bellefonte and Huntingdon and I'm going to keep my rankings as is for now. Understand some of these teams aren't going to get their friendly officials in the playoffs. Bellefonte is one of those teams that always is hard to beat there because of that. Horrible officials.

AA is a two horse race but don't let that fool you. If Blairsville and Bellwood don't bring their A game they can be beat by Westmont, McCort, PC or Tyrone. Westmont and Bellwood already played Blairsville tuff but make no mistake when you play Bville you better be ready to work. PC and McCort can beat anyone in this class on a given night. Lastly, I understand PV beat Tyrone but as someone else stated PV is right up there with some famous other gyms with homer officials. I don't think PV beats Tyrone in playoffs but PV is a young team that will be at the top of these rankings in next couple years. I believe they play Bellwood tonight.

In class A everyone better not take Bishop Carroll for granted. They played BG close for 3 qtrs. I'm not sure where this talk of BG getting three starters from Central has come from. There are two girls that transferred and one of them is in junior high and the other is wasting a year on the bench playing JV basketball. She isn't a JV player for them or anyone else in the region. I think once you go beyond the top three or four the talent level drops off.

[districtsixhoops]

Also have heard rumblings about coaching in the area. I hear people knock coaches all the time but I think we have some good ones. Look up and down the rankings in girls D6 and you will find well coached teams. We have some first year coaches doing a nice job with programs that were in trouble also. Coach Ebersole at Williamsburg has done a nice job in his first year as head coach. Coach at Bellefonte has done a real nice job. Any others I missed?