It's interesting to see how those who vote in the coaches/media rankings will reward a team for being on a hot streak, and how they will punish teams for losing games that they probably shouldn't have lost.

Barring a major collapse before the regional tournament, Thunder Basin will probably stay as the unanimous #1 4A boys team until the post-season starts. #2 Cheyenne Central has given the Bolts all they handle twice, and have come up short both times. While things appear to have settled in the East, the West is becoming more interesting. #3 Kelly Walsh has some unfinished business at home with unranked Natrona on Thursday. Both teams can't look ahead to next week, when #4 Rock Springs and #5 Green River visit. GR is ranked for the first time this season, after beating RS last week, but the win wasn't enough for the Wolves to climb over the Tigers in the rankings.

This is the biggest weekend of the season for 3A boys teams, as the top 5 teams will mix it up with each other. Both #1 Worland and #2 Lander visit #3 Star Valley on Friday and Saturday respectively. The Tigers have been moving up after establishing themselves as the team to beat in the East. They had a less than pleasant start to season, but ever since spring break ended, they've been on a hot streak, plus they were able to hang with Rock Springs and Green River from 4A. Elsewhere, another game of interest in 3A boys, is on Saturday, when #5 Torrington visits #4 Buffalo.

Losing in overtime has some benefits, and 4A Girls could be an example. #2 Thunder Basin beat #1 Cheyenne Central last week, but since it was an overtime contest (the first game wasn't), not enough voters were convinced about putting the Lady Bolts ahead of the Lady Indians. The other benefit Central gets with the OT loss, is that they get a point in the standings, and that keep them in the lead for the #1 seed, for the East Regional Tournament. As for the rest of the rankings, Rock Springs holds steady at #3, while Laramie is back in at #4 after their impressive win last weekend at Campbell County. It's been quite sometime since the Lady Camels were not ranked in the top 5. Kelly Walsh is ahead of them this week.

Based on results, it's looking more and more like 3A Girls is Cody, and then everyone else. The defending champs are the unanimous #1 ranked team, although unranked Powell gave them a run for their money in OT, earlier this week. Worland moves back up to #2, and Buffalo has impressed voters to be placed at #3. Douglas took a tumble down to #4, but managed to recover some with a tie at Buffalo earlier this week. Star Valley drops 1 spot to #5, and hosts Worland on Friday.

Disclaimer: The rankings have no official say on post-season positioning, and are only to be used as a measuring stick on the regular season. Please don't read too much into the rankings.

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