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RANKINGS
THE POWER RANKINGS: Stony Point finished in top spot of final Austin area Boys rankings
My wife says I get to be right twice a day like a broken clock. I burned one last week when I predicted that Stony Point, in the clubhouse with a Bye on the final night of the regular season, would remain atop the final Power Rankings of the season. The defending 6A state runners-up climbed atop the heap about two-thirds of the way through the season and never looked back. Of all the teams in the area, the 6A Division 2 Tigers seem most likely to take advantage of the divisional split in the UIL’s new playoff format.
Honestly, not much movement beneath the Tigers. Vandegrift finished strong with back-to-back overtime wins vs. Westwood and Round Rock. The Vipers will carry some momentum into the postseason against Westlake – who they defeated in overtime to start the season. Meanwhile, Round Rock and Westwood may get a chance to play a rubber match in the 6A D1 bracket.
Surging Liberty Hill continues to be the top-ranked 5A team in the area at #3. The 5A D2 Panthers are another team that could take advantage of the divisional split to make a deep run.
McCallum was the only other team to move up a couple of spots as none of the other wins and losses seemed dramatic enough to change much.
So, there you have it. Our final poll is in the books. Time to stop reading the tea leaves, flipping coins and playing Rock, Paper, Scissors, and time to start hooping it up for real. Whatever happens from here on out, the Power Rankings are off the hook. On to the playoffs!
VYPE's Austin Boys Basketball Rankings
1. (1) Stony Point Tigers (6A) – 29-4 (Bye)
2. (2) St. Michael’s Warriors (TAPPS) – 28-4 (Def. Second Baptist)
3. (3) Liberty Hill Panthers (5A) – 29-5 (Def. #12 Rouse)
4. (4) Round Rock Dragons (6A) – 22-11 (L vs. #8 Vandegrift)
5. (5) Westwood Warriors (6A) – 30-4 (Def. Vista Ridge)
6. (6) East View Patriots (5A) – 25-8 (Def. Georgetown)
7. (8) Vandegrift Vipers (6A) 24-10 (Def. #4 Round Rock)
8. (7) Westlake Chaparrals (6A) – 24-7 (Def. Akins)
9. (9) Leander Lions (5A) – 24-8 (L @ Hays)
10. (10) Lago Vista Vikings (4A) – 27-4 (Def. Austin Achieve)
11. (11) Brentwood Christian (TAPPS) 26-8 (Bye)
12. (12) Rouse (5A) 22-12 (L @ #3 Liberty Hill)
13. (14) McCallum (5A) – 22-9 (Def. Austin LASA)
14. (15) Pflugerville Connally (5A) – 23-12 (Def. Pflugerville)
15. (13) Wimberley (4A) – 24-9 (L @ Davenport)
THE POWER RANKINGS: Stony Point (already) clinches) top spot in Austin area Boys rankings
Top-ranked Stony Point brushed aside determined challenges from two very good playoff teams in Westwood and Round Rock to close out their third consecutive undefeated district season. That was more than enough for them to remain atop this week’s Power Rankings. (Spoiler Alert: With a Bye this week, they’ll still be there in next week’s final poll as well.)
St. Michael’s remains at #2, as the TAPPS powerhouse rolled on. Aside from that consistency at the top, however, win-one; lose-one chaos reigned. Okay, Liberty Hill swept their week to climb over Westwood to a podium spot, but then chaos reigned. Round Rock played Stony tough to also step over Westwood despite their tough loss. Why? Mainly because the Warriors capped off a rough stretch with their third loss in a row to a ranked team in an overtime thriller at Vandegrift.
The Vipers could have moved up but lost to unranked Hutto earlier in the week. Same with East View and Leander in the Top 10, although the latter’s loss was at the hands of surging Liberty Hill. Further down, 4A Wimberley and 5A McCallum both moved up as Pflugerville Connally replaced Georgetown in the rankings.
The boys start their wrap-up week on Tuesday, with one last round of regular season games and a smattering of play-in and seeding games to come late in the week. Here’s our penultimate look.
VYPE's Austin Boys Basketball Rankings
1. (1) Stony Point Tigers (6A) – 29-4 (Def. #3 Westwood; Def. #5 Round Rock)
2. (2) St. Michael’s Warriors (TAPPS) – 27-4 (Bye; Def. Savio)
3. (4) Liberty Hill Panthers (5A) – 28-5 (Def. Cedar Park; Def. #9 Leander)
4. (5) Round Rock Dragons (6A) – 22-10 (Bye; L @ #1 Stony Point)
5. (3) Westwood Warriors (6A) – 29-4 (L vs. #1 Stony Point; L @ #8 Vandegrift)
6. (6) East View Patriots (5A) – 24-8 (Def. Hendrickson; L @ Weiss)
7. (7) Westlake Chaparrals (6A) – 23-7 (Def. Dripping Springs, Bye)
8. (8) Vandegrift Vipers (6A) 23-10 (L @ Hutto; Def. #3 Westwood)
9. (9) Leander Lions (5A) – 24-8 (Def. Glenn; L vs. #4 Liberty Hill)
10. (10) Lago Vista Vikings (4A) – 26-4 (Def. Manor New Tech; Bye)
11. (11) Brentwood Christian (TAPPS) 26-8 (Def. Grace Community; Def. Bishop Dunne)
12. (12) Rouse (5A) 22-11 (Def. Lockhart; L vs. Glenn)
13. (14) Wimberley (4A) – 24-8 (Def. Fredericksburg; Def. Geronimo Navarro)
14. (15) McCallum (5A) – 21-9 (Def. Bastrop; Def. Austin Navarro)
15. (NR) Pflugerville Connally (5A) – 22-12 (L @ Weiss; Def. #13 Georgetown)