Oklahoma Boys High School Basketball: Week Four Rankings and Predictions
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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief
The third week of Oklahoma High School basketball left five boys teams undefeated in Class 6A and the rankings are beginning to tighten up at the top with only Edmond North remaining as a clear favorite. Last week we picked twelve games and were 10-2 with 79% accuracy this season.
No. 1 Edmond North (Previously No. 2)
The Huskies (5-0) picked up 22 first-place votes this week after sweeping the Edmond Open and knocking off previous No. 1 Midwest City (4-1) 80-75 in the tournament finals. Edmond North dominated unranked Moore (3-3) 75-56 on Tuesday, then smothered No. 13 Jenks (0-4) 74-48 in the tournament quarterfinals. In the semis they brought down formerly undefeated 5A No. 3 Eisenhower (3-2) 76-56 before earning their spot over the Bombers.
The Huskies hold the No. 8 offense, No. 14 defense, and No. 5 margin of victory in class 6A. They will look to strengthen their resume this week with another top-five matchup. After playing No. 18 Deer Creek (3-3) on Friday, they'll take on No. 5 Norman North (2-1) Saturday on the road.
The picks:
EDN 61 DC 52.
EDN 71 NN 66.
No. 2 Midwest City (1)
Midwest City (4-1) lost their number one ranking after going 2-1 at the Edmond Open, falling 80-75 to No. 2 Edmond North (5-0), but prevailing 86-75 over No. 4 Putnam City North (5-1) and 99-65 over Casady. Despite their loss, they still retained two first-place votes.
The Bombers hold the No. 1 offense and No. 1 margin of victory in the State and will give Putnam North a rematch Tuesday on the Panthers' home turf, then will travel to 5A No. 11 Bishop McGuinness (0-2) on Thursday.
The picks:
MWC 73 PCN 69
MWC 81 McG 60
No. 3 Union (3)
The Redskins (1-0) have only played one game this season, defeating No. 11 Bartlesville (3-3) 50-46, but it was enough to earn three first-place votes in this week's rankings. The Redskins shared the workload with three players scoring in double digits. Union will return to action Tuesday against unranked Jenks (0-4), then will play No. 10 Broken Arrow (4-1) on Thursday.
The picks:
Union 69 Jenks 53
Union 55 BA 54
No. 4 Putnam City North (4)
The Panthers (5-1) are off to a great start this season, losing only one game to No. 1 Midwest City (4-1). They topped unranked Enid (1-4) 59-49 last Tuesday, then defeated No. 7 Edmond Santa Fe (5-1) 78-72 in the first round of the Edmond Open. They fell 86-75 to the Bombers, but rebounded with a 74-66 victory over 5A No. 3 Eisenhower (3-2).
Putnam North has the No. 2 offense and No. 11 margin of victory in 6A and will get a rematch Tuesday when they host Midwest City. They will play this weekend in the Score Board Shootout at Webb City, Missouri.
No. 5 Norman North (6)
The Timberwolves (2-1) picked up a pair of wins last week, 89-53 over unranked Stillwater (1-5), and 110-96 over Springfield Glendale. They hold the No. 2 offense and No. 6 margin of victory in the state and will travel to No. 8 Edmond Santa Fe (5-1) Friday before hosting No. 1 Edmond North (5-0) on Saturday.
The pick: NN 71 ESF 66.
No. 6 Putnam City West (5)
The Patriots (4-1) picked up a ranked win last week, topping No. 20 Putnam City (1-4) 61-54, and will return to action at 5A No. 11 Bishop McGuinness (0-3). They received one first-place vote.
The pick: PCW 71 McG 60.
No. 7 Westmoore (8)
The Jaguars (6-0) have emerged as the winningest team in the division thus far after topping Deer Creek (3-3) 66-45 and going undefeated at the Durant Tournament. They hammered the hosting school's JV team 89-25, then beat 3A No. 13 Hugo (4-1) 67-52 and No. 19 Yukon (3-2) 63-58. Thirteen Jags got on the board against the JV team and Kody Gilliand, Trey Palmer, and Kenny Springs averaged double digits over the tournament.
