Rachel Crader is the editor of semoball.com. She graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism in May of 2009 before spending the summer covering the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

Highlights from Rachel's days in college include having a class down the hall from Chase Daniel and having NCAA wrestling champion Ben Askren hold the door open for her at Brady Commons, Mizzou's student center. She spent time covering Mizzou basketball, softball and baseball while working for the Columbia Missourian and is excited to return home to Southeast Missouri to cover local sports for semoball.com.

Rachel has covered three Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournaments for the Southeast Missourian and semoball.com, and she'll see you courtside again this year.

Semoball Basketball Poll (Jan. 12)

Posted Wednesday, January 12, 2011, at 12:09 AM

The latest state rankings are out and there are plenty of semoball schools represented, but now semoball has rankings of its own.

Each of the sports departments that contribute to semoball -- the Daily American Republic (Poplar Bluff), Daily Dunklin Democrat (Kennett), Dexter Daily Statesman, Sikeston Standard Democrat and Southeast Missourian -- voted on its top 10 boys and girls teams out of the 58 represented on semoball.

Special thanks to the Standard Democrat's David Jenkins for tallying up the results. All the records listed are through Jan. 9.

So...what do you think? How right or wrong are we? Who did we miss?

Boys Basketball

Team Record Points

Scott County Central 10-2 29

Sikeston 13-0 28

Jackson 9-4 22

Cape Central 9-3 21

Charleston 9-4 19

Kennett 11-2 13

Poplar Bluff 5-8 10

Dexter 7-6 8

Caruthersville 9-3 6

Notre Dame 7-6 4

Others receiving votes: Bernie (3), Portageville (1)

Girls Basketball

Team Record Points

Meadow Heights 10-2 28

Notre Dame 7-3 27

Neelyville 10-1 24

Jackson 7-4 22

Kennett 12-1 19

Poplar Bluff 8-4 15

Scott City 8-2 9

Dexter 8-5 8

Sikeston 7-3 5

St. Vincent 8-4 4

Others receiving votes: Senath-Hornersville (2), Delta (2)

Comments

View 26 comments

Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. Please note that those who post comments on this website may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.

Crader, you sure that Charleston doesn't go somewhere on the boys rankings? Oh, and this is a nice concept. I like it. Almost as good as the official sideline starter top ten.

-- Posted by sideline starter on Wed, Jan 12, 2011, at 12:04 AM

Rachel Crader
You're too good. Thanks for the heads up and sorry for the omission. The rankings have been fixed.
Polls mean nothing. However, it makes me wonder about the people voting when I see that Bernie has more votes then Portageville.

-- Posted by GSP on Wed, Jan 12, 2011, at 6:57 AM
Maybe because Bluff beat Kennett by 20?? Idk just a thought

-- Posted by 6+4+3=2 on Wed, Jan 12, 2011, at 8:40 AM
Great idea. I wouldn't worry about splitting it among large/small schools. One suggestion would be to list the number of first place votes the teams received out to the side in parenthesis. I imagine they would be split pretty evenly between SCC and Sikeston on the boys side, but spread out between a couple of teams on the girls side.

Another possible suggestion could be to sponsor some kind of trophy for the top team at the end of the year. Maybe you could get a sponsor to help with the cost of the trophies each year or just do a traveling trophy.

-- Posted by Crash Davis on Wed, Jan 12, 2011, at 8:55 AM
This doesn't apply to this thread, but I just have to say that I like the username "6+4+3=2"....cool nickname. I hope you aren't a Notre Dame fan!! :-)

-- Posted by Rocket689 on Wed, Jan 12, 2011, at 9:48 AM
Its bad when the #1 boys team beats the 3rd ranked boys team by 40+

-- Posted by airmaxx on Wed, Jan 12, 2011, at 9:52 AM
The #2 team turbo clocked the #3 team as well.

-- Posted by semohoops on Wed, Jan 12, 2011, at 10:19 AM
semohoops, and had their way with 4 and 5 as well

-- Posted by barkleyfan on Wed, Jan 12, 2011, at 11:11 AM
can't complain.

-- Posted by BB-BORE on Wed, Jan 12, 2011, at 4:41 PM
Why is everyone so high on Dexter?? All you hear is how tough their schedule is when it really for a class 4 school may be one of the weakest. Bloomfield(8th place BCT) give them all they wanted last night..

-- Posted by bballfan40 on Wed, Jan 12, 2011, at 9:13 PM
Man do you hate Dexter, bballfan. They beat Notre Dame, I'd say that earned them their spot.

-- Posted by sideline starter on Wed, Jan 12, 2011, at 9:30 PM
So they beat a Jacob Tolbert that is still having injury troubles from the Christmas Tournament and a small first year varsity gaurd Nathan Meystedt. Congrats, let's see how they do against the top 5 teams first.

