LVC, Colonial, MVC boys basketball power rankings

FROM KEITH GROLLER

We're just a week-and-a-half into the season and we've already seen a lot of surprises in area boys basketball. Maybe not KC over Green Bay kind of surprises, but still some games that caught our eye.

Before we get to the holiday break, we've got some intriguing matchups this week, especially tonight when there are big games all over the place in both leagues.

I will be at Rockne Hall tonight to get my first look at Central Catholic and see if Allen can avoid dropping to 0-4.

Here are the first batch of power rankings, which we hope to do at once a week through the entire season:

LEHIGH VALLEY CONFERENCE

1. Freedom (3-0, 1-0) ... at Becahi tonight ... So far, Patriots living up to billing.

2. CCHS (3-0, 1-0) ... host Allen tonight ... Vikings won't need to undergo major changes and blend in new faces after Christmas this year.

3. Parkland (3-0, 1-0) ... host Northampton tonight ... Trojans served notice right away with win over Emmaus that this is a different Parkland team.

4. Emmaus (2-1, 1-0) ... host Dieruff tonight ... Surprised that the Green Hornets are no longer hosting their own Christmas tournament.

5. Liberty (2-1, 1-0) ... host Easton tonight ... We'll learn a lot more about the Hurricanes tonight.

6. Easton (3-2, 0-1) .... visit Liberty tonight ... Red Rovers will be tough defensively, but lack offensive spart that James Middleton would have provided.

7. Allen (0-3, 0-1) ... visit CCHS tonight ... Canaries' three losses are by a combined eight points.

8. Whitehall (2-1, 1-0) ... host Nazareth tonight ... Chris Moran scoring a lot of points for Zephs.

9. Nazareth (1-2, 1-0) ... visit Whitehall tonight ... Blue Eagles needed that win over Becahi.

10. Dieruff (1-2, 0-1) .... visit Emmaus tonight ... Huskies are better, but so is the rest of the LVC.

11. Northampton (0-4, 0-1) ... visit Parkland tonight ... Like Dieruff, Konkrete Kids are better, but so far it has been hard to see the progress.

12. Bethlehem Catholic (0-3, 0-1) ,,, host Freedom tonight ... Expect the Golden Hawks to give Freedom some problems tonight.

COLONIAL LEAGUE

1. Salisbury (4-0, 2-0) ... host Notre Dame tonight ... Have the Colonial League game of the night tonight against the Crusaders.

2. Southern Lehigh (3-1, 2-0) ... at Palisades tonight ... Spartans may be the story of the year so far in the Colonial.

3. Notre Dame (4-1, 2-1) ... at Salisbury tonight ... Connor Hughes and Alex Gregg forming a nice 1-2 punch for the Crusaders.

4. Bangor (3-0, 2-0) ... host Catasauqua tonight ... Slaters looking like the North Division favorites.

5. Wilson (3-1, 1-1) ... at Saucon Valley tonight ... Warriors have an emerging star in Daye-Shawn Bailey.

6. Northern Lehigh (1-1, 1-1)... at Pen Argyl tonight ... Bulldogs still will be in playoff contention.

7. Catasauqua (2-0, 2-0) ... at Bangor tonight ... We'll find out much more about the Roughies in the next few nights with visits to Bangor and Northern Lehigh.

8. Saucon Valley (1-3, 0-2) ... host Wilson tonight ... Defending champs struggling offensively; have yet to score more than 44 points in a game.

9. Palmerton (1-2, 0-2) ... host Northwestern tonight ... Battle of the new coaches tonight.

10. Pen Argyl (1-2, 1-1) ... at Northern Lehigh tonight ... Nick Pipher has 10 3-pointers in three games.

11. Palisades (0-4, 0-3) ... host Southern Lehigh tonight ... Looking for former Pirates star Josh Parris to get a lot more playing time with Lehigh football team next year.

12. Northwestern (1-4, 0-2) ... at Palmerton tonight ... Dan Eddinger and Bob Wootsick will get things going eventually, but right now the Tigers are averaging just 23 points per game in their four losses.

MOUNTAIN VALLEY CONFERENCE

1. Pocono Mountain West (3-1, 1-0) ... at ES South tonight ... Clearly, the team to beat in this league.

2. Pleasant Valley (4-1, 1-0) ... host Delaware Valley on Thursday ... 2-1 so far against the LVC.

3. Pocono Mountain East (2-2, 1-0) ... at Stroudsburg tonight ... Cardinals seem like they're in rebuilding mode.

4. ES North (1-3, 0-1) ... host Lehighton tonight ... T-wolves lost to Bangor by three and Freedom by six.

5. ES South (0-3, 0-0) ... host Pocono Mt. West tonight ... Cavaliers District 11 champs of 1994 still might have been as good as any team I've ever covered.

6. Stroudsburg (0-4, 0-1) ... host Pocono Mounta East tonight ... Mounties always get better as the season goes on.

7. Lehighton (0-4, 0-1) .... visit ES North tonight ... Rough welcome to the MVC for Rich Oertner, who will be back at Northern Lehigh next week in the Bulldogs Christmas tournament.

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/