Westmoore has the No. 10 offense, No. 7 defense, and No. 2 margin of victory in 6A. They look to continue their streak Friday when they host unranked Moore (3-3).
The pick: Westmoore 68 Moore 53.
No. 8 Edmond Santa Fe (7)
Edmond Santa Fe (5-1) started last week with a 53-36 win over unranked Southmoore (0-4), lost the first round of the Edmond Open to No. 4 Putnam North (5-1), then closed out the tournament with a pair of close wins. After falling 78-72 to the Panthers, they defeated Casady 56-49 and No. 15 Edmond Memorial (1-3) 57-52.
The Wolves hold the No. 6 defense and No. 7 margin of victory in 6A and will return to action Friday when they host No. 5 Norman North (2-1).
No. 9 Booker T. Washington (9)
The Hornets (4-1) took on some out-of-state competitors this past week and topped Ozark, Missouri 65-60 and Columbia Rock Bridge 69-62. Booker T will take on their toughest foe of the season Tuesday when they visit 5A No. 2 Tulsa Memorial (5-0).
The pick: Memorial 73 BTW 64
No. 10 Broken Arrow (10)
Broken Arrow (4-1) has been posting some impressive numbers lately, topping unranked Bixby (2-2) 53-35, Deer Creek (3-3) 56-49, and No. 20 Putnam City (1-4) 73-42. They dropped one game 62-59 at the Bixby Tournament to 5A No. 5 East Central (5-1). Caleb Huffman has averaged 21 points per game over the last week, including a 30-point performance against Putnam City.
The Tigers have the No. 2 defense and No. 8 margin of victory in the division. They will take on unranked Sand Springs (0-2) Tuesday before traveling to No. 3 Union (1-0) on Friday.
The pick: BA 55 SS 44.
No. 11 Muskogee (18)
Muskogee (4-0) are off to a great start after edging out a 65-64 overtime win over No. 16 Owasso (0-2) in their season-opener. At the Tahlequah Tournament this past weekend they beat Tulsa NOAH 89-61, blew out unranked Enid (1-4) 73-35, and topped 3A No. 4 Sequoyah (4-1) 63-62. Junior Brooks Haddock is averaging 20 points per game this season and Keondre Davis adds another 14.
The Roughers hold the No. 5 offense and No. 3 margin of victory in 6A. They will return to action Tuesday against No. 19 Bixby (2-2) and will travel to No. 14 Sapulpa (3-1) on Friday.
The picks:
Muskogee 62 Bixby 51
Muskogee 71 Sapulpa 65
No. 12 Yukon (19)
Yukon (3-2) jumped in the rankings after going 2-1 at the Durant Tournament, falling only 63-58 to No. 8 Westmoore (6-0) and defeating Hugo JV 74-43 and 5A No. 20 Durant (3-2) 89-64. They also topped No. 12 Norman (4-2) 66-63 earlier in the week. Cameron Martin averaged 26 points per game and three other Millers also scored double digits in at least one game.
The Millers hold the No. 9 offense and No. 10 margin of victory in 6A. They will take on unranked Southmoore (0-4) on Tuesday and No. 16 Edmond Memorial (2-4) Friday.
The picks:
Yukon 67 Southmoore 55.
Yukon 61 EDM 54.
No. 13 Norman (12)
Norman (4-2) fell 66-63 to No. 19 Yukon (3-2) to start last week, but went undefeated at the Duncan Tournament with an average score of 76-45. They beat 5A unranked Woodward (3-2) 67-35, 5A No. 17 MacArthur (4-2) 89-60, and unranked Moore (3-3) 72-40.
The Tigers are eleventh in both offense and defense with the No. 5 margin of victory in 6A. They will take the next few weeks off before returning to action at the Bishop McGuinness Tournament after the new year.
