Class AA boys basketball midseason update: Kernels lead chase as Roosevelt, O'Gorman clear No. 1, No. 2
Jan. 25—MITCHELL — At the approximate midpoint and with a month to play in the regular season, the Class AA boys basketball standings are beginning to sort themselves out — at the top, at least.
Defending champion Sioux Falls Roosevelt has been the unanimous No. 1 in the South Dakota Prep Media basketball poll the entire season and sits atop the seed-point standings by 2.584 points (as of Jan. 24) with an unblemished record of 9-0.
Behind the Rough Riders in both the poll and seed point-standings is O'Gorman (10-2), with both of the Knights' losses coming to Roosevelt by a combined seven points, but beyond the top two, the picture is still very much out of focus.
Mitchell (9-2) has the third-best record in Class AA and is No. 3 in the poll and seed-point standings, but another sizeable gap of 1.538 points separates O'Gorman from the Kernels, whose advantage over Sioux Falls Washington (5-3) and Harrisburg (5-4) is less than half a point.
Washington, No. 4 in the rankings and seed-point standings, has won five of six after a slow start, but faces the second-most difficult schedule in the class (behind Mitchell) across the back half of its schedule based on current opponent win percentages. Harrisburg benefits from wins over Washington and Mitchell, while Aberdeen Central (7-5) has the fourth-most wins in the class but is a distant 10th in seed points.
Including Harrisburg, seven schools — No. 5-ranked Sioux Falls Jefferson (6-5), Rapid City Stevens (6-5), Brandon Valley (4-4), Pierre (5-5), Yankton (5-6) and Sioux Falls Lincoln (4-5) being the others — are currently within plus-or-minus one game of .500.
Battling it out in places 13 through 16 are Watertown (4-6), Spearfish (3-6), Rapid City Central (4-6) and Huron (3-7), and if the season ended Jan. 24, the three schools left out of the SoDak 16 would be Brookings (1-6), Sturgis (1-11) and Douglas (0-7).
Based on opponent win percentage, Mitchell (.611), Washington (.603) and Lincoln (.600) stand out as having significantly more difficult paths leading into the postseason than the rest of the class, as the next closest school — Huron (.560) — is fourth by a considerable margin.
Mitchell carries a five-game win streak into its most difficult stretch of the season. Starting Saturday, Jan. 29, the Kernels host Lincoln before taking on five consecutive opponents with winning records.
On the other end, Yankton, currently ninth in seed points, could be poised to rise in the standings over the next month as the Bucks have the lowest opponent winning percentage at .369. Douglas (.398), Spearfish (.463) and Brandon Valley (.473) join Yankton as the only schools with schedules featuring sub-.500 opponent winning percentages.
SoDak 16 pairings if the season ended Monday, Jan. 24:
No. 1 Sioux Falls Roosevelt vs. No. 16 Huron
No. 2 Sioux Falls O'Gorman vs. No. 15 Rapid City Central
No. 3 Mitchell vs. No. 14 Spearfish
No. 4 Sioux Falls Washington vs. No. 13 Watertown
No. 5 Harrisburg vs. No. 12 Rapid City Stevens
No. 6 Brandon Valley vs. No. 11 Pierre
No. 7 Sioux Falls Jefferson vs. No. 10 Aberdeen Central
No. 8 Sioux Falls Lincoln vs. No. 9 Yankton
