Conference championships (except for the COC-Large) were clinched last week. Now, it’s win-or-go-home time for Class 1-3 basketball teams. With district tournaments starting this week, these will be our last boys’ basketball power rankings until the season is over.
As with all of our power rankings in each team sport, these are based on dominance by Class, not head-to-head. It’s the “pound-for-pound” best teams in the Ozarks.
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Recent success and strength of schedule are also a factor in the rankings.
Current record, Class and previous ranking are listed in parenthesis.
1. Hartville (22-4, C2, PR: 1) – The Eagles blasted Gainesville 79-37 last week to clinch another Summit Conference championship. They followed that up with a 67-25 win over Laquey to close the regular season. Hartville’s the top seed in the Class 2, District 9 tournament this week, where they face Laquey again tonight. The district final is set for this Friday night at Laquey HS.
2. Kickapoo (23-2, C5, PR: 2) – The Chiefs hammered Waynesville by 40 last week to clinch an outright Ozark Conference championship. It marked the 18th time that the Chiefs have either won or shared the Ozark Conference championship, 14 of those coming since the 1999-20 season. Kickapoo travels to Columbia Hickman on Friday night. Kickapoo is the top seed for the Class 5 District 11 tournament next week. The Chiefs face either Parkview or Central in the semifinals on Tuesday, March 1, with the title game coming Friday, March 4.
3. Walnut Grove (24-2, C1, PR: 3) – Walnut Grove claimed a third straight Polk County League title last week, defeating Fair Play 76-55 at home. Later in the week, Walnut Grove beat Lighthouse Christian by 34 to close the regular season then Golden City by 46 to open districts. Walnut Grove, the top seed in Class 1 District 5, faces Verona in the semifinals Thursday night at Willard High School.
4. Bolivar (20-4, C4, PR: 4) – Bolivar sent its seven-player senior class out with a home win last Friday night against Rogersville, a victory that pushed the Liberators one step closer toward another outright COC-Small championship. Four Liberators scored 8 or more, led by Brandon Emmert’s 17 points. Bolivar plays at Reeds Spring on Tuesday night, a game the Liberators must have to win the conference outright since Reeds Spring and Rogersville both have only one conference loss. The Liberators close the regular season Thursday night at Ozark. Bolivar is the top seed for the Class 4 District 13 tournament in Clinton and will play either Warrensburg or Pleasant Hill in the semifinals Tuesday, March 1. The title game is set for Friday night, March 4.
5. Rolla (23-2, C4, PR: 5) – A cold shooting start and a red-hot Kickapoo offense that was clicking on all cylinders spelled doom for the Bulldogs last Tuesday night, as they lost 76-65 at Kickapoo in a battle of undefeated OC teams. Rolla played better in the second half but couldn’t make up a 46-27 halftime deficit. Rolla rebounded by winning 96-88 at Glendale on Friday night in one of the highest-scoring, non-OT games locally this season. All-state guard Kobe Wands scored 39. Rolla’s the top seed for the Class 4 District 10 next week. Rolla’s likely to play Helias Catholic in the title game, a rematch from Rolla’s 65-63 win at Helias in the regular season.
6. Strafford (20-6, C3, PR: 7) – The Indians posted a statement win last Friday, pulling away to beat Fair Grove 76-65 and claim an outright Mid-Lakes Conference championship. Strafford had eight players score in the win, four in double figures. The Indians continue to be the most balanced team in the area. Strafford, if it can get by Ben Weinreis and the Ash Grove Pirates next week in the opening round, would face a rubber match with Fair Grove in the Class 3 District 11 semifinals.
7. Clever (21-5, C3, PR: 7) – Wins over Sparta and Billings last week clinched an outright SWCL championship for the Blue Jays. Clever heads to a district next week that has two other teams with 20+ wins, and a very quality 4-seed in Conway (assuming the Bears can avoid an upset in the first round themselves).
