What’s in a record? A lot, as it turns out.
In today’s Colorado preps world dominated by the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), it has become increasingly hard to judge a team based off regular-season wins and losses. The RPI is a formulaic system of determining Colorado high school playoff fields across all team sports, and it measures teams relative to each other, with a primary factor in that measurement being strength of schedule.
Knowing this, local coaches and athletic directors of elite programs stacked their nonconference schedules with games against other elite teams, as well as prestigious out-of-state tournaments. The results so far this winter as the hoops season heads into the final week of the regular season are plenty of squads with records that aren’t indicative of how good they truly are.
For starters, because of the tough schedules teams are playing in this two-year RPI cycle, some teams are even better than their dazzling records indicate.
The Class 5A No. 1 ThunderRidge boys (20-1) are in that category, as are the Class 5A No. 1 Grandview girls (20-1) and No. 3 girls (20-2). All three teams have yet to lose an instate game, and for the most part each has been blowing out teams in their respective leagues. Their records, even with a combined 60 wins between them, just don’t emphasize enough their true dominance.
Then there’s the large grouping of teams who have stacked up some losses, yes, but will certainly be in the championship mix when the state tournament begins at the end of the month.
For the boys, Overland (10-10 as of Saturday afternoon, 16th in the latest RPI) and Arapahoe (8-13, 22nd) are two Centennial League teams that took lumps early in nonconference play and have, as of late, been dangerous. The youthful Blazers rattled off wins over , and recently, while the Warriors are also coming off a big road victory over the Bruins last week and can beat anybody if senior guard Kyle Lukasiewicz gets into a rhythm.
And for the girls, four particular teams don’t wow with winning percentage, yet are on track to peak for the state tournament.
In 5A, coach Rod Beauchamp and No. 8 Fairview (11-10) had to forfeit six wins because of an ineligible player, yet the Knights have the offensive balance to be a Final Four team, while No. 10 (13-6) has yet to lose to an unranked team and boasts a 6-foot-1 dunking phenom in sophomore Fran Beliebi.
And in 4A, a pair of parochial powers in No. 6 Mullen (10-11, 24th) and No. 7 (11-8 as of Saturday afternoon, eighth) definitely aren’t as mediocre as their records indicate. The Mustangs claim one of the best scorers in the state in Whitney Jacob and are battle-tested from competing in the 5A Centennial League, while the two-time defending champion Eagles continue to come together down the stretch after graduating much of their firepower from last winter.
So in the last week of the regular season — and with a multitude of conference titles still up for grabs — get out to a local gym and watch some high school hoops. Just know that no game is a gimmie down the stretch, especially with how much win-loss tallies are deceiving this winter.
