03/05/2022
BY JACK BULLOCK - Let's take a brief look back at my ABV Preseason Rankings that appeared on my website the week of November 22, 2022.

Although I was still knee deep in the football season with Nashville advancing to the 2A championship game and a trip to DeKalb on the horizon, I managed to put together what I believed were the top teams in 1A and 2A and also the ones who would excel in the postseason.

The rest of the previews came out about a week later after returning from the state football finals.

Meaning that the Top Dawgs in the southern Illinois pound will rise up and make a run to the Carbondale Super-Sectional and on to Champaign.

I've been successful in the past doing this although I have missed a few over the years.

My calculations are based on many variables including experience returning, strength of schedule, coaching and being healthy.

My during the season rankings have always been about “Who's Hot and Who's Not.”

It is about rewarding the teams who show improvement and perhaps a bit of a wake up call to the ones who are going through lulls in the season.

Nevertheless it's how ABV rolls.

You should notice some familiar names at the top of the list in each.

And 2A would have been a different story in the postseason if one side of the four sectionals wasn't so strong.

The 1A was only difficult because the IHSA winter assignments hadn't been posted when the preseason rankings were released.

The main one missing in 1A was Tuscola.

They ended up coming South and they appeared regularly in the weekly rankings since January.

Tuscola, Trico, Carlyle and Watseka were the boy's basketball teams that dropped from 2A to 1A in the most recent IHSA Enrollments.

When I explain to people how I come up with the rankings and why I've managed to pick winners of super-sectionals over the years, it sounds like this.

There are two reasons.

Reason #1 is that I know the sport. I've followed it, covered it, watched it, read about it and studied it for many years. I know who are the good programs and which ones take care of the business at hand to keep the programs going strong for years. Exceptional coaching throughout the program from the grade schools on up into high school along with good kids with talent to work with.

Reason #2 might be the most important. I don't care who wins. I don't, at anytime. I don't root for teams. I could care less. To me they are all my teams and all my kids.

I'm originally from Woodlawn but I don't root for the Cardinals.

I've had ties to many other communities over the years. I don't root for them, either.

I like seeing my ABV area teams do well at state but I'm not going to have a breakdown should one of them fail.

I've seen journalists over the years that have gotten attached to their teams and their kids and they get down right depressed over a loss.

I don't feel that way in the least. At least that has been my philosophy for many years.

You can't do what I do and play favorites. I'm friends with many people in the coaching fraternity but I'm not going to rank a team higher than they belong just because I know them.

You get what you deserve in the ABV world. And not a bit more.

So here is a quick look of what I wrote in November. Check it out.