-- Posted by BB-BORE on Wed, Jan 12, 2011, at 10:05 PM
4 and 3 should switch. Christmas tourny was a fluke.

-- Posted by CTathletics2010 on Thu, Jan 13, 2011, at 1:55 PM
Jackson over Central is wrong

-- Posted by CapeTiger20 on Thu, Jan 13, 2011, at 6:00 PM
It will, she has nothing to go off of other than jackson over Cape, it will change in a few weeks.

-- Posted by BB-BORE on Thu, Jan 13, 2011, at 8:28 PM
sideline starter

I don't hate Dexter just stating facts they play in the SCAA which has 7 teams in class 1, 2 & 3 schools they have to play all of them none of which should be able to compete with them but they always do. Because of their size Dexter should be beating these teams easily but most years will loss to more than one or two of these teams half their size.

-- Posted by bballfan40 on Thu, Jan 13, 2011, at 10:51 PM
bballfan40

By your philosophy, a school like Jackson should go undefeated every year in southeast Misouri. Dexter is just above the cutoff for class 3, a little bigger than Doniphan, Kennett, NMCC. I guess you believe a SCC, Advance, Portageville, or Bloomfield should never be able to compete with the likes of St. Gen, Fredericktown, or NMCC due to enrollment.

-- Posted by baseballfan2011 on Fri, Jan 14, 2011, at 1:52 AM
Having seen most of the teams in the area, I'd say this poll is pretty accurate. As to the Jax/Central comment, Jax beat Central - point blank.

The Meadow Hts #1 rank on the girls side is stretching it a bit, but it is a solid squad to say the least. Sikeston in the top is a MAAAAAAAAAAAJOR improvement. Coach Schonoff's defensive philosophy has caught on like wildfire with the girls - don't be surprised if Sikeston and ND are battling for a district title in February.

-- Posted by vincebrown on Fri, Jan 14, 2011, at 8:23 AM
Now that Central has their new point guard, they would handle Jackson pretty easily.

-- Posted by kools&oe on Fri, Jan 14, 2011, at 10:56 AM
Re: School Sizes

In a sport like basketball, a team can have just a few great athletes and that will make all the difference. The best example in Southeast Missouri is Otto Porter. If Porter transferred to any of the other "Semoball Top 10" schools, his presence alone would likely launch any of them to the #1 spot. (I don't mean to say that SCC doesn't have several other good players; they would still be a good team without him. Everyone has much respect for that program.) Because an Otto Porter-type player can transform almost any team into a contender, it's certainly possible for small schools to compete year in and year out, and they do.

Football, though, is different. A small number of terrific athletes generally isn't enough to launch a Class 1 school to victory over a Class 5 school. Depth is key.

-- Posted by DonT15 on Fri, Jan 14, 2011, at 12:14 PM
bballfan, the thing that matters is not your schedule for your size but your schedule in comparison to the area as this only compared area schools, not schools by class. Dexter has defeated ND, a feat that none of the small schools have done this year. They've also stayed competitive with some very good teams ranked above them like Charleston and Sikeston. Plus, the have the momentum as they have won something like 7 of their last 8. I'm not a Dexter fan by any means but they are a good team this year who I feel have earned their spot on the rankings.

-- Posted by sideline starter on Fri, Jan 14, 2011, at 12:20 PM
FYI sideline starter Bernie Beats Dexter.. now who's right lol.

-- Posted by bballfan40 on Fri, Jan 14, 2011, at 10:16 PM
Check my new top ten bballfan. I gave Bernie their props. I congratulate them on the win.

-- Posted by sideline starter on Fri, Jan 14, 2011, at 10:32 PM
I'm glad to see that Portageville got at least one vote. I agree with the top 2, but I think that both Kennett and Charleston should be 3 and 4 instead of Cape Central and Jackson. Also Poplar Bluff should be ranked lower. Other than that not bad.

-- Posted by paulbd on Mon, Jan 17, 2011, at 4:20 PM
"Kennett and Charleston should be 3 and 4 instead of Cape Central and Jackson. Also Poplar Bluff should be ranked lower"

Poplar bluff beat Kennett by 27!!

And don't say it was an off night..

Untill they prove themselves they won't get anywhere in the Top 4..

They Couldn't beat SCC, Sikeston, Jackson, Cape, maybe even Charelston..

-- Posted by Dustin Ruby on Mon, Jan 17, 2011, at 8:31 PM
Ditto inspector. That's actually pretty amusing to see people saying it was just an off night and that Kennett would win 9 of 10 against PB. I actually expected Kennett to win by 5-10 based on what I had heard about both teams...so 27 must be one hell of an off night.

-- Posted by FarmBoy06 on Mon, Jan 17, 2011, at 10:10 PM

Respond to this blog

Posting a comment requires free registration:

If you already have an account, follow this link to login
Otherwise, follow this link to register