No. 14 Sapulpa (17)
Sapulpa (3-1) started the season off hot, rolling to a 78-70 victory over No. 13 Jenks (0-4), then went 2-1 at the Bishop Kelley Tournament. They beat 4A No. 14 Daniel Webster (1-6) 66-61, fell 77-66 to 5A No. 6 Claremore (5-0), and smothered 5A No. 7 Edison (1-3) 84-67.
The Chieftains have the No. 4 offense in the state and will return to action Tuesday at 5A No. 19 Bishop Kelley (2-1) before hosting No. 11 Muskogee (4-0) on Friday.
The pick: Sapulpa 60 BK 58
No. 15 Lawton (unranked)
Lawton (2-0) hasn't gotten to test themselves yet this season, playing only unranked teams, but rolled to a 72-55 victory over U.S. Grant (1-3) and 56-51 over Choctaw (3-3). Their low strength of schedule has given them the No. 9 margin of victory in 6A and they will return to action against 5A No. 15 Del City (1-2) on Tuesday. Their first big test will be Thursday against in-town rival 5A No. 13 MacArthur (4-2).
The picks:
Lawton 66 DC 53
Lawton 60 MacArthur 59
No. 16 Edmond Memorial (15)
Edmond Memorial (2-4) has had a tough schedule to start the season, playing four top-ten teams and losing to each of them. They defeated No. 14 Mustang (2-3) 48-40 to start the last week, then went 1-2 at the Edmond Open. They fell 76-60 to 5A No. 3 Eisenhower (3-2) and 57-52 to No. 7 Edmond Santa Fe (5-1), but defeated unranked Jenks (0-4) 61-46. The Bulldogs will return to action Friday when they host No. 12 Yukon (3-2).
No. 17 Bartlesville (11)
Bartlesville (3-3) had the appearance of a top-ten team after topping No. 14 Sand Springs (0-2) and No. 13 Owasso (0-2) in the first week and closely competing with No. 3 Union (1-0) and 5A No.5 East Central (5-1). After their 50-46 loss to the Redskins and their 59-46 loss to the Cardinals, they were defeated again--this time by an unranked team. Deer Creek (3-3) topped the Bruins 57-49 and Bartlesville needed overtime for a 52-48 win over 5A No. 13 Coweta (1-4). They're done for 2016 and will look to make adjustments before competing at the Arvest Invitational after the new year.
No. 18 Deer Creek (unranked)
Deer Creek (3-3) made the jump into the rankings after going 2-2 last week. They lost a pair of top ten matchups, 66-45 to No. 8 Westmoore (6-0) and 56-49 to No. 10 Broken Arrow (4-1), but topped No. 11 Bartlesville (3-3) 57-49 and unranked Stillwater (1-5) 43-40. The Antlers will have their biggest test of the season Friday when they take on No. 1 Edmond North (5-0).
No. 19 Bixby (unranked)
Bixby (2-2) started their season last week with a 53-35 loss to No. 10 Broken Arrow (4-1), then went 2-1 at their own tournament. They topped unranked Stillwater (1-5) 62-54 and No. 20 Putnam City (1-4) 47-44, but fell 57-45 to 5A No. 5 East Central (5-1). Joey Homan has been hammering the competition with 18 points per game. The Spartans hold the No. 9 defense in 6A and will return to action Tuesday at No. 11 Muskogee (4-0) before traveling to unranked Jenks (0-4) Friday.
The pick: Bixby 61 Jenks 53.
No. 20 Mustang (18)
Mustang (2-3) started last week with a 48-40 loss to No. 15 Edmond Memorial (1-3), then went 2-1 at the Panther Classic. They beat 2A No. 12 Northeast Academy (2-3) 45-39, but fell 40-37 to 4A No. 3 Harrah (4-1) and 80-75 to 3A No. 8 Star-Spencer (4-1) in overtime. The Broncos return to action after the new year at the Putnam City Invitational.
