A look at CHSAA’s Boys basketball rankings

The latest edition of the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) Coaches Poll Rankings have come out. The lone newcomer to the rankings is Alamosa Basketball. Featured are San Luis Valley teams, for the complete listing be sure to visit CHSAANow.com.

3A

6. Centauri – 63

The Falcons have responded well from their first loss of the season on Jan. 31 to Intermountain League (IML) foe, Alamosa. Centauri has stacked wins over Pagosa Springs (8-9, 3-5 IML) and Bayfield (2-15, 1-7 IML) on the seventh and eighth to complete the series sweeps against both teams. The league wins keep the Falcons in contention for top seeding in the district tournament. The loss to Alamosa didn’t change much for the Falcons as their position in the poll stayed steady at sixth place the following Monday. A position Centauri has held to this day.

Alamosa (13-4, 8-0 IML) currently holds the league lead but the Falcon’s fate is very much in their own hands. Centauri has three more league games left on the regular-season slate. Montezuma-Cortez, Alamosa and Monte Vista. The goal is likely to win out and let the district seeding information take care of the rest.

Taking the district tournament is a great way to assure some home games come state tournament time. That and the winner of the district tournament last year, Montezuma-Cortez, was the lone team from the IML to advance to the Great 8 in Denver. The year before district winner Bayfield, won it all. That said top seeding doesn’t guarantee much. The district champions the past two years didn’t enter the tournament as the top seeds.

10. Alamosa -33

For the second time in the 2019-20 season, the Mean Moose (13-4, 8-0 IML) have downed a top ten contender in the rankings. For the first time in the 2019-20 season, Alamosa has made the top ten of the CHSAA Rankings.

Dec. 12 Alamosa bested Faith Christian bottling up leading scorers Caleb Ruter and Caleb Clark to a combined 16 points. Both times following wins the Moose would climb slightly with a small boost in voting points.

Since having beat No. 6 Centauri the Moose added three more league wins and entered the rankings at the No. 10 spot this past Monday.

The Mean Moose currently lead the league standings with an undefeated record. Alamosa is scheduled for two more interleague games and can lock up the first seed in the district tournament just by repeating their success against both opponents.

Starting Friday Alamosa will be on the road for the final two games of the regular season. First will be Pagosa Springs then the Moose will be in Centauri on Saturday. Both games are slated for 7 p.m. tipoffs.

2A

9. Sanford- 43

Sanford goes down the stretch ranked 9th in the 2A class in Monday’s CHSAA Coaches Poll Rankings.

This is a small decline for Sanford (12-4, 3-1 SPL) who were No. 7 the week prior. The drop likely stems from Sanford’s 47-38 loss to fellow Southern Peaks Leaguer Crested Butte (13-2, 5-0 SPL) on Saturday afternoon.

Despite their impressive record, the Titans were a stranger to the Coaches Poll prior to the game. And still have yet to crack the top ten of the rankings.

The game will serve as a preview for Sanford of what to look out for at the district tournament. Sanford still has three more league contests to complete before worrying about tournament play.

First up, will be Center on Valentine’s Day. Then next week Sanford will close the regular season with games against Sargent and Del Norte.

1A

3. Sangre de Cristo – 66

The first loss of the year for Sangre de Cristo was largely inconsequential. The T-Birds dropped a 57-46 contest to Raton in New Mexico. While a loss is a loss, one to a 3A out of state opponent carries less weight.

The coaches from Monday’s poll seem to agree as Sangre held on to their No. 3 spot from last week.

At most, the T-Birds got a good chance to see some late-season talent in preparation for tournament play.

Sangre de Cristo still has three league designated games left, with a combined record of 17-24.

Sangre de Cristo also has some challenges down the stretch as well. Feb. 15th the T-Birds welcome 3A Salida (8-7). Sangre de Cristo will close the regular season on Feb. 21 on the road against 1A’s fifth-ranked team, Kim/Branson (13-2). There is still plenty of regular-season basketball to be played in Mosca.