16U Coach's Poll - Week of 7/14/08

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1st place votes in ( )

Rank ? ? ?Team ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Pts.
1Wolfpack - Black (6)78
2GCKA Nightmare (2)74
3Valley Extreme - Blue49
4Buckeye Heat - Toledo43
5Ohio Classics - Black ? 41
6Lasers - Aqua32
7Lasers - Orange29
7Miami Valley Express23
9Vikings Elite18
10Ohio Freeze13

Others receiving votes
Akron Sapphires (10), Stingrays (Cottrell) (8), Buckeye Heat (Gianas) (8), OFC Heat (6), ICE (Newsome) (5), Tri-County Hurricanes (1), Emeralds (1),
 
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what a joke
the hurricanes won the Ashland 16U ASA regional qualifier that included lasers orange and freeze -- and they get ONE vote!!
were the votes tabulated in chicago or is this just a good ole boys network?
 
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I agree that the Hurricanes should definitely be in the top 10.

The 16-U division is the strongest in Ohio for its age division.
 
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catsbats said:
what a joke
the hurricanes won the Ashland 16U ASA regional qualifier that included lasers orange and freeze -- and they get ONE vote!!
were the votes tabulated in chicago or is this just a good ole boys network?


It hard to get the votes if coaches havn't seen you play.

You did beat some good teams this weekend and do deserve some love. But many of these teams that are voting have never seen you play.
 
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I agree that the Hurricanes Gold should be on the list, but this team has really been flying under the radar as far as exposure in Ohio. Over on the Huddle, I asked for some additional information (the Hurricanes Gold page on the Hurricanes web site doesn't have either a schedule or results) and the following was posted:

"Hurricanes Gold was in the Burton NSA, won the Burton ASA, lost in championship in Germantown TN. Invitational, played in the Dynamite Classic in Columbia SC. Also went to the Rising Stars tournament in FL. in January. This weekend we are headed to NC. for the Carolina Cardinals Classic tournament, then to Owensboro KY. for nationals. Our coach was a Division I All-American at Mississippi State, 1997 State of Georgia Player of the Year, Nike H.S. Player of the Year. She also was invited twice to try out for the Olympic team. We are very lucky to have her and her brother in law who is her assistant and was a full scholorship division one college baseball player."

Impressive.
 
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I think you just have to take these polls for what they are - for fun. The previous week's poll my team (the Lady Lasers Orange) dropped and we had just played the best we had played all summer at the Gapss tournament playing up in 18&u. Nothing to get upset over. It's for entertainment and I'm glad that Ringor has put things together for everyone to see what the thoughts are of various coaches. Thanks Ringor!

Marie
 
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Before this weekend, I or anyone else for that matter, had heard of the Tri County Hurricanes-Gold. ?The teams in the Top 10 have been going at it for nearly 5 weeks straight, and we have all seen/heard them play numerous times. ?I know the Hurricanes schedule is not conducive to playing these teams on a regular basis, but one tourney cannot be used as a barometer, to catapault them into the top tier of teams in Ohio. ?I guess what I'm trying to say is....Appalachian St. didn't jump into the top 10 after beating Michigan, so it's probably not going to happen here.
The Hurricanes are a very good team, and worthy of there berth. ?Just a little more info would help.

Maybe if the Hurricanes got "Bigtrain" for PR, they would be higher in the polls. ;)
 
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Shayne:

Too funny and a little eerie, as I'd written exactly the same thing about PR and BigTrain in my last post but decided to delete it before posting.
 
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Funny thing is, we give the big fella more pub than he has himself. I must say, I am very impressed with his restraint on this board to stay incognito. I'm pretty sure he still lurks but never seen - that we know ::)

Anyway, I think his girls do a fine job of PR themselves when they take the field then the trophy.
 
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catsbats said:
what a joke
the hurricanes won the Ashland 16U ASA regional qualifier that included lasers orange and freeze -- and they get ONE vote!!
were the votes tabulated in chicago or is this just a good ole boys network?

I agree with everyone else. Those top teams have been battling it out for the last few weekends. It is no doubt they are top teams in the state, so if you want to be respected amongst them, you must come and play against them on a regular basis. One tournament win (congrats on that) will get you noticed, but beating these teams week in and week out will get you recognized.
 
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according to NSA list, here's some teams to watch from the ofc poll in a week or so

Lasers Aqua
Miami Valley Express
Vikings Elite
Ohio Freeze
Buckeye Heat 91
Stingrays--Cottrell
 
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Statman Ray
On any given week each and every team mentioned can rise and fall in the poll. I for one can tell you I look at it, BUT HAVE NOT NOR WILL I Vote for my team or any others. It was said by Marie "this poll is for amusement only". That is a great statement.
In my teams case we need a rope tied to us. We have been like a yo-yo!!!!! Up down up down at times I thought someone had performed walk the dog. For you that are to young that was a yo-yo trick where the yo-yo stayed down and would get yanked back to the top.
Hurricanes are a team we might have played last fall at U of Akron showcase outside. They have a very solid team if this was them. I can only suggest that Hurricanes look at scheduling the ASA National qualifers and exposure tourneys like the Classics, Massillon ASA States, Stingrays and Compuware. The Ashland tourney ended up being a national qualifier in the end, but was advertised as a eastern regionals until late. This also happen to a tourney in Cleveland area. I wish there would be a list in November of ALL OF THE ASA NATIONAL Qualifiers so we could assemble ALL of the top teams to compete for these convented invitations.

