After the Ravens' heartbreaking loss to the Patriots Sunday night, I had planned on taking a break from my weekly boys basketball power polls and doing a list of the worst, most humiliating, disheartening and disappointing losses I've lived through during a lifetime of Maryland sports fandom, and I had a pretty good one going, but it proved to be too painful to complete. Looking back at old box scores and clips on youtube.com to make sure the facts line up with my memories forced me to relive all those terrible minutes, like when the Terps squandered a 22-point, first-half lead in their final-four matchup with Duke at the 2001 NCAA tournament, eventually losing 95-84 to the eventual national champs. I just couldn't do it, so, in the interest of saving my sanity, here's my normal basketball rankings:
1. Edgewood: The Rams avenged their Dec. 19 loss to Elkton with a 61-59 victory over the Elks Tuesday night. Their scoring is getting spread around a bit more evenly as the season progresses, and their defense just gets better, so the Edgewood boys will be tough to top heading down the stretch. The game to watch comes a week from today (Friday), when the Rams host the Aberdeen Eagles, whose only Chesapeake Division loss came at the hands of Edgewood.
2. Aberdeen After a four-game stretch in which they won just one game, the Eagles bounced back with back-to-back Chesapeake Division victories, the first an 87-37 pasting of Havre de Grace. The second of those games is worth looking at though, because the Eagles eked out a three-point victory over Fallston, a team whose only regular-season victory thus far came at Havre de Grace's expense. I wouldn't call that a bad omen, but it's not the kind of result you want to see when you're neck-deep in a tough divisional race. Whatever the case, tune in next Friday for the Edgewood vs. Aberdeen game; it will probably be the most important UCBAC game of the season.
3. Patterson Mill: As I've said before in this column, the undefeated Huskies are playing like they belong in the Chesapeake Division, and that's most likely where they're headed. Looking ahead, the last big obstacle facing Patterson Mill comes the week after next, when the Huskies take on Joppatowne and Harford Tech in a three-day span.
4. Joppatowne: At 10-4 overall and 7-1 in Susquehanna Division play, the Mariners would probably be at the top of the standings were it not for an undefeated team by the name of Patterson Mill. If they can win the rest of their division games, including the Feb. 7 rematch with the Huskies, and somebody manages to bump off Patterson Mill, they still have a shot at the Susquehanna crown.
5. North Harford: I think the Hawks have done more moving over this season than any team in my previous power polls, all sports included. They started near the bottom because they lost so much talent to graduation, moved up near the top after a 5-1 start, then settled back down in the middle when the losses started mounting after the winter break. They have a road game with Elkton tonight, a home matchup with top-ranked Edgewood Tuesday, then another road game with Aberdeen on Feb. 7. That, people, is a tough stretch of games.
6. Harford Tech: Since coming back from the holiday break, the Cobras have gone 5-2, with the two losses coming at the hands of Patterson Mill (undefeated) and Edgewood (top-ranked). They travel to play Joppatowne tonight, and play their rematch with Patterson Mill on Feb. 10. Both of those games should be interesting.
7. C. Milton Wright: The always entertaining Mustangs followed back-to-back losses to Patterson Mill and Edgewood with a 74-67 victory over North Harford on Tuesday. Tonight's home game with Aberdeen will be worth watching because: A. Aberdeen just barely got by Fallston Tuesday and CMW has beaten Fallston, and, B. This is just a personal observation, but the Mustangs have been good throwing wrenches in Aberdeen's gears the last few seasons (ended the Eagles' UCBAC unbeaten streak and beat the Eagles on the last day of the regular season to give Havre de Grace the Chesapeake Division crown).
8. Bel Air: The Bobcats are itching to move up this list apparently, as they took Joppatowne to overtime last Friday, then beat Perryville Tuesday. Wednesday, however, brought a 10-point loss to Harford Tech.
9. Fallston: The Cougars fought tooth and nail with Aberdeen on Tuesday, eventually losing, 51-48, and on Jan. 12 they lost a 78-77 slugfest with top-ranked Edgewood. What does that say to me? It says that Fallston has the juice to beat the Chesapeake's best teams, but is having trouble integrating all parts of its game. There is still time left for them to make some noise, or play spoiler.
10. Havre de Grace: The Warriors have more victories than Fallston, but looking at common opponents, they lost their games with Edgewood and Aberdeen by a combined score of 165-71 (compare that to Fallston's differential of 129-125 against the same two teams).