Class A Rankings 2-2-14

[4chex]

Well stated Ted. We couldn't agree more.

[notTONIGHT]

No disrespect to Luverne or Mankato West, but who you play does matter when ranking. I will use the analogy of Florida State and North Dakota State in football. Both D1 teams went unbeaten, but could you really consider that they were of the same ability. North Dakota State beat K-State on the road (a nice win) but can you really imagine them going unbeaten playing that competition every week. Luverne has except one tie beaten the all comers, but comparing to a team like EGF who has played Blaine, Breck, Moorhead, Bemidji 2xs, Warroad 2x's, TRF's 2x's, Roseau 2x's, both Grand forks schools 2x's is apples to oranges. Warroad, Breck, Hermantown and a number of other A schools can make the same claim. I'm not trying to discredit Luverne, Like NDSU, they play where they play; but do you really think Luverne would be a .500 team against that competition? After all it is just ranking, but even if you assume they are as good as the top teams,what will hurt Luverne in the end is facing teams who have played that competition all season.

Agree with everything you said with one exception.

Florida state plays in a weak football conference in the ACC, and everyone questioned them throughout the season.

NDSU and FSU are not even in the same Football sub division.

If anything Luverne is Florida State. With Auburn or Alabama being EGF or Breck, similar to those teams playing in the SEC. They have the best competition week in and week out. Which is clearly the best way to do it. As proven by the SEC's dominance in recent years.

Schedule is very important. No one questions it. But having a tough game and losing it like west did, twice, shouldnt give you an advantage over a team that hasnt lost. JMO

By that Logic, a one loss alabama should have played Auburn, forgoing FSU all together, because they were undefeated in a much weaker conference.

[HShockeywatcher]

No disrespect to Luverne or Mankato West, but who you play does matter when ranking. I will use the analogy of Florida State and North Dakota State in football. Both D1 teams went unbeaten, but could you really consider that they were of the same ability. North Dakota State beat K-State on the road (a nice win) but can you really imagine them going unbeaten playing that competition every week. Luverne has except one tie beaten the all comers, but comparing to a team like EGF who has played Blaine, Breck, Moorhead, Bemidji 2xs, Warroad 2x's, TRF's 2x's, Roseau 2x's, both Grand forks schools 2x's is apples to oranges. Warroad, Breck, Hermantown and a number of other A schools can make the same claim. I'm not trying to discredit Luverne, Like NDSU, they play where they play; but do you really think Luverne would be a .500 team against that competition? After all it is just ranking, but even if you assume they are as good as the top teams,what will hurt Luverne in the end is facing teams who have played that competition all season.

It's hard to have a very informed opinion to answer that question.
They ended up getting ranked by me when others were falling and they beat Kennedy by the same score as Orono. The day before that game they beat a Spring Lake Park team who also recently shut out Mahtomedi.
I'm not at all suggesting to compare teams by the associative property, but it gives us a basis to look at.

At the end of the day, we don't know. And that's that. They are a young team with a lot of guys scoring; how do you know how they'd do against other teams they don't play?

I am often curious about how a team like Hill or Edina would end up ranked were they to play a schedule like Luverne's. Obviously it wouldn't happen, but it's quite similar to what happens with specific AA teams regularly. It'd be interesting to see.