Gramp's Braggin' Rights 2023-2024 Missouri Boy's Basketball Ratings - Class Six

FINAL UPDATE MARCH 17TH, 2024

Did anyone think that a team with a 4-10 record in mid-January could win the Class Six Missouri boys basketball championship?

I can only think of three or so people that might have had that thought.  Coach Ryan Johnson (and maybe his players and staff), Earl Austin, Jr. and Gramps.

Cardinal Ritter played a very difficult early schedule which hardened the team into one heck of a juggernaut.  They were solid at all five positions, played extremely hard defense, and learned how to win by learning from their early losses.  

No one else gave them a second thought.  The MBCA poll did not even mention them until mid-February when they ranked them 10th.  Gramps had them fourth in his mid-January ratings when they were 4-10.  I checked out their competition and developed a rating (which meant rating a lot of nationally ranked teams that they played).  I knew they would challenge and they certainly did.

The other state finalist, Chaminade, was ready to be buried by opponents, after losing six straight in January.  If you look at those teams they lost to, you see that they weren't slouches either.  Young and full of fury, the Red Devils came on strong to take home second place in class six.  Expect the Red Devils to be back for more the next two years.  These two programs might be in the final both of those years.

Congrats to a great Ritter Lion team.  Two state titles in 2020 and 2021 at class three, two titles in class five and, now a class six title.  Wow!

Updated March 12th, 2024

The Class Six final four will be an interesting set of matchups, with Springfield Central Bulldogs facing off with the Cardinal Ritter Lions, last year's Class Five state champion and winner of 3 of the last 4 Class Five titles, and the young, streaky Chaminade Red Devils squaring off with the #1 Oak Park Northmen.

Oak Park has been solid all season, defeating Vashon at Vashon in overtime.  Their only bad losses were an 18-point blowout with Father Tolton and an upset to Lee's Summit West.  Chaminade has some great upside but has been streaky, losing six straight in the middle of the season.  They lost by 23 to Cardinal Ritter at home but also have been unbeatable at times, including a four-point win over Vashon at Vashon.  They tied for first in the MCC with De Smet, one of the toughest conferences in the State of Missouri.  I have to go with Oak Park but I would not be surprised to see Chaminade pull off an upset.

Ritter is an interesting situation.  Back in mid-January, Ritter was 4-10 and had dropped off the face of the earth with the MBCA coaches' poll.  I had Ritter #4 in Class Six when they were 4-10.  The MBCA poll still only has them at #10.  Ritter played some tough national competition and are no slouches.  They play tough defense and power their way to the basket.  If they have a weakness, it is the three-point shot but boy can they hoop.  Springfield Central has had a storybook season and is an excellent all-around team, playing in a very tough conference down in Springfield.  I don't want to make any enemies, but I actually am giving a slight nod to Ritter in a PickEm game.  Ritter has been in title games and knows how to win the big one.

The final should also be a good one.  Oak Park will be about a five-point favorite, but I think either Ritter or Central could give them trouble.  And you never know... it could be Ritter or Central vs. Chaminade facing off in a buzzer-beater type game.

Updated February 29th, 2024

Happy Leap Year to everyone.  It's time for Class Six Boys Basketball district playoffs and there are some exciting match-ups around the state.  There are also some really stacked districts with potential state finalists getting knocked out of the district.

Here's Gramp's Class Six BBB by district with comments:

District 1:  Cardinal Ritter moved up from Class Five and, despite their 15-11 record, are my favorite in this district.  Lindbergh and Jackson may give them some fits, but look for Ritter to make a run at the Class Six semi-finals or finals.  Whether they can keep up with Oak Park and some other big dogs will be something to watch.

District 2: Eureka, with their suffocating man defense, has the inside track, but they will have to deal with Kirkwood's hot shooting Evan Simon, who was missing from their regular season matchup last week.  Marquette could make some noise too.  If Eureka's offense performs like the last seven games, they could give Ritter a good sectional game.

District 3:  Chaminade had a bad patch mid-season but seems to be clicking on all cylinders.

District 4:  Francis Howell should take District 4 but might not get much further with Chaminade playing well.

District 5: In one of the toughest districts, Springfield Central is looking to continue its dream season but perennial powerhouses Kickapoo and Nixa may have something to say about it.  Look for a possible upset here.

District 6: Another loaded district, Lee's Summit West or Rockhurst could make a run to a state title.  LSW in a close district final.

