Trent Loyd's varsity boys basketball team has gone where no Pea Ridge high school basketball team has gone before.
The hardwood 'Hawks have risen to the No. 2 overall ranking in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's 4A Super Six Basketball teams as published in Sunday's edition of the only statewide daily newspaper in the state. The 'Hawks have rolled to a state best 16-1 record with just a month left before district playoffs begin, and sports writers statewide have taken notice.
While the basketball 'Hawks have been frequently listed in the state's Top 10 in various polls over the past few years, Sunday marked the first time that any Pea Ridge squad was ranked as high as second. The boys have also made a steady climb in the MaxPreps/CBS 4A state poll, rising to the fifth spot in this week's poll. The team has improved their ranking in each week's polling since the roster was finally brought up to full strength at the conclusion of the Blackhawk football season.
In the Democrat-Gazette poll, Pea Ridge was joined in the poll by fellow district team Huntsville. The Eagles, a perennial basketball power, currently hold the the fourth spot. With the new blended 3A -4A conferences, Huntsville and Pea Ridge won't meet this year unless they encounter one another in the district meet to be played next month in Berryville.
The complete Democrat-Gazette 4A Super Six include:
1. Baptist Prep
(Little Rock) 14-4
2. Pea Ridge 16-1
3. Monticello 11-4
4. Huntsville 16-2
5. Batesville
Southside 14-2
6. Cave City 15-2
Interestingly enough, the 'Hawks defeated No. 3 Monticello 56-52 in Little Rock Saturday. Pea Ridge was one of the invited teams to participate in the Martin Luther King Showcase. The Showcase brought together 24 teams including teams from Oklahoma and Tennessee. Eight teams played at Pulaski Academy including Dumas, Watson Chapel, Maumelle, Little Rock Central, Pulaski Academy, CPA (Tenn.), Monticello and Pea Ridge. The 16 other teams were split between the Baptist Prep and Little Rock Christian gymnasiums.
Teams were invited based on their rankings and so sought to put together an exhibition of the states best schools for a one-day slate of games. Other teams from northwest Arkansas included Harrison and Springdale Har-Ber.
The 'Hawks will be playing in a big game this Friday night in Gravette when the boys will battle the Lions for control of the 3A-4A 1 Conference race. Both teams are undefeated in conference play at the halfway mark in the league season, and the pair have opened up a three-game lead over the rest of the 10-team configuration.
Is the Arkansas Activities Association about to be taken over?
State Senator Jeremy Hutchinson of Little Rock is pushing a bill in the legislature that would turn the Arkansas Activities Association into a state run program.
Currently, the AAA has 525 members who vote to elect a board of directors who then vote on rule changes as well as policy formulation. The AAA has several full time officers who are employed by the board of directors to essentially run the association on a day to day basis. The office is in North Little Rock with a budget paid for by assessments paid by each member of the association.
The problem some legislators see with the organization is that the money paid into the AAA is school, or tax money, public funds. A lot of folks have been unhappy with AAA decisions or interpretations over the past few, myself included.
After personally studying the organizations running the sports programs in Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Louisiana and Tennessee, I can see a lot of things I would like to have changed. Having said that, I don't know that having politicians jumping into the fray would help things, without hurting them more.
I wrote a previous column with regard to the politically correct way the state determines the make up of their All-State teams in subjectively judged sports such as football or basketball. In sports that have meets or big competitions like track or swimming, it is fairly simple. Athletes go out and win that honor based on what they do that day. Lately Arkansas has begun to honor track athletes for their body of work for the whole season and not just one meet, and that is a good thing.
The Arkansas All-State Football team committee dictates that listed honorees include four linemen and four "backs" from each conference. With a loaded conference like the 4A-1, which boasts a large number of worthy athletes, they get no more attention than conferences who have sparse talent. The awards are divvied out like welfare, where the worthiness of the recipient is incidental to the process.
Missouri's All-State teams includes honorees in each position, including the kicker. They do All-State awards for the 11 offensive positions as well as the defensive positions, and some slots for special team play. In Arkansas, if you are the best punter or place kicker on earth, but that's all the you do, you have no chance to be an All-State athlete. Missouri also has All-State second teamers and All-State third teamers.
Also in Missouri, no team is limited to receiving awards as the awards are voted on by the people who know the stats and the achievements. My old high school, Monett, Mo., won the Missouri Division 3 state title in football last fall and 11 of their players received all-state honors. I believe that 19 of them received all district honors.
Another issue I have with the AAA, is they way they determine All-State runners in cross country. They declare the top 10 percent of finishers All-State. I know of no other state that determines this that way.