8. Fair Grove (23-3, C3, PR: 6) – Maybe the slice of humble pie will serve the Eagles well heading into districts. Coach Tim Brown said practices were sub-par going into the Strafford game, so maybe that 11-point loss will help Fair Grove re-focus. Fair Grove takes on 7-seed Pleasant Hope in the opening round of the Class 3 District 11 tournament Tuesday night.
9. School of the Ozarks (21-3, C1, PR: 10) – The Patriots’ win over Everton last Monday clinched an outright Mark Twain Conference championship. Nine S of O players scored in the game. The Patriots, who haven’t lost since Jan. 7 (81-76 vs. Mountain Grove) and have won 14 straight, opened district play Saturday by beating Exeter 56-20. S of O faces New Covenant at 8:30 tonight in the Class 1 District 4 semifinals.
10. Thayer (23-4, C2, PR: 9) – After closing the regular season with a 77-49 win over Houston and a 62-52 loss at Salem, Thayer opened districts by beating East Carter 71-43 on Saturday. The Bobcats face Alton tonight in the Class 2 District 2 semifinals.
11. Mtn. Grove (21-4, C3, PR: 13) – Twenty-plus wins and a second straight SCA championship for the Panthers. Mountain Grove blew open a close game in the second quarter to thump Cabool 77-48 at home last Friday and win the SCA outright. Mountain Grove’s the top seed and host for this week’s Class 3 District 10 tournament.
12. Conway (17-8, C3, PR: 15) – The Bears collected blow out wins over Hollister and Norwood last week to close the regular season. Normally, you wouldn’t like your chances as a 4-seed in a district with three other 20-plus win teams. But, the Bears have played Strafford, Fair Grove and Clever all to close outcomes in their meetings this season. First order of business for Conway is facing Springfield Catholic in the quarterfinals Tuesday night.
13. Glendale (14-9, C4, PR: 13) – Glendale played well enough to win at home against Rolla last week, but ultimately lost 96-88 despite 37 points from sophomore Monty Johal. The Falcons won 60-46 at Joplin earlier in the week. Glendale’s the 1-seed for next week’s Class 4 District 11 tournament in Rogersville. Even with nine losses, would it be all that shocking if Glendale made a similar, 2015-Hillcrest type of run and wound up in the Final Four this year? Hillcrest was 13-12 overall and the 4-seed coming into this district last year, for comparison’s sake.
14. Republic (19-5, C5, PR: 11) – I don’t know what’s going on with this zany Republic-Branson-Nixa-Ozark-Webb City stuff happening in the COC-Large, but I don’t like it one bit. It’s made these power rankings a lot harder to figure out the past few weeks. We rarely see this much parity in the top-half of a conference. Coming off a memorable win over Nixa, Republic struggled to beat Willard at home Tuesday then was blown out at Ozark on Friday. Turns out, Republic ran into “Good Ozark.” If you made a preseason bet of Tuesday’s Republic-Branson matchup deciding the COC-Large champion, you would’ve made a lot of money. But that’s what we have at stake when the Tigers visit the Pirates tomorrow night. First, Republic hosts Waynesville tonight in a makeup game from last night. Republic is the 1-seed for next week’s Class 5 District 12 tournament.
15. Nixa (19-5, C5, PR: 12) – If we had two extra spots in these power rankings, I’d rank Webb City and Ozark after here because these COC-Large teams have proven to be pretty even amongst one another this season. I’ll go with Nixa here thanks to the Eagles’ better strength of schedule and a pair of wins over Ozark. Webb City’s proven to be a good team, but I’ll admit that I didn’t foresee a 16-point win over Nixa coming last Friday. Nixa was outscored 20-6 in the fourth quarter. The Eagles eeked out a three-point home win over Ozark earlier in the week. Nixa finishes the regular season this week with games against Willard and Neosho.
Knocking on the door: Webb City (17-6, C4); Ozark (17-7, C5); Crane (18-7, C2); Hermitage (20-6, C1); Lamar (17-6, C3); McDonald County (19-5, C4); Mansfield (18-7, C2)
