Forrest City has beaten Marion haven't they?

Per the above discussion regarding rankings and one team beating another and still being ranked below them. These are only opinions and mean very little this time of year. Everything will take care of itself in the regional and state tournaments. For instance, in my OPINION, Valley View girls are rated too high, but several other teams would say they are rated about right. The Highland Lady Rebels are 8-2 against other teams in the above top twenty, including 2-0 against Valley View, 2-0 against Batesville-Southside, 2-1 against Westside, with wins over Nettleton, Calico Rock, and a loss to Pocahontas.

On any given night anything can happen. It sure is fun to watch!!

Totally disagree with you on VV, and totally agree with you on Highland. Highland should be around 5 or 6.

1. Searcy (3) - Unbeaten in 6A east
2. Mountain Home (1) - Only loss is to Searcy
3. West Memphis (2) - Only loss is to MH
4. Blytheville (4) - Unbeaten in 5A East with early loss to Searcy
5. Cave City (5) - Beat defending 3A champ Marshall twice and Marshall is not down,Bergman is.
6. Bald Knob (7) - Only loss to Lonoke
7. Batesville Southside (9)- Finished ahead of Highland in the Kell;Squeaked by Stutgart; KJ and LR are money every night
8. EPC (12) - Only loss to Hughes at Hughes coupled with CC's two wins over Marshal dropped them behind CC
9. Pocahontas (6) - Plays well enough to beat anybody except VV apparently
Apparently doesn't have anyone to stop VVs AP unlike the entire 5A or 6A does
10. Jonesboro (9) - Tough losses against WM/MH/Searcy Rebounds this week with FC and Jax
11. Rector (10)- Plays in the 2A-3, but has two tournament wins this year
12. Valley View (13)- Plays well against PO,but not HI-Go figure. Marty needs to study Trey a little more.
13. G-Tech (14) - 3-1 in the 5A East
14. Cedar Ridge (15) - Plays in 2A-2 It will be tough going in Regionals MW is playing well
15. Hughes (19) Upsets over EPC and at Corning
16. Hoxie(15) - Slipped up against EPC - Could be higher
17. Highland (11) - Good tradition, but not a 5 or 6. Too many other good ones good enough to beat them.
18. Augusta (UR) - Got love for 2A-6 Only Carlisle is ahead of them I think.Regionals will tell more.
19. Weiner (UR) - Some love for 1A Cal Rock and Melbourne may have a say before it's over and done
20. BIC (UR) - Back again until Rector (Before HP's injury)
On the bubble:Wynne,Bay,Riverside,Batesville,Westside

This is a regional poll. I only cited the ADG b/c they generally agreed with my poll. If Carlisle,Beebe and Lonoke were more NE than central, most of the last five wouldn't stand a chance of getting in on the list.

The 2A is Carlisle's to lose,but Jessieville may have a say. The 2A3 is the closest to them though.If the 2A 2 can pull off a regional upset and it would be an upset that could shake things up a bit.

The 3A is wide open. EPC,CC, may be in the finals.That would be nice.For some reason I'm drawing a blank in this group.

The 4A from Dardanelle,Clinton,Dumas, Pocahontas,Lonoke.One of these has to cross paths with CAC sooner or later before CAC moves up to 5A next year.

The 5A Morrilton and Camdeen Fairview are the heavy favorites,but there will be 14 other equally good teams good enough to upset the apple cart and all 14 of those teams would sweep the lower classifications.

The 6A perennials WM and Parkview usually, but Parkview had a rough early going. Lake Hamilton,Benton,Watson Chapel,Searcy,Mountain Home and maybe Pine Bluff have to be the early favorites.

The 7A is and always will be Fort Smith Northside or Southside.The 10 others keep it interesting. IMHO. NLR defintely keeps it interesting.

Sorry 1A, I almost forgot about the usual suspects like Wickes,Sacred Heart and Guy Perkins.

Good luck to all the coaches and players. A lot of ball left. A lot of ball. Things could change in a flurry,I mean hurry.

Who in the NEA of the 5-A has gained so much respect over the 4-A

Pocahontas beats Jonesboro a 6-A school
Westside beats Nettleton and Batesville
Valley View beats Paragould and Nettleton Lost to JHS by a little
Highland beats Nettleton
Osceola beat a 5-A school

Yes Beebe and Blytheville are good enough to win the 4-A 3 but overall NEA I think the 4-A is strong.

Yes Highland is too low... Won in close games over Nettleton, VV twice and B'ville Southside twice...

I'm not sure if neafbfan is much of a basketball fan or not. It takes a lot of time to come up with all of that information and even more time if he has actually seen each of these teams play.

He states that Highland is not a 5 or a 6, that too many good ones good enough to beat them above them.

I respectfully disagree and I will back up my opinion with facts. Highland is 5-1 against teams ABOVE them in the above rankings!!! 2-0 vs VV, 2-0 vs Southside(one on a neutral floor), 1-0 vs Cave City on a neutral floor, and 0-1 vs Pocahontas.

Highland may not be a 5 or a 6, but some of the ones above them make me laugh.

EPC rolled Cave City on a neutral court. This list loses credibility if you think CC is better than EPC.

This list isn't too bad....Cave City is way to high though.

I guess? I can tell you VV is better than Pokey. They have proved it twice. EPC would beat CC 9 out of 10 times on a neutral court. Top of the list looks good i.... 1,2,3,4 after that it becomes opinion and you know what they say about those....

So is Highland better than VV ?

YES. They proved it twice where it counts.

With all that being said now let me ask you this....

Is Tuckerman better than Highalnd, and is Pocahontas better than Highland ?

Highland came into a tournament against a much lower seed and laid an egg. I would take Highland every time they played Tuckerman. Highland has more talent.


If Pokey beats Highland again then I do not see how you can't say they are the better team. That would be wins at home and away.


Basketball is about matchups. I do not compare scores or look at hypotheticals. Believe it or not "sometimes the best team wins. Now if you want to be a "homer" and come up with a dozen excuses why you lost that fine but it still will not change the outcome. That is why they play the game on the court and not in forums. IMHO

It is a toss up for sure at this point. noone really knows because everyone on that list doesnt play each other enough to say who is better or not. for example, cave city lost big to epc but it was a ten point game all the way until cave city tried to do something and press them with players in foul trouble so that was not a true indication of how the game really went. cave city and highland were neck and neck and it was a close game. lots of the games that seperate the rankings were close and could have gone either way. it will be easier to say in about a month who will be going to state.

I agree with what you are saying...it just looked like you was comparing wins and losses against different teams tring to decide who is better than the other. You just can't do that.

Valley View has beat Pocahontas twice now, Highland has beat Valley View twice, and I think Pocahontas will beat Highland twice "I could be wrong" So that throws it all out the door.

I personally believe all 3 teams are matched up pretty well. I do feel Pocahontas, and Highland are the best two talent wise. It will all come down to coaching and who wants it more.