{"id":84282,"date":"2020-12-07T21:53:28","date_gmt":"2020-12-07T21:53:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandbox.web.rcn.net\/rcntv\/?p=84282"},"modified":"2023-04-14T18:28:17","modified_gmt":"2023-04-14T18:28:17","slug":"basketball-pre-season-poll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/basketball-pre-season-poll\/","title":{"rendered":"BASKETBALL PRE-SEASON POLL"},"content":{"rendered":"

The views expressed in this blog are<\/i> those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

A few weeks back on both our \u201cSportsTalk<\/a>\u201d television show and here at \u201cThe Shop,\u201d I asked our audience if they might be interested in a high school basketball poll for teams in our PIAA District XI<\/a> <\/strong>coverage area–similar to what we do each fall.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not really surprised that I did receive comments from a number of local hoops fans saying that they would really like to see a scholastic basketball poll or two this winter.<\/span><\/p>\n

The only debate was in how to set up the poll.<\/span><\/p>\n

We had almost an equal amount of people voting for each of the different ways we could \u201clay out\u201d the polls, including the interesting and somewhat controversial \u201cboundary vs. non-boundary\u201d idea.\u00a0 I think in light of the restrictions\/limitations of local schools scheduling during this unusual winter season, it\u2019s best this year if we do things similarly to the way we ran our polls for this past fall football season.<\/span><\/p>\n

The only difference between the fall and winter is that we may not be doing the poll each week.\u00a0 Most of our local teams are taking the holidays \u201coff\u201d because of the pandemic (the EPC<\/a> now won\u2019t have any \u201cofficial\u201d league games until January).\u00a0 Also, both local leagues have ordered certain \u201coff periods\u201d during the season set aside in which teams will not be playing…thus, on those week\u2019s we won\u2019t be doing our polls.<\/span><\/p>\n

So for this winter, we are breaking the two polls down into the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference (Lehigh Valley teams only) and Colonial League<\/a><\/strong> schools, within the RCN broadcast area.\u00a0 With the reduced schedules and many of our teams staying mostly \u201cin country\u201d with their opponents this year due to the COVID-19 restrictions, this plan for our polls will keep things interesting since many of the top teams within the local conferences will not have the opportunity to actually face each other this fall.<\/span><\/p>\n

Like football, there will not be any league playoffs for basketball.\u00a0 Without the crowning of official Colonial League and EPC champions, our polls will be an intriguing barometer to who in fact is the best team in each conference (and, of course, bragging rights through the winter months).<\/span><\/p>\n

So below we have high school polls for both leagues, along with the listing of all of the teams that are included in our respective categories.<\/span><\/p>\n

EPC-LV TOP 5<\/b><\/p>\n

1) Central Catholic\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

2) Allen<\/span><\/p>\n

3) Bethlehem Catholic<\/span><\/p>\n

4) Parkland<\/span><\/p>\n

5) Whitehall<\/p>\n

<\/span>Eligible Teams (in no particular order):<\/span><\/p>\n

Allentown Central Catholic, Bethlehem Catholic, Easton, Freedom, Liberty, Dieruff, Allen, Parkland, Whitehall, Emmaus, Nazareth, and Northampton<\/span><\/p>\n

COLONIAL TOP 5<\/b><\/p>\n

1) Southern Lehigh<\/span><\/p>\n

2) Notre Dame<\/span><\/p>\n

3) Palmerton<\/span><\/p>\n

4) Bangor<\/span><\/p>\n

5) Wilson<\/span><\/p>\n

Eligible Teams (in no particular order):<\/span><\/p>\n

Bangor, Pen Argyl, Notre Dame – Green Pond, Wilson, Catasauqua, Salisbury, Saucon Valley, Northwestern, Northern Lehigh, Southern Lehigh and Palisades<\/span><\/p>\n


\nTune in to this week’s SportsTalk show as RCN Commentator Tom Stoudt will join us to break down the upcoming high school basketball season, which commences this week for the Colonial League.\u00a0 In addition to discussing the EPC\u2019s decision to postpone the start of their season until after New Year\u2019s Day, we\u2019ll also be highlighting the top players and teams to watch this winter, intriguing matchups and giving predictions for the new season.<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019ll also be joined by former Parkland High School and current University of Virginia football standout De\u2019Vante Cross, who\u2019s making an impact at the Division I level.\u00a0 Like his Cavaliers teammate (and former Easton star Shane Simpson, who was on our show last year), Cross has excelled at the next level and has pro football aspirations.\u00a0 Among the topics of conversation will be discussing the steps he has been taking in making himself eligible for the NFL Draft next spring.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company. A few weeks back on both our \u201cSportsTalk\u201d television show and here at \u201cThe Shop,\u201d I asked our audience if they might be interested…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"Yoast SEO Relevanssi index exclude","inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-sportstalk-shop"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBASKETBALL PRE-SEASON POLL - ATVN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BASKETBALL PRE-SEASON POLL - ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company. 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