New C-P T20

What I'm listening to: Regina Spektor... TMBG... Renaissance... Dar Williams... the Pogues... Mama Mia... Gatan Project...

1. CCath
2. Wilson
3. Spirit
4. Gami
5. Boro
6. AC
7. OC
8. Eustace
9. PVI
10. Wash Twp.
11. RV
12. Cherokee
13. TCreek
14. CH East
15. Pleasantville
16. Heights
17. Glassboro
18. Sterling
19. Wildwood Cath.
20. Wildwood

Almost: Sacred Heart, Moorestown, Williamstown, Cumberland, Kingsway, Gloucester, Haddonfield, Collingswood, Pennsauken, Salem, Highland

I had a real problem in the Top 5 for the first time in about a month, because of Gami's loss to Spirit. Knowing that Rosario and James were out, there's obviously room to assume that they might have been able to make a difference. But I've always said that the team that plays is the team that plays, and I've dropped other teams for losing at less than full strength, so I didn't feel like I could just give the Braves a pass for convenience's sake.

I've had it really easy with the top part of the list for quite a while, and it came back on my this time, bot just with Gami but also with Cherry Hill East. I'm sure it hasn't escaped the Cougars' notice that they're ranked behind a team in Washington Township which they beat twice, and also behind another team, Cherokee, which is a member of a division which East won outright. But something went horribly wrong for that team in a 20+ point loss at Timber Creek. Maybe it's some kind of Player of the Week curse. It wasn't more than a few hours after I talked to Kim Keyack to make Vianca Tejada the POW that the Cougars laid that egg. I wasn't worried about the pick because, since we have to choose the player by a certain time, I considered the "week" to run from Thursday to Wednesday. But still, it was quite a surprise.

I wondered for a while what to do with the end of the rankings as well. I decided that the winner of the Trico championship game would be in no matter what, and had Williamstown won, I would have put Mainland back in too. Wildwood Catholic effectively replaced Sacred Heart by virtue of a win over the Lions on the road. I realize that the division was actually not up for grabs, that SH already had it locked away, but that was a big win for the Crusaders, who seem to be headed in the right direction going into the playoffs. The near upset over Paul VI the very next day only solidified those thoughts in my head. Wildwood went in at No. 20, based on a six-game win streak that includes victories over Gloucester, Pitman and Mainland, but it could just as easily have been any one of four or five other teams.

I've worked up strength-of-schedule rankings for the whole area, and I'll be posting about them sometime tomorrow (Sunday), along with an explanation of the formula. There were some interesting revelations.