ASA take note Ohio softball is for real. At Compuware, Stingrays, Massillon, Pickerington and others teams from Michigan,Pa, Indiana. Ill. and Canada have come down to play. I'm happy to say that OHIO has dominated these tourney this season.
Not sure if 5 bids is enough for the talented teams from OHIO especially this season.

We will keep watching the list,just hope we dont go for the around the world move next!!!! HA HA!

Bill White, Manager
16U Valley Extreme Blue
 
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I agree with catsbats. To say the Hurricanes should be rated lower because they have chosen to get out and play more of a regional/national schedule vs playing the same "top tier Ohio teams" week in and week out is kind of hard to comprehend.

This reminds me of the disrespect and criticism given to BigTrain and his Slammers a year or two ago for taking a different path than the traditional "top tier programs. Now everyone sings their praises.

Hang in there Hurricanes. As in the case of the Slammers, sometimes the path least taken is the one that leads to the greatest rewards.
 
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Playing top tier competition week in and week out does need to be considered. I did not see the Hurricanes play this past weekend all but 1 inning. They beat some tought teams this past weekend. Because of that they have peaked my interest. However to throw them into the group of top tiered teams I'm not so sure. If they have played the rigorous schedule that these teams in Ohio have been playing then maybe they would be in the top ten. In order to be considered a big dog you need to play with the big dogs. JMO

Example: Magic- White- they are a good team however none of these coaches have seen them play so the coaches are not voting for them. :)
 
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BlueDevilDad

Thanks for the compliment. ? ;)

We are having a great summer - we just dont get too wrapped up in trying to impress coaches to vote for us in some meaningless poll. ?Now if they were giving away some big crystal ball (I think thats what the BCS winner gets) at the end of it all, we may be a little more concerned. ?We have been fortunate enough to play over 50 games this summer and over 30 of them have been against teams from other than Ohio (14 different states). ?In my opinion for whatever that may be worth, we have provided our team with a pretty good experience and some decent exposure.

We have played some of the teams listed in this poll and have been in events with some others and I think that we have had our share of success but again, we are more concerned with the overall development of our team and players rather than what we can do to impress voters.

Please dont misunderstand my ramblings - I am not saying that we belong among the "top tier". ?We have had a great summer and are content to continue to fly under the radar.

Dave Day
Magic - White
 
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I hope the folks at the Stingray and Compuware read these polls (probably not...). Obviously some good teams didn't make it into their fields.
 
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PurpleJack, you of all people should know better than to say that. As the person who selected the field for the Stingray Tournament for four-five years, I know how hard that is. I haven't done so for a couple of years, and I don't know anything about the Hurricanes, but it seems to me that they are a fairly new team, and since these tournament fields are selected in the fall, it is hard to include a team with a rather limited resume, no matter how good they turn out to be in the following season. We have always been very open in saying that we make mistakes every year. There are teams that get in, who six months later do not perform up to the level that they did the previous year. In the early incarnations of our tournament we took all teams. That led us to a nearly completely unmanageable 116-team tournament, and we decided at that point (the third year of the event), that from there on, we would have smaller fields. We have been fortunate that many great teams, from Ohio and the surrounding states, want to be in our tournament, and the only way to determine who gets in, is to look at what they have done in the past. EVERY TEAM gets a thorough and detailed evaluation before selection. And I can speak from years of experience that selecting the teams is a gut-wrenching process. You want to include everyone, but it's just not feasible. So, if they are a new team, what do you judge them on? If they have not typically played in tournaments that put them up against the known power teams, what do you compare them to? If a better way makes itself known, I?m sure we will do it.

Like I said, I know nothing about the Hurricanes, nor the selection process of the tournament for the past two years, but to make a statement like that, as if the tournament was purposely keeping them out, is disingenuous. Now, if a team who was not selected has a great year, I am sure they will receive every consideration, as always, next year. Unless a team has displayed some sort of action in our tournament in the past that deems them unsuitable for inclusion, the only criteria is competition. We have screwed that up since day one, and have admitted so since day one, however, I think all of us that have had that job have done a pretty good job over the years, despite all of our admitted mistakes.

Good luck to the Hurricanes and all other Ohio teams as the National tournament season is underway.
 
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Question:
Does anyone know what happened to Ohio Ice Newsome?
They were one of the top teams to watch this year and were ranked high on this coaches pole.
I heared that Newsome left the team with a couple of players and that the rest of team might disband.
 
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Before this gets blown way out of context.....I just didnt enjoy it like I use to so I did have an opportunity to take my daughter to Ron Pooles 18U Ice Team.As far as the rest of the team goes. Not sure at this point. It was a very strong team but I wasnt the one to take them to the next level. I just want to be a dad and watch my daughter play and it gives me a chance to see my boy play more also.

John Newsome

FanFan ?- email me some time
 
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