Hoop power rankings a success
MIAA statewide formula proves to be very accurate
The best shooting percentage in the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association basketball tournament was not achieved by a teenage boys or girls player.
The star of the show was a 55-year-old man.
Kudos to Jim Clark, the MIAA’S assistant director for communications, media and tournaments. Clark developed a formula for seeding teams in the state’s high school tournaments and his formula was amazingly accurate in regards to basketball.
This past weekend, 10 basketball champions were crowned at the Tsongas Center in Lowell in Div. 1-5 on the boys and girls side.
Seven of the 10 winners were No. 1 seeds. On the boys side, four of the five were top seeds — Malden Catholic in Div. 2, Archbishop Williams in Div. 3, Wareham in Div. 4 and Taconic in
Div. 5. Only Div. 1 Catholic Memorial failed to win a state title as a No. 1 seed.
“It’s extremely satisfying,” Clark said. “This is an indication that the system is working as we designed it.”
Clark said it’s important to note that the human element will always be a factor, like when No. 1 Catholic Memorial was bounced by No. 32 Winchester in the opening round. That’s sports. That’s why the games are played and why upsets will always occur.
The bracket with the most upsets occurred in Div. 1, where the championship game pitted No. 6 Worcester North vs. No. 5 Needham, with North prevailing.
On the girls side, Andover in Div. 1, St. Mary’s in Div. 3 and Cathedral in Div. 4 ran the table as top seeds. Millis, the top seed in Div. 5, almost made it eight out of 10, but No. 2 Spring
field International topped Millis in the championship game.
This is the second year Clark’s statewide power rankings formula have been utilized by the MIAA to seed team sports like basketball and hockey. The two most important criteria used by Clark’s system are margin of victory and strength of schedule.
By all accounts, the level of play at the Tsongas Center was terrific. Local hoop fans are lucky to see three days of starstudded play so close to
home.
Tough rookie
The Lowell area continues to feature some of the top high school wrestlers in Massachusetts and New England.
Thomas Brown of Chelmsford. Shawsheen Tech’s trio of Sidney and James Tildsley, and Brayton Carbone. Tewksbury’s Jack Callahan.
Those are just five of the top wrestlers who shined this past winter season. Lost a bit in the accomplishments of those five and others is Lowell High’s Emmett Logan, who produced a fantastic freshman season.
Not since the days of Sean Boyle has a LHS
rookie enjoyed such an outstanding season on the mat. Logan finished off his campaign by finishing second in New England at 106 pounds, the first time in the program’s illustrious history that a freshman was a New England finalist.
Logan finished 51-6 and was also a Division 1 state finalist and Allstate finalist.
Ferri shines
Speaking of wrestling, Shawsheen Tech graduate Jake Ferri wrapped up a memorable career at Kent State last Thursday at the 2023 NCAA Wrestling Championships in Tulsa, Okla.
The graduate student
battled in a pair of matches against top10 competition. He fell
6-3 to 10th-seeded Brandon Courtney of Arizona State and 11-6 to seventhseeded Brandon Kaylor of Oregon State.
Ferri, the 23rd seed at 125 pounds, was a twotime national qualifier. His 106 career victories tie him for 16th all time at Kent State with head coach Jim Andrassy.
Green Meadow closed
The Friel family which owns Green Meadow Golf Club has every right to sell the Hudson, N.H., 36hole layout.
Still, the word that
Green Meadow won’t be open for a 62nd season stings for area golfers. Green Meadow was almost sold about 12 years ago and then more recently when Amazon pulled out at the last minute after two years of negotiations and meetings.
Green Meadow’s closing is official this time. Expect more details in The Sun about the sale, but the Prairie and Jungle courses are closed. Thousands of area golfers were introduced to the game on the links that Phil Friel built. Coupled with the closing of Tyngsboro Country Club a couple of years ago, that’s 45 holes for public golfers that are gone forever.