YAIAA boys' basketball power rankings, Dec. 20
We're officially through the first two Fridays of basketball season, which means it's time to crank up our boys' and girls' basketball power rankings. We'll try our best to put out new rankings every week, although there may be some exceptions. The publish date for the rankings may shift around a bit, so keep your eyes peeled. Certainly, trying to hammer out rankings at this point in the year -- with few games to draw from -- is fairly difficult, so bear with us. And feel free to chime in with your own opinions and observations in the comments section. Now, for the rankings... The Fab Five1. Dallastown -- The Wildcats (5-0) are more than just Four McGlynn. They have plenty of muscle in the front court and some solid options off the bench. Moreover, Dallastown has shown it can win games with defense and rebounding. That, coupled with their offensive weapons, makes the Wildcats awfully dangerous. 2. Eastern York -- It's going to be a bit of an uphill climb for the Golden Knights (3-0) without Austin Tillotson (fractured right wrist). Eastern will lean on its defense ... and hope that 6-foot-6 senior Andrew Nicholas can continue to pour in points. But remember, this team was ranked the No. 2 Class AAA team in the state preseason for a reason. If Tillotson comes back at full strength, this team is still a force. 3. William Penn -- The Bearcats' only blemish was a loss to Reading -- nothing to hang their heads about, especially considering they played that game without do-it-all senior Kelvin Parker. The 6-foot-4 wing is back after his two-game suspension, and with skilled forward Zach Newby and a crew of talented guards, the Bearcats (3-1) look like a threat. 4. Central York -- The Panthers sustained their first blemish of the season during an opening-weekend loss to Bishop McDevitt. Still, Central (2-1) has too much talent to not make some noise in Division I this season. That group should only get better as the season goes on. 5. Red Lion -- This is where it gets dicey. There's really no obvious choice for the five spot, but I'll give Red Lion (3-1) the edge thanks to a buzzer-beating away win against West York on Friday. Evan Ehrhart will score a lot of points this season, but the Lions will need secondary scoring options to emerge. Best of the rest6. Hanover -- The Nighthawks (4-1) tripped up against Susquehannock on Friday, but they have an experienced point guard in Pete Yingst (25.2 points per game so far) and some other solid role guys. 7. Dover -- No standout victories yet for the Eagles, but to be 4-1 after graduating so much scoring punch is still pretty good. 8. York Suburban -- The jury is out on the Trojans (3-2). Kevin Donahue should do a bulk of the scoring, but how much help will he get? 9. Northeastern -- The Bobcats may be 2-2, but it's a fairly strong 2-2. An opening weekend win against Red Lion was encouraging enough to forgive losses to Central York and Dallastown. T-10. Delone -- Sitting at .500 is not where the Squires wanted to be through four games. But Delone (2-2) has a corps of solid, fundamentally sound players. They'll win some games. T-10. West York -- Don't be fooled by the 1-2 record. The Bulldogs beat Hempfield, hung around with Dallastown and was a buzzer-beater away from beating Red Lion. They'll bounce back. Honorable mention: Susquehannock, Kennard-Dale