Holiday break update: Colonial League boys basketball standings and rankings

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/ FROM KEITH GROLLER We've reached the holiday break in area basketball and in assessing the Colonial League, there really have been few surprises. Basically, the teams that we thought would be good, are. And teams that we expected to struggled, have. We didn't expect a coaching change at Palmerton or Southern Lehigh to beat Wilson or Catty to beat Northern Lehigh, so there have been a few surprises. And who'd have thought that Northwestern and Pen Argyl would each have three wins already on Christmas Eve and 2010-2011 league champ Saucon Valley would be winless? Here's how it looks with the standings first: NORTH DIVISION 1. Bangor 4-0 2. Catasauqua 3-1 3. Northern Lehigh 2-2 4. Northwestern 2-2 5. Pen Argyl 1-3 6. Palmerton 0-4 SOUTH DIVISION 1. Notre Dame 4-0 2. Southern Lehigh 3-1 3. Wilson 3-1 4. Salisbury 2-2 5. Palisades 0-4 6. Saucon Valley 0-4. And the league rankings: 1. Bangor (5-0) ... Last three wins have come by an average of 31 points. Slaters will be challenged by Stroudsburg in the Mounties' first Christmas tournament. They meet on Thursday night. 2. Notre Dame (4-2) ... Crusaders play in the Easton tournament and bring in the new year with a big one against Wilson in the league. The two could also meet in the holiday tournament, although ND starts out with Phillipsburg. 3. Wilson (6-1) ... The Warriors and Gerald Terry are as good as advertised. They will still stub their toe for time to time as they did against Southern Lehigh. 4. Salisbury (3-3) ... The defending champion Falcons are a work-in-progress. Even though many players return from last year's team, they still miss Brent Maron. 5. Southern Lehigh (4-2) ... The Spartans have an entirely revamped roster. Bob Shaffer is doing his usually stellar job. Solehi is in the Boyertown tournament this week along with Pennridge and Gov. Mifflin. 6. Catasauqua (4-2) ... Strange not to have the Roughies in the Northampton Christmas tournament, although they are still playing the Konkrete Kids this week in a nonleague game. 7. Northern Lehigh (2-2) ... Bulldogs host their own tournament and face former coach Rich Oertner and Lehighton on Thursday night. Maybe they can build some momentum with a tourney title. 8. Palisades (2-4) ,.. Coach Viglianti has to be disappointed his team doesn't have a league win yet. The Pirates will play in a tournament at Fleetwood. 9. Saucon Valley (0-7) ... Panthers are in the Whitehall tournament and might be able to break through for a win against Faith Christian. 10. Northwestern (3-4) ... Tigers are definitely making progress.Will play Panther Valley and Blue Mountain over the break and return to league play on Jan 3 against Catty. 11. Pen Argyl (3-3) ... Green Knights also are a team trying to take step forward. They are in the Pius X tournament. 12. Palmerton (0-5) ... New coach Frank McCarroll is a former Tamaqua player and his family is immersed in football. Brother Jim is head coach at Pocono Mountain West and his nephew Tom is head coach at Lehighton. Some interesting sports stories at those holiday get-togethers I am sure.