Prep Basketball- A week has passed, and the Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) has released their second edition of the basketball rankings for the 2024-25 season and a shakeup in the top 10 shows that no team can take a game off.
Class 4A
Cedar Falls still sits above the rest with one of three undefeated records left in the class: in fact, the top four remained unchanged with Valley and Waukee Northwest rounding out the top three.
The only change that occurred was Johnston falling from #5 in the rankings to #8 after a loss to then-ranked #8 Waukee, now up a spot to #7, 58-56. Beyond that all ten teams stayed within the rankings.
Class 3A
Aptly, the top three teams in Ballard, Clear Lake, and Decorah are undefeated and ranked in that respective order. Wahlert Catholic kept their spot at #4 despite a fourth undefeated team climbing the rankings to #5 in Knoxville.
Last week, #7 ADM was in that #5 slot but a one-point loss to unranked Gilbert knocked the Tigers down two spots. Three teams were knocked out of the top 10 in Des Moines Christian, Nevada, and Central DeWitt with Xavier, Storm Lake, and Mt. Vernon taking over the final three spots of the top 10.
Class 2A
Western Christian and Kuemper Catholic remained in the top two spots, respectively, and despite West Lyon not losing a game since the last rankings, Grand View Christian jumped them to be the #3 team this week. The Thunder defeated #9 Treynor, 61-56, and previously ranked #9 in Class 3A Nevada, 73-56.
West Burlington kept their position at #6 in the rankings, rocking an 11-0 record. The Falcons are averaging an other-worldly 80.4 points per game, while keeping their opponents under 50 points per game for the season. Add in a defense that can cancel out their 10 turnovers per game with 10 steals and an All-State talent in Mason Watkins has this squad cooking.
Tri-Center was knocked out of the top 10 by #9 Treynor after the Cardinals conquered the Trojans 82-50.
Class 1A
Maquette Catholic and Madrid held strong in their top two spots, then chaos ensued throughout the rest of the top 10. St. Edmond went from being ranked 3rd in Class 1A to hanging on to the top 10 at the #9 slot after losing their last two games by an average of 28.5 points.
Gladbrook-Reinbeck climbed four spots up the rankings to #5, while Northwood-Kensett moved up from #10 to #7 in the rankings. #8 Bishop Garrigan’s 59-57 loss to Cedar Falls knocked the Golden Bears out of the top 10 and #6 Holy Trinity Catholic followed suit with an unexpected 55-52 loss to Central Lee last Friday.
The Crusaders will have an uphill climb to get back in the rankings despite touting a 15.4-point differential. Luke Hellige is leading the charge for the team, averaging 25.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. Look for Koby Jones and Layne Rung to take on a bigger role as postseason time approaches.
Taking their spots was #8 MMCRU with an 8-2 record and #10 North Mahaska, rocking a 10-1 record.