Preseason #1 Saguaro made the Open, leaving Preseason #9 Horizon to win the 5A title over Preseason #3 Salpointe Catholic​

The biggest surprise (outside of Horizon) has to be preseason #12 Desert Mountain being one score away from a 5A title game appearance.

The ArizonaVarsity.com FINAL 5A Top 15 Rankings​

Article from @Gridiron Arizona

Breaking Down the Movement​

Moving UP from 5A to 6A: Saguaro and Salpointe
Moving DOWN from 6A to 5A: Copper Canyon, Skyline, and Tucson
Moving UP from 4A to 5A: ALA-Queen Creek, Cactus, Casa Grande, and Mesquite
Moving DOWN from 5A to 4A: Alhambra, Independence, Kofa, and Maryvale
Moving UP from 3A to 4A: ALA-Gilbert North, Snowflake, and Yuma Catholic
Moving DOWN from 4A to 3A: Rio Rico, Shadow Mountain, Tempe, and Yuma
Moving UP from 2A to 3A: Arizona Lutheran, Benson, and Parker
Moving DOWN from 3A to 2A: Chinle, Coronado, Cortez, and Tuba City

Who should we be looking for this coming cycle to become a first time Head Coach? A lot of quality assistants out there!

The Preseason #1 (Cactus) and #2 (ALAQC) both made the Open Division Playoff

The Preseason #3 (Casa Grande) beat the Preseason #11 (Poston Butte) for the 4A Title

The biggest surprise was Poston Butte, with an honorable mention to Lee Williams (preseason unranked)

The ArizonaVarsity.com FINAL 2021 4A Top 15 Rankings​

The Preseason #4 team (Snowflake) wins a championship over the Preseason #1 Team (Yuma Catholic) for the championship

The Preseason #2 (ALAGN) lost in the semifinals.

The biggest surprise was River Valley (preseason unranked) finishing #5

The ArizonaVarsity.com FINAL 2021 3A Top 15 Rankings​

The Preseason #4 team (Arizona Lutheran) wins a championship over the Preseason #7 Team (Morenci) for the championship

The Preseason #1 (Benson) lost in the semifinals.

The biggest surprise was Santa Cruz (preseason #2) finishing 5-5

The ArizonaVarsity.com FINAL 2021 2A Top 15 Rankings​

Total Teams Correct:

Ralph Amsden: 5/8
Chris Eaton: 5/8
Eric Newman: 5/8
Chilly: 4/8
Andrew Morgan: 5/8
Jacob Seliga: 5/8
Zach Alvira: 5/8

Final 4 teams Correct:

Ralph Amsden: 3/4
Chris Eaton: 3/4
Eric Newman: 3/4
Chilly: 3/4
Andrew Morgan: 3/4
Jacob Seliga: 2/4
Zach Alvira: 3/4

Final 2 Teams Correct:

Ralph Amsden: 2/2
Chris Eaton: 1/2
Eric Newman: 2/2
Chilly: 2/2
Andrew Morgan: 2/2
Jacob Seliga: 2/2
Zach Alvira: 1/2

Where did Adam Gorney go wrong and where did he go right with these new rankings? Not having My'Keil Gardner in here is a crime. What would your Top 10 look like for the 2023 class!?

A lot is made of the transfer portal and that coaches have the freedom to leave and not honor their commitment to a school contract etc but yet the kid gets ridiculed at times for doing the same thing. Here is my stance on that and I'd love to hear others opinions.

Lets put the coaches aside for a minute because for the most part they are well paid.

If you are a kid, do whatever you want, go wherever you want but understand you have 5 years maximum to do one of the following and hopefully all three.

1) Get a very secure and solid NIL endorsement
2) Develop the skills to play in the NBA/NFL or whatever pro league you are looking to play in
3) Get your degree and know how to use it.

If you unfortunately didn't do one of those ......it's on you.

I didnt see that one, but my son said they passed some PB kids in the tunnel and they were really upset with the coaching after the game and said they cost them the game. Any idea what they would have been so upset about?

Flagstaff's Nick Morrow commits to Cal

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My question now is do we foresee him in transfer portal in the near future? Perhaps too early to tell but its fair to say the Buckeyes have A LOT of high profile quarterbacks. CJ Stroud, Jack Miller, Quinn Ewers, and now Devin Brown. Somebody's going to transfer it may not even be Miller but considering he is an Arizona product I figured I'd bring his name up.

We may have had this discussion earlier when he was first benched but now that it is official I figured I'd bring it up again. Where do we think Rattler transfers to? While there are many options do we think that ASU is one of them?

Last one of these for the season as next week it all goes down at Sun Devil Stadium. Doubling up this week, getting my first look at Highland on Friday as the Hawks host Red Mountain. The Highland D hasn't allowed a point in the postseason. Red Mountain, on the other hand, keeps winning close games. The Mountain Lions are 5-0 in games decided by 6 or fewer points. QB Carter Crispin has a TD pass in every game for RMHS this year. On Saturday, since I saw Hamilton last week, I'll be at Chandler High to see the Wolves against Liberty. The first meeting was tied 21-21 at the half before CHS scored all 20 in the second half. Hipa had his best game of the season (361 yards, 3 TDs) against the Lions. Will Liberty continue to play both QBs? The Lions return to the city of Chandler after their strong second-half effort against previously undefeated Basha. Hearing that roads will be closed and parking lot space will be limited due to a parade and tree lighting for the city of Chandler. Anyone got any insights of the best way to get in and park? Planning to get there about an hour early. Kickoff for the Saturday games is at 6 pm.

