Prep Talk

Throughout the boys basketball season, 10 voters will rate Western New York's best teams from 1 to 10 in the large and small school polls. The News has one vote in each poll.

The polls are part of the Sidelines published weekly in Tuesday's Scholastic Spotlight (this week there was no Spotlight but the polls are in today's paper). Here's how we filled out our ballot in Week Two.

Here's how we voted in the first and second polls of the season.

Large schools

1. Niagara Falls (6-0) [1] -- Over-the-break over-the-top wins at Jamestown and Bishop Maginn should keep them in this spot for a longggg time.

2. Nichols (7-1) [2] -- Productive break for the Vikings.

3. Grover Cleveland (5-1) [3] -- Close call against Olean might raise an eyebrow, but that's a long road trip and a good Olean team on St. Bonaventure's floor. 

4. Jamestown (7-2) [4] -- Losses to Falls and Section V's Newark are no great shame.

5. East (4-1) [5] -- Fell to Rochester's East to overtime. Dallas Gary is filling it up.

6. Williamsville North (7-1) [8] -- Add nice win over South to its win over Frontier.

7. Depew (7-1) [7] -- These guys should be in the top 10.

8. Frontier (5-2) [9] -- Top of my new year's to-do list -- check league schedules to map out the big games (like Falcons' ECIC I tilts, among others).

9. Williamsville South (4-3) [6] -- Another year, another loss to North.

10. McKinley (5-1) [10] -- Still have them boxing out Sweet Home and Canisius.

Small schools

1. Lackawanna (2-3) [1] -- Still under .500 (entering Monday). With all other small schools having a gap in their resume, we still like the Steelers' depth, balance -- and schedule.

2. Wilson (4-2) [5] -- Lakemen played Depew better ...

3. St. Mary's (7-1) [4] -- ... than these guys. That was Lancers' only loss and toughest competition.

4. Randolph (6-1) [NR] -- Welcome to the top 10, Cardinals. Very nice statement wins against Maple Grove and Allegany-Limestone.

5. Allegany-Limestone (6-1) [3] -- That was a 68-64 loss to Randolph in the IAABO small school final.

6. Olean (3-4) [10] -- A two-point loss to Grover? The Huskies (and Palumbo) appear to be back.

7. Akron (4-2) [6] -- Join the team below them with loss to St. Mary's. Looking forward to its N-O matchups with Wilson.   

8. Alden (6-2) [7] -- Looking forward to its ECIC IV matchups with Lackawanna.

9. Maple Grove (5-3) [2] -- Too many early hits (and too many good wins by others in the Southern Tier) to be ranked higher -- for now. The Red Dragons should be fine come mid-February.

10. East Aurora (3-4) [8] -- Still treating the record like Lackawanna's. Frewsburg and Southwestern are waiting to pounce on a rebound.

Don't like what you're reading here, or in the overall poll? The comments section is below.

---Keith McShea