Gramp's Missouri Boys and Girls Basketball Blog

  I don't know if I have ever seen so many really good and highly rated class three girls teams as this year's crop.  While Principia and Fair Grove stand slightly above the rest and have done well vs. upper class opponents, Thayer, South Shelby, Centralia, Fatima and El Dorado Springs are all great teams. Look for an exciting state tournament.  Here are Coach Mike Backes ratings and Gramps prognostications.  Gramps is taking Grama on a cruise for ten days so Coach Mike B might have to fill you in on class four through six girls or boys until we get back. Good luck to all teams. Here are Gramps prognostications on Class Three girls Here are the class three girls ratings, calculated by Gramps and Coach Mike Backes.

 Here are ratings by district from Coach Mike Backes and Gramps selections for each class three  boys basketball district.  Prognostications are below, followed by overall class three ratings. District and sectional predictions.  Look out for Principia. Overall class three ratings

 Gramps and Coach Mike Backes look at class two boys district matchups and state predictions.  Predictions are listed below the district rankings. Here are our predictions for district and sectional games and the state champion.

 Missouri Class One boys has some good teams this year with Green City and Chadwick leading the way.  After nearly equal ratings all season long, Green City appears to have a slight edge. Coach Mike B has been busy cranking numbers and here are Gramps (and Coach B's) picks for district titles and a state prognostication. The first table shows teams by district with MSHSSA seeds, our seeds, games we rated, and team ratings.  The second to last column is their overall ranking in class one. The last column is the district rating. The second table is our prognostications on district and sectional winners and the ultimate state champ. Good luck to all the teams. Here are our picks for district, sectional and state title.

 When Gramps is on the golf course, and I hit a great shot, my favorite saying is “Even a Blind Mule finds Water”.  I might have some ability but those great shots come out of nowhere at times. Well, the Missouri State High School League is often like that at tournament time.  It’s not that they have a great system, cuz often the best two teams in the tournament end up playing each other in the first or second round.  That’s because the League does not have a rating system that seeds teams at the state tournament.  They seed teams at districts and then rotate through a couple of variations of tournament brackets each year.  It results in the best teams playing a quarterfinal game instead of a championship final. This year, the blind mule found water. The best two teams in class two, Tipton (district eight) and Skyline (district thirteen), are in opposite brackets so that they might meet in the final.  Except I won’t say “might” because these two te...

 If you are a class one girl's coach that is looking for the best evidence to get your team seeded in the appropriate slot at your District basketball seed meeting, then you need to print this off and take it with you. Gramps Braggin' Rights ratings have predicted 85% of the winners in district, sectional and state brackets for over eight years.  It's the best form sheet for Missouri basketball. Here are Gramps and Coach Mike B's ratings for district seeding, with comments and state predictions below the chart: District One - Delta is the clear favorite and will have a tough sectional game with District 2 champion, Chadwick or Bunker. District Two:  Chadwick is the favorite but Bunker could challenge.  The winner of the sectional game could go far into the state bracket but the top of the bracket (districts 1-8) are loaded with the best teams. District Three: Hurley is the clear favorite but won't get past their District Four opponent in the sectional. District Four...

 I often get complimented for the boys' and girls' ratings that Gramps post.  There is only one other rating system that rates all high school basketball teams in Missouri and we are pretty darn close to each other in rankings.  I still prefer the way Gramps rates teams because the difference in rating is the predicted spread when they play. First off, there wouldn't be a Gramps Braggin' Rights ratings this year if Coach Mike Backes of Blair Oaks had not volunteered to help me with the calculations.  I sure hope he wants to be the new Gramps next year.  While I enjoy the work, I have other priorities (as does Grama) and someone else needs to take the baton. I have finished up my History of Minnesota Nordic Skiing book application at Amazon and have sold a bunch of books at bookpatch.com .  Today is the start of the Minnesota State HS Nordic Ski Championship, which I won (or actually tied for first) just 59 years ago. But I digress.  This blog today is ...