Gramps Braggin' Rights Year End All Metro Boys Ratings - 12/31/2021

I am hoping 2022 will be a better year for you and me than 2021. Besides trying to stay safe from all the variants of covid (which we did), I still managed to undergo eight procedures requiring anesthesia and spend seven days in the hospital over the full year.  Fusion of three toes in my right foot, a pacemaker, an ablation and a staph infection in the post-operative foot, all made 2021 a year to forget.  If anything, the summer and winter basketball ratings was about the only thing that kept me going.  I have to give a Shout-Out to my wonderful wife who nursed me through all of these traumas and the healing process.

For some guys, this might have seemed like heaven.  When I would try to get out of my chair to get something, she would say "Sit tight!  What do you need?  I will get it for you!"  It has only been the last two months that I have been coddling her again.  She deserved a couple of months of my cooking and washing up dishes after seven months of nursing me back to health. 

Back to the real reason you are reading my blog.  I will start by saying the holiday schedule makes it really hard to rank all the top teams.

For teams like Webster Groves and De Smet, MICDS, and other top area teams that play the local tournaments, the ratings are fairly accurate.  St. Louis teams are playing other St. Louis teams and the statistical model is robust because I have a good baseline of games for every team.

For teams like CBC and Vashon, amongst a few other elites, it is really difficult to rate them because they are playing outstate competition and rarely start the season with many/any local teams.  

So, while CBC and Vashon fans may not like their current rating, it is what it is.  I don't have the time to research all the outstate teams to get a good rating for the top area teams.  I can only rely on the few games they have already played locally and look for more robust estimates as they play other top local teams.

For Vashon, that might take all season.  Their schedule is primarily outstate competition with a few Public school league foes until late February when they play De Smet on the 22nd and Webster Groves on the 25th.  Until those results are in, my rating for the Wolverines is questionable and Vashon fans should hold off criticism.  Scant data means "iffy" ratings for a great team like Vashon.

For CBC, the ratings will get more robust by mid-January when the play Chaminade (Jan. 14th), Staley (Jan. 15th), De Smet (Jan. 21st) and finally, Westminster (Jan. 31st).  Until those games are part of the mathematical equation, my CBC rating is questionable, so again, I hope CBC fans are forgiving.

As far as the local teams with good local game activity, the ratings are pretty straightforward, except for an occasional upset.  I will take Lafayette as an example.  They beat Eureka soundly on the 21st but have been up and down against some weaker foes.  Eureka has been more consistent until the CvC tournament but still rates higher overall due to the strength of schedule and score differential.  So if your team has beat someone and you think they should be rated higher, you might be right or you might fall into the example of Lafayette and Eureka where you upset a team but have not been as successful in the rest of your schedule.

I am always open to polite feedback because I am not always on target.  I miss a few games due to poor newspaper score coverage or just because it is still 2021, a year to definitely forget.

I have included most of the St. Louis area teams within one hour drive of downtown.  If you don't see your team on the list, message me and I will add your team to this list.  One hour or less.  No teams that are 61 minute or more drive time from downtown.  LOL

Want more ratings?  Check out Class six boys HERE.