Top St. Louis Large and Small boys high school basketball rankings 11/29

Pre-season basketball rankings are somewhat of a crap-shoot, but then again, the Post Dispatch rankings don't always make sense in mid- or late season.  I am not sure how they figure those other than looking at records and watching some games but I feel fairly confident that they are not based on actual head-to-head comparisons in a statistically significant manner.

So, occasionally, I will throw out my rankings compared to the P-D Poll and here is the first of several comparisons.  Remembering that a number of teams have yet to step out on court, there is a whole lot of speculation built into both the polls and my algorithm-based rankings.

A few large school teams, like McCluer North, De Smet and Vianney, have played and looked quite impressive in the box scores.  De Smet could be the sleeper here with big men Keita and Gassamma, dominating the low post.  Belleville West, Chaminade and East St. Louis are strong again and it will take some time to see how Webster Groves handles the loss of Gordon and Ramey.

In the small school rankings, Parkway Central, Alton and McCluer all looked great in their first couple of games.  Parkway Central, despite losing a large part of their offense from last year and their long-time coach Rick Kirby, could be the surprise in the small school group, although I don't know who will be able to keep pace with lightning fast Vashon and a dominant Jennings team.
 
It will be interesting to look back on this post in a couple of months and see who tops the list and who have dropped off.

Boys basketball large school schools - 11/29		Rating	P-D Rank
1	Belleville West	135	1
2	Chaminade	133	2
3	Webster Groves	130	5
4	East St. Louis	127	4
5	Francis Howell	127	6
6	Collinsville	126	9
7	McCluer North	125	NR
8	Marquette	119	NR
9	Hazelwood East	118	NR
10	Ladue	118	NR
11	Hazelwood Central	117	7
12	Eureka	116	NR
13	De Smet	115	NR
14	CBC	115	3
15	Vianney	113	NR
16	Fort Zumwalt South	112	10
17	Lafayette	112	NR
18	Kirkwood	110	NR
19	Hazelwood West	110	NR
20	Parkway South	109	NR
Boys basketball small school schools - 11/29		Rating	P-D Rank
1	Parkway Central	128	NR
2	Jennings	126	2
3	Vashon	124	1
4	Whitfield	123	7
5	Alton	120	NR
6	Trinity	120	3
7	Confluence	119	10
8	McCluer	117	NR
9	Cardinal Ritter	115	4
10	Liberty Wentzville	114	NR
11	Duchesne	113	NR
12	Highland	112	8
13	St. Francis Borgia	111	6
14	St. Mary's	111	NR
15	Park Hills Central	110	NR
16	Christian (O'Fallon)	110	NR
17	Riverview Gardens	109	NR
18	John Burroughs	108	NR
19	University City	108	NR
20	Lift for Life	107	NR