This past week I saw 42 different teams play at least once in four different events at:

at Deer Valley HS (8) for the Sunnyslope Hoopsgiving Basketball Tournament

at Mesa HS (16) for the Fear the Hop event

at Gilbert HS (8) for the Welcome to the Jungle event and

at Paradise Honors (10) for the Panthers Hoop Classic.



THESE ARE NOT PROSPECT RANKINGS.

This is just one single game and how well they performed when I viewed them in that one particular moment.

Some examples are Patton Jr scored 35 points in a crazy 4th qtr that they were down 20 and almost won. Calmese basically did the same exact thing the previous day and Ruiz recorded a triple double!



Here are my top-30 performances viewed this past week:

It's that Friday when we wonder if we should go to an Open game (the true state championship) or continue to follow the 4A, 5A, and 6A conference playoffs. I'll be at an Open game. Some may consider it borderline, but since I haven't seen Hamilton this season, I'll be on the South side of Arizona Ave. for the Huskies' game against ALA-Queen Creek. I saw Hubler and the boys at a passing tournament over the summer, but this is much bigger! I know Cody gives the Patriots no chance. I'm just hoping it goes better for the visitors than the 2 Open games I watched Hamilton play at home last year (50-0 over Corona and 58-14 over Salpointe). Have to wonder though, if Hamilton got 10 sacks against Chandler, how many will they get this week?

Ok now that I listed my top-58, what does it look like?

A couple weeks ago folks thought that the Rams was bout to runaway with things cause Von Miller joined them.. then OBJ jumped over there also... Will they figure things out?? and actually become a threat to the cardinals?? I think the biggest threat to the cards is Tampa Bay.. I get it like 4 teams have the same record and the pack beat the cards head to head.. but I really feel like in the playoffs.. in glendale.. only one NFC team can beat the cards.. and thats Tampa.. Thoughts??

On the day of playoffs, I ask this:

Who do you have winning the state title in each of the Open through 4A brackets before play begins?

My (bad) predictions:

4A: Poston Butte
5A: Salpointe Catholic (a semifinal with Desert Edge could be amazing and I think whoever wins that gets the title)
6A: Highland over Chap in a 6A final rematch
Open: Chandler

For the 7th time this year, I'll be watching Friday Night Football in the North Valley. O'Connor's win over Mountain Ridge netted the Eagles a home game and I'll be heading up there to watch SDO take on Pinnacle. It's been 5 years since I've caught a game at Jack Dillard Stadium and it's a school Pinnacle HC Dana Zupke is familiar with. The Pioneers once shared a region with O'Connor and the teams played 8 times between 2010-2019 with Pinnacle winning them all. Pinnacle went 3-7, but had 9 playoff teams on its schedule. A win at Salpointe back in October secured the playoff spot. I got to see Zach Wren in relief during a game last year, but should see a lot more of him this week. Duce Robinson and Myles Libman caught a combined 16 passes last week against Chaparral. I saw the O'Connor Killer B's linebacker trio last year and they should be ready once again on Friday. The Eagles (6-4) have won 5 straight. Brandon Craddock, Blake Ware, and Brevin Czosnyka rank 1-2-3 on the team in tackles. The winner likely gets Chaparral in the quarterfinals.

The official announcement from the AIA came today that starting next year (2022-2023 school year) Arizona will adopt an open division for basketball like they do for football now. It’ll be eight teams total from 4A-6A to determine who is the best in the state in the best bracket. I want to know, if we had an open division this year who would you have in the top eight and who would be on the bubble? Let me know below!

My list:
1. Sunnyslope
2. Perry
3. Mountain Pointe
4. St. Mary’s
5. Hamilton
6. Brophy Prep
7. Centennial
8. Paradise Honors

Bubble: Gilbert, Ironwood, Apollo, Highland, Liberty, McClintock

Last night the Sierra Linda Bulldogs won their seventh game of the season to clinch the 4A copper sky region title as well as improving their record to 7-2. But the Bulldogs who’re currently 23 overall and 21st minus the open teams still need help in order to make the 4A playoffs…
In the 6A, Tolleson won their sixth straight game to clinch their region title but will probably be on the outside looking in, in favor of a 3-7 Centennial and 3-7 Perry team.
In 5A Canyon View improved to 6-3 and clinched their region title in a win over Kellis and should slide into the #16 seed but may still end up left out.

In many states such as Alabama, Georgia, Illinois for example you need to win your region/section in order to clinch a playoff birth and the rest of the bracket is filled in by at-large teams.
Should Arizona and the 4A-6A conference committees adopt automatic bids for region champs?