HooptownGTA's Top Ten Rankings - released Oct 20

HooptownGTA's Top Ten Rankings - released October 20

1. d'Youville
2. Eastern Commerce
3. Thomson
4. Pope John Paul
5. Notre Dame (Ajax)
6. Dunbarton
7. Michael Power
8. Ascension
9. Campion
10. St. Thomas Aquinas

HM: Pine Ridge, Richview, Etobicoke, Pickering, Mount Carmel, Father Goetz, Sinclair, Birchmount Park, Eastdale, Northern, Denison, Markham, Jarvis

Dunbarton did not have a very good weekend in Ottawa at the St. Matthews tournament (not sure if they had all their players)..but they certainly deserve a top 10 ranking...they are HUGE!!! It would be a very interesting matchup between them and Aquinas (who has the size to compete with Dunbarton) or Ascension and Thomson (both of whom are small but extremely quick)

Did Dunbarton face any GTA schools in the Ottawa tournament? If so, do you have the results?

They lost to Sacred Heart Newmarket and beat Lockerby Sudbury..I cannot remember who the third team they played was...but they were in Premier...we were in Tier 2...we lost to North Grenville from just outside Ottawa (we were not very focused and they were not as talented as we were, but all the credit to them--their defense was phenomenal and they played with much better focus and determination), and we beat Jacob Hespeler Cambridge and St. Jean de Brebeuf Woodbridge.

I believe that Sacred Heart deserves a spot on this list.

Sacred Heart won against Denison (an honourable mention) this year 57-43 in league play.

From what I can find, Dunbarton did not play against any GTA teams in the St. Matthew's tournament - they played Lockerby, Lasalle, and BCI (from Brantford).

I saw Sacred Heart play..they are small but run very good stuff...I believe they are honourable mention but would have a tough time against more athletic teams like Aquinas and Thomson and Pope or even Pine Ridge.

Oh ya, my bad..Dunbarton didn't play Sacred Heart..they beat Lockerby in the consolation game.

We were unable to bring the same team we had when we beat PJP2 at the Nan Copp although the one starter (5'10" Sarah Dobush) we were missing then was in Ottawa. We were missing 2 other starters (Amanda Joudrey, Simone Thomas) so we brought 3 juniors. Given that many parents had spent a good deal of time and money getting to Ottawa we decided to give equal playing time to all. We'll have everyone today against Seto and the rest of Eastdale so that should be a good measure of where we are now.

Wow! Equal playing time. Not playing every single game as if your basketball lives depended upon an outcome.

That's pretty awesome! Respect, Coach!

I think one thing that is becoming clearer as the season goes on, is that there are a good handful of teams that can beat each other on any given day. I would even go as far as to say that d'Youville and Eastern are also in that mix. I think that you can go as far as 14 teams deep. Although I think d'Youville & Eastern are the two top favourites, it wouldn't surprise me if they lose to a GTA school before the season is over.

The Centennial tournament in two weeks should be another good test for the top teams in the GTA. I've gotten a look at the teams involved and there are 7 teams that are currently in the Top 10 that are in the Centennial tournament; #1 d'Youville, #2 Eastern Commerce, #3 Thomson, #4 Pope John Paul, #6 Dunbarton, #8 Ascension, and #10 St. Thomas Aquinas.

I also have the feeling we are becoming more competitive on a Province-wide basis.

Maybe all this competition we are seeing is moving our girls forward in terms of outside the GTA.

Etobicoke should definetly not have been put out of the rankings. During the weekend had a good 2-1 record and their only loss was by 1. Also that the loss to richview was by 2 and they were missing 2 crucial players. Guard, Jill Stratton and back up Post Tatia Eccleston whose out with a head injury. They will definetly be doing much better with the rest of their season.

Ive seen Michael Power play. Very well coached, run good plays as they are suppose to. Excellent team watch out for them to move up.

No disrespect to PJP but how are they rated ahead of teams like Aquinas and Ascension??

Pope lost to Campion in a close game but Campion has been blown out by Ascension twice?

I also find some of these confusing. I would say that PJP's performance in the two tournaments doesn't mean they played poorly at Rimrocker (they didn't); it means that Peel proved that they really were the strongest league. his is borne out by Pine Ridge (probably the second place team in Durham during the cross over games) only finishing 7th at Rimrocker and Rimrocker 5th place finishers PJP easily handling Durham #1 Notre Dame.

I know it's not always politically correct to have too many teams from one league in a top ten but I think recent results speak for themselves. For this week at least, d'Youville, Aquinas and Ascenion all deserved to be in the top-4. On top of that, St. Joes is deserving of an HM.

I'm also curious who Thompson has beaten of note to be ranked so high? Their record is good but have they beaten many top-20 teams?

Yes that's a good question. I'd like to know about Thomson as well. Who have they played? They've been flying under the radar this year.

I have done a quick check and they win their own tournament but the line-up wasn't nearly as deep as Sheridan, Notre Dame, Rimrocker, SBA, or Nan Copp. They wee consolation champs at a tournament in London but I don't know if there were quality teams.

This almost sems to be a case of a team filling a pre-ordained slot. By default, those ranking feel that there should be a minimum number of TDSSA teams in the top 10 and Thompson became the second choice by default because they were undefeated in a weak division and won a mid-level tournament early to put them on the radar screen. Once they were there, they stayed simply because they didn't lose any games in the GTA which is fairly easy when your division has no competition and you don't play in any of the tournaments with depth.

Rick, I like your rankings a heck of a lot more than the Star and you put a lot of thought into them but I think that ranking Thompson and PJP so high gives them far too much credit. (Thompson more so than PJP.)