8 Player Preview
Here are some thoughts on the upcoming season, based on the final 2011 computer rankings and the 2012 district memberships.
District rankings:
(All): average strength of all teams in the district
Parity:
0 = perfect randomness: all district games are coin-flips
1 = perfect prediction: all district games will be blowouts
(top4): average of the top 4 teams in the district, a measure of how well the district will fare in the playoffs.
R Dist (All) Parity (top4) 1 8-3 84.10 0.381 101.23 2 8-8 83.57 0.267 113.02 3 8-2 81.83 0.255 110.02 4 8-1 73.50 0.263 92.07 5 8-4 67.97 0.235 94.65 6 8-6 66.85 0.372 88.92 7 8-7 59.50 0.246 90.76 8 8-5 49.63 0.375 66.86
District previews:
8-1:
#12 Remsen-Union (9-2), #13 Kingsley-Pierson (7-3), #18 Harris-Lake Park (7-3), #27 Marcus MMC (A 4-6)
Remsen-Union and Kingley-Pierson are expected to battle for district 1 supremacy. Marcus MMC comes down from Class A to challenge.
8-2:
#2 Newell-Fonda (9-2), #3 West Bend-Mallard (10-2), #4 Northeast Hamilton (9-2), #20 Laurens-Marathon (6-5)
District 2, superconference, has three of the top four teams of the 2012 preseason rankings. District teams will be in the headlines all year long.
8-3:
#6 Janesville (9-3), #10 Clarksville (12-2), #16 Tripoli (6-4), #21 Riceville (5-5)
Based on all teams in the district, district 8 is rated #1 in the preseason rankings. Additionally, the district leads in parity; expect a lot of meaningful, competitive games this fall.
8-4:
#5 Preston (9-2), #14 Lansing Kee (7-3), #22 Wyoming Midland (7-4), #25 Maynard West Central (5-5)
Preston leads the pack in district 4. As with districts 3 and 5, district 4 has a high parity score: expect competitive games this fall.
8-5:
#28 Melcher-Dallas (9-1), #35 Moravia (8-2), #42 Thornburg Tri-County (5-6), #48 Bussey Twin Cedars (4-6)
Expect close games this fall in district 5 as a lot of evenly matched teams are expected to vie for the district championship.
8-6:
#7 Adair-Casey (9-3), #8 Murray (12-2), #39 East Greene (4-5), #41 Lamoni (3-6)
Top 10’s Adair-Casey and Murray headline district 6.
8-7:
#11 Glidden-Ralston (9-2), #15 Dunlap Boyer Valley (6-4), #23 Westside Ar-We-Va (5-5), #26 Elk Horn-Kimballton-Exira (A 8-2)
Glidden-Ralston and Boyer Valley lead the preseason district 7 rankings. EH-K-E comes down from class A to challenge.
8-8:
#1 Fremont-Mills (13-0), #9 Stanton (8-3), #17 Anita CAM (8-4), #19 Sidney (5-4)
Fremont-Mills leads the 2012 preseason rankings based on a blowout 2011 campaign. Pregame 53-point spread in the 2011 championship game may not be matched in the next 100 years. And for those you are reading this for the first time: yes, they covered.