District 7: Just as packed as districts 5 and 6, you could pull a name out of the hat with Rock Bridge, Battle, and Hickman but Blue Springs South could make some noise.  I will take Rock Bridge in OT.

District 8: Prohibitive favorite Oak Park has shown to be beatable and Staley and North Kansas City both have a shot.  If they can survive their own district, Oak Park may go on to win their first State Title.

Updated January 18, 2024

It has been a rough week.  

Gramps had MOHS surgery on a basal cell growth below my left eye, and then, I have angry fans that think their team's poop don't stink, rattling my cage about their team's rating.  Enough to make this old fart cry.

I can handle the fans.  It is just statistics and sometimes Gramps is a day late and a dollar short.  I re-examine the game scores (or catch up in many cases) and make adjustments.  Sometimes those adjustments satisfy fans and other times they don't.  Tough bunnies.

I guess I will survive the facial adjustment too.  I thought this MOHS would be an hour in and out but I was the first patient in and the last one out.  With MOHS, the doctors take a layer of flesh and examine it for cancerous cells.  If they find some, they take another layer (about an hour later) and re-examine the new sample.  And so on and so forth until they get all the cancerous cells.  Then they sew you up.

After four hours and four wider and deeper samples, the docs finally decided they had taken enough and they would sew me up.  The trouble is, I had a quarter-sized hole below my left eye tear duct so they had to stretch the skin over and sew up the hole.  I told my kids I now have a crooked smile and my left ear is now moved over to my left cheek.  I guess that is what you get when you cheat on the sunscreen on those warm July golf outings.

Life goes on.  I am going back through the class six boys and girls ratings for the third time.  It gets harder to gauge teams' ratings because some of the better teams just keep beating each other and who do you rate higher when they split?  If I weigh one team over the other, even though they split their competitions, I get angry readers, one way or another.

So, here you go, folks.  Class Six Boys basketball ratings.  Take them or leave them.  I am not listening this week.  I have more important things to worry about.

Updated January 5, 2024

I updated the class six ratings to include all of Cardinal Ritter's nationally ranked opponents and reworked the top five without any weighting, including the over-weighting of Springfield Central's loss to Vianney.    Of course, now the Griffin fans will be mad when they see the Bulldogs rated better in class six than Vianney in class five.

Such is the life of a statistician who delivers bad news   

Updated January 3rd, 2024

My, oh, my.  Will anybody catch up to Oak Park this year?  Other than a close loss to Little Rock Central, the Northmen are head and shoulders above the class six competition but look out for Cardinal Ritter, who has moved up from class five.  

Yeah, right, Gramps.  Cardinal Ritter is 3-7 and you think they will compete with the big dogs? 

Yep, Ritter has been playing national competition very close and once they have more Missouri games under their belt, I suspect they will be up around a 150 rating.  

The sleeper right now is Staley, who the MBCA coaches poll and many others have writtem off after a 40-plus point loss to Springfield Central at the beginning of the season.  Staley has been impressive since then and I have them at #3.  As always, Kickapoo is tough again this year, and look out for Chaminade and Lee's Summit West.

There are a boatload of very good teams between #11 and #25.  Rockhurst, Francis Howell and KC-based Blue Springs South, Grain Valley, and Raymore-Peculiar all deserve attention from the MBCA coaches poll.

January and February are going to be topsy-turvy with a lot of back-and-forth games.

Posted December 5th, 2023 

It is probably a little silly to publish class six Missouri boys basketball ratings when some teams have not even played a single game but I thought I would throw this out against the wall and see if it sticks.

Oak Park, Nixa, North Kansas City, Lee's Summit West, Chaminade, and Springfield Central have started like gang-busters and I expect them to be near the top throughout the year.  The rest of the field is up in the air until we input a few more game results into the rating equation.

I am sure that Cardinal Ritter and a few other top teams will rise to the top sooner than later, but the numbers are not there yet.  Just not enough games.

For some teams, it has been a rough start.  Coach Uffmann at Fort Zumwalt North lost one of his top players to a collarbone fracture in the football playoffs but that should give some other players a chance to develop until he returns.  In the meantime, the Panthers might take some lumps.  Look for them to rise in the standings in January.

I am sure other teams are anxiously biding time, waiting for the walking wounded to return, but getting players PT in their place.

Here's Gramps Way-to-Early Braggin' Rights Ratings.  I should probably get my head examined for posting these ratings because I will hear from all the yahoos who didn't read the headline "It's way too early to post class six ratings, right?"

Something to chew on until results start flowing in: