As is usually the case during the first few days of a new year, I'm possessed of dueling emotions, one being sadness, due to my having let another 12 months slip past without writing the great American novel, and the other being relief, which springs from my being as far away from the holidays as I'll be all year. I seem to emerge from the Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's grinder bloated, sleep deprived and in need a detox diet and exercise regime to get my body back in working order.
From the looks of things though, our local boys basketball players were a little better at keeping away from holiday indulgences, with a round of exciting games on Wednesday night. Here's how I see things shaking out, taking into account all games played through Wednesday (all of those holiday tournament contests):
1. Aberdeen: I was there on the Eagles' home court on Wednesday night when they topped the previously unbeaten Elkton Golden Elks, who had manhandled North Harford and knocked off Edgewood in their last two games before the break. If there was any doubt that Aberdeen is the Chesapeake Division's front runner, Wednesday's victory erased them. There's still a lot of season left, but I'm picking the Eagles to take the upper division.
2. Edgewood: Though they didn't play Wednesday, the Rams kept their spot with a first-place finish at the Coach Slagle Holiday Classic, which they hosted, and pummeled Joppatowne, 81-59, in the opening round. Tonight's (Friday) road game with Aberdeen should be very exiting.
3. North Harford: The Hawks were also off Wednesday, but over the break they made it to the championship round of the Overlea Holiday Tournament, where they fell, 65-35, to Kenwood. That result, along with the Hawks' last regular-season contest, a 21-point loss to Elkton, may point to the North Harford boys running out of steam. I'm going to wait until after Monday's matchup with Edgewood to move them anywhere.
4. Patterson Mill: The last unbeaten team in the UCBAC after Wednesday's round of contests, the 5-0 Huskies beat Perryville by 17 in their most recent matchup, and that's been the closest any opposing team has gotten to them thus far. You're doing something right when a 17-point victory is the tightest game you've had.
5. Joppatowne: Following a disappointing loss to Edgewood in the opening round of the Coach Slagle Classic and a subsequent victory over Severna Park in the consolation game, the Mariners got back on track with an 88-36 win over Rising Sun Wednesday. I'm curious to see what goes down at Tuesday's matchup between the Mariners and Huskies at Patterson Mill.
6. C. Milton Wright: I feel like I'm beating a dead horse by saying this, but the Mustangs are tough to rank. They started the Franklin Invitational Tournament with back-to-back losses, rallied to beat Franklin, 66-60, in overtime during the consolation round, then came out with a 26-point win over Havre de Grace on Wednesday. Upcoming road games with Fallston (Friday) and Elkton (next Friday) should be telling as to where the Mustangs will end up.
7. Harford Tech: The Cobras bookended the holiday break with a two-point loss to Joppatowne and an eight-point win over North East. Look for next Friday's matchup between them and host-team Patterson Mill.
8. Bel Air: After nearly beating North Harford in a pre-holiday, regular-season game, the Bobcats split a pair of holiday tournament games, then kicked off 2012 with a 63-52 road win over Bo Manor. They host Patterson Mill tonight at 7 p.m., and a win in that one would raise their stock considerably.
9. Fallston: The Cougars have two victories so far, one against last year's Chesapeake Division champ Havre de Grace, and the other a 51-47 win against Francis Scott Key in the North Carroll Holiday Hoops tournament.
10. Havre de Grace: It's tough putting a back-to-back Chesapeake Division champ down at the bottom, but the Warriors started the year with a 26-point loss to CMW, before that they were beaten by North East and Perryville over two days at the Green n Gold Tournament last week, and they suffered a 19-point defeat at the hands of Fallston, which hadn't won a game prior to that. The River City lads need to tighten up and win some Chesapeake Division games before they move up this list.