I didn't think much about that until I was at a state meet where 91 runners were lined up in their race, meaning 10 girls would receive all-state honors (they round the numbers up). In this particular race, two girls were lagging far behind the others and decided to drop out of the race.
I happened to know the girl that came in 10th and she was absolutely thrilled that she won the all-state honor. She was later informed by the AAA that because the two last place girls dropped out of the race, she couldn't be named as an all-stater as they only had 89 finishers, thus nine all-state spots.
The AAA awards 10 medals to cross country finishers. It is possible to earn a medal and be declared all-state, or to be declared all-state and and not earn a medal, as often happens in the large school classifications.
What should be the procedure is for the top 15 or maybe 25 runners to earn both medals and All-State honors. That would be fair and the results would be determined on the field, not in someone's calculator.
I could go on for several more pages with policies that could be improved for the sake of the boy and girl athletes of our state. I don't believe that losing local control of our athletic programs or allowing people who don't know what is needed to have too much a say is the way to go, but I do think that there should be some changes.
Maybe the threat of government intervention might make the AAA more responsive to patrons and students who question rules and policies that are put into place.
MaxPreps Arkansas State 4A poll
Jan. 16, 2017
School^won-loss^pwr rtg^+/-
1. Baptist Prep^14-4^18.1^+1.7
2. Batesville Southside^15-2^17.8^-1.2
3. Huntsville^14-2^15.3^+0.2
4. Cave City^15-2^13.6^-0.4
5. Pea Ridge^16-1^13.2^+0.3
6. Pottsville^13-3^12.2^+0.6
7. Gravette^13-2^12.1^+0.4
8. Nashville^9-2^11.8^-0.8
9. Jonesboro Westside^11-5^11.4^-1.0
10. Riverview^11-4^10.4^new
26. Prairie Grove^7-7^3.1^unch
27. Shiloh^8-7^1.7^+2.3
31. Gentry^7-6^-0.7^+0.9
36. Berryville^6-8^-2.4^-0.5
49. Lincoln^2-13^-11.9^+0.1
4A North Region boys poll
1. Huntsville^15-2
2. Pea Ridge^16-1
3. Pottsville^13-3
4. Gravette^13-2
5 .Dardanelle^13-4
6. Ozark^8-7
7. Booneville^12-5
8. West Fork^10-6
9. Prairie Grove^7-7
10. Shiloh^8-7
3A-4A-1 boys conference*
Halfway point
1. Pea Ridge^9-0
^ Gravette^9-0
3. Prairie Grove^7-3
4. Gentry^6-4
5. West Fork^5-5
^ Elkins 5-5
7. Shiloh^2-4
8. Greenland^3-7
9. Haas Hall^1-8
10.Lincoln^0-9
MaxPreps/CBS State 4A Girls Poll
School^won-loss^pwr rtg^+/-
1. Central Arkansas^14-2^21.4^-0.4
2. Nashville^10-1^20.2^-0.2
3. Pocahontas^17-3^19.4^+1.3
4. Star City^12-2^16.8^+1.1
5. Monticello^15-4^16.2^-0.6
6. West Fork^14-0^15.7^-0.5
7. Ozark^11-2^14.4^+0.3
8. Pottsville^11-5^13.2^+1.2
6. Star City^9.2^15.7^+4.2
7. Ozark^11-2^14.1^+0.8
8. Pottsville^10-5^12.0^-1.0
9. Huntsville^10-7^11.3^+1.6
10 Brookland^10-6^11.1^new
15. Berryville^10-9^6.7^+0.2
16. Pea Ridge^10-6^5.9^-1.9
17. Gravette^10-7^4.7^+0.8
26. Prairie Grove^6-8^1.1^+2.9
29. Gentry^8-6^0.5^-2.0
35. Shiloh^5-9^-4.1^+0.8
4A North Region girls poll
1. West Fork^14-0
2. Ozark^11-2
3. Pottsville^11-5
4. Huntsville^10-7
5. Berryville^10-9
6. Pea Ridge^10-6
7. Gravette^10-7
8. Dardanelle^8-10
9. Prairie Grove^6-8
10. Gentry^10-7
3A-4A-1 girls conference
Halfway point
1. West Fork^9-0
2. Pea Ridge^7-2
^ Gravette^7-2
4. Greenland^6-3
5. Prairie Grove^5-4
^ Elkins^5-4
7. Gentry^3-6
8. Shiloh^2-7
9. Haas Hall^1-8
^ Lincoln^1-8
•••
Editor's note: John McGee, an award-winning columnist, sports writer and art teacher at Pea Ridge elementary schools, writes a regular sports column for The Times. The opinions expressed are those of the author. He can be contacted through The Times at [email protected].
Sports on 01/18/2017