The annual Maxpreps preseason rankings are out (click here for the Wyoming previews), and the Green River Wolves are in the overall No. 1 spot.
You can get pretty into the Maxpreps ratings, which rank the 11-man schools in Wyoming 1-54 (six-man schools aren’t ranked in the preseason for Wyoming, probably because so many schools are new). Burns is ranked tops in 2A and third overall; Douglas is No. 1 in 3A and fifth overall; and Wind River is the top 1A 11-man team and is 13th overall.
Take a look at the rankings, then let me know what you think: bogus or beautiful? Post a comment below.
Maxpreps and the Massey Ratings are the only computer rankings that I know of that rank high school teams throughout the year. Maxpreps generally gives small schools too much credit; Massey ratings are generally kinder to larger schools. Massey ratings usually take about three weeks to get up to speed, but once they do I’ll try to remember to post the rankings here each week.
Season kickoff is in two-plus days for the 4As…. nine-plus days for everyone else…. it’s starting to get fun.
–patrick
Hmm. MaxPreps…I thought they did pretty well really
but
I thought you and I did a little better.
In 4A-I can see GR #1 (I picked them there as well-you had Sheridan) but I sure don’t see NCHS as strong as MaxPreps does. NC has great coaching.. but #3? Gillette is strong-but I think Sheridan has the horses to rule the North and be in Laramie at the end of the season. CCHS and SHS is always a grudge match, but promises to be a meaningful game in the playoff hunt this year. So they matched us pretty closely, with the exception of having Sheridan #4 instead of #2 (or 1).
In 3A its similar. All the same teams, with their #4 our #2.
I think its clear that Douglas deserves the #1 spot for all the reasons MaxPreps (and we) identified previously. Etchemendy and co. should be favored all the way. I think they’ll go undefeated. However, I think Buffalo lost too much last year to be #2-Lander should be #2 because of their depth-not #4 as in MaxPreps. They have Buffalo #2, we had them #3.They had Cody #3 we had them #4-so it’s really just the MaxPrep Lander pick that is significantly low in my opinion. Like the Sheridan pick in 4A, we have them in the championship game, Max Preps has them #4.
….In 2A…I’m a little confused….Burns #1? We didn’t have them in the top 5. Either 3a is weaker than I thought or this is a swing and a miss by MaxPreps. Burns was one dimensional-that dimension was Duell Petsch. Burns lost Petsch and moved up a division.
They have Kemmerer #2 we have them #1. They have Glenrock #2. They don’t have Mountain View, I think Moutain View is #3. They don’t have Lovell, I think they are #4. They include Big Horn…who just moved up a division too…So the largest discrepancy with our picks is in this division.
In 1A-they are right on. They have Wind River as champs-and they’ll go undefeated. Wind River has the horses to contend for the 2A title this year. They will cruise in the lower division. Lusk has the horses to challenge for #2, but Bullington has built a powerhouse, and has their number so its SE #2 and Lusk #3, and that’s where MaxPreps put them. Burlington is the best of the rest at #4.
MaxPreps doesn’t do 6man but I like our picks of Guersey, Meteetse, Midwest, Hanna and Tensleep
Here’s my picks for champs: 4A – Sheridan (best coach & best player), 3A – Buffalo (junior class better than last year’s seniors), 2A – Kemmerer (it was Glenrocks turn last year), 1A – SE (they know how to win) & 6-man – Guernsey (too much speed).
Maxpreps rankings are based a lot on last year’s finishes, hence why Burns and Big Horn are so high.
I think 4A has a pretty clear-cut 1-2 and everyone else is trying to keep pace with that. The 3A division is pretty even among the top 3-4 teams and after that, it feels wide open to me.
Again, 2A is Kemmerer, Glenrock and…. um…. I do think Burns will be a challenger even without Petsch, as will Mountain View and Lovell. I’m not sure what Lovell has but I know they lost two big pieces with Geiser and Durtsche (both Shrine Bowlers).
The 1A-11 division looks like a Wind River-Southeast title game but I do think several others (Hulett, Lusk, Burlington come immediately to mind) can beat them on any given day. It’ll be a lot of 12-7 type games for anyone to win a title, much like last year.
And as for 1A-6… well, let’s just wait until those scores come back from Week 1 to try to figure THAT out!
–patrick
I think you are right as usual Patrick. Our picks are usually based on returning talent and coaches who have established good programs.
Seems like everyone I talk to has GR and Sheridan in 4a. Both have excellent coaches, and returning QB’s that are among the best players in the state. Central returns talent, CCHS has a great program…
I don’t think 3A is as wide open as you do. I think Douglas is the clear favorite. After that, well, maybe its wide open as you say-there are many well established programs that know how to win, but Lander has almost an entire team returning……
2A is more open to me- no one really comes to mind as returning a bunch of studs. Good programs and coaches-will probably prevail (Kemmerer,Glenrock)
1A-has Cokeville, SE and Burlington-they are all dominant on an annual basis-outstanding coaches.
But especially at 1A Jimmys and Joes can trump x’s and o’s, and WR returns almost their entire state champion track team and is absolutely stacked with speed. They return two all-state players and will run over (and around and through) the 1A. Lusk returns a speedster as well, and may surprise SE for the #2 spot.
its hard for programs that have all the pieces of a great football but one or two left as question marks… i know powell in 3A will be one of those with QB and many positions a mystery except RB. Lovell faces like many have said losing geiser and durtsche. filling the WR spot with Steven will be filled, not fully but pretty close. there is a kid or two with his build with soft hands that could step up but QB will be the real question mark. Kemmerer has a few hard hitters and will always bring out a top team; glenrock as well as kemmerer just live and grow up for football in those towns so of course kemmerer and glenrock need to go 1-2 or vise versa. mountain view will be a solid 4 or 5. Burns is 1 now but they are not feared till they prove it but i think they should sit 3 or 4 near M-V. If Lovell can answer their QB problem then they could be 3.
Agree with bulldawg, after Kemmerer and Mt. View folded camp this weekend, that division is even more up in the air than usual. Judging from the post on Wyopreps, it sounds like Lovell has a solid line, and that they are for real this year.
Maybe a better ranking is Glenrock, Lovell, Kemmerer, Burns