That is until now.
I have compiled a complete list for every league that is made up primarily of Class 6A and Class 5A schools, which narrowed my list down to the following leagues: AV-CTL Division 1, AV-CTL Division 2, Centennial League, Eastern Kansas League, Greater Wichita Athletic League, Kansas City Atchison League, Sunflower League, and Western Athletic Conference.
For starters, here are the total records for the leagues in tournament games last week sorted by winning percentage (I have removed the games that featured two league teams playing each other):
RANK
|
LEAGUE
|
REC
|
WIN%
|
#1
|
Eastern Kansas League
|
20-4
|
83.3%
|
#2
|
AV-CTL Division 2
|
13-8
|
61.9%
|
#3
|
Greater Wichita Athletic League
|
15-10
|
60.0%
|
#4
|
Sunflower League
|
18-13
|
58.0%
|
#5
|
Centennial League
|
14-13
|
51.8%
|
#6
|
Kansas City Atchison League
|
10-11
|
47.6%
|
#7
|
AV-CTL Division 1
|
9-12
|
42.8%
|
#8
|
Western Athletic Conference
|
4-9
|
30.7%
|
You can draw whatever conclusions you like from that above chart and there is certainly things to take away from the overall win-loss percentage of the league's performance. But I believe if you peel back another layer and take a look at the difficulty of the competition that each league played, then you can find out even more about how these leagues stacked up against the competition.
If you follow my rankings, then you know that I have each team sorted into six tiers: Great, Good, Average, Below Average, and Bad. So if you take a look at how each league did against those tiers, then that provides even more telling evidence. So let's take a look:
LEAGUE
|
Great
|
Good
|
Avg
|
B. Avg
|
Bad
|
AV-CTL Division 1
|
0-3
|
1-3
|
6-3
|
1-1
|
1-2
|
AV-CTL Division 2
|
0-0
|
0-6
|
4-1
|
5-0
|
4-1
|
Centennial League
|
1-8
|
4-4
|
4-1
|
4-0
|
1-0
|
Eastern Kansas League
|
4-2
|
5-3
|
3-0
|
6-0
|
2-0
|
Greater Wichita Athletic League
|
2-3
|
3-3
|
3-2
|
4-1
|
3-1
|
Kansas City Atchison League
|
0-2
|
0-2
|
1-3
|
6-4
|
3-0
|
Sunflower League
|
0-5
|
4-3
|
6-4
|
7-1
|
1-0
|
Western Athletic Conference
|
0-2
|
0-2
|
1-3
|
3-2
|
0-0
|
What's the first thing that pops off the page to you? It should be that the Eastern Kansas League picked up four victories against "Great" teams, the highest distinction you can earn, and had a winning record of 9-5 against "Great" and "Good" teams, which is basically state-level competition. Not only did the league do that, but it cleaned up against inferior competition and held a perfect 11-0 record against "Average", "Below Average", and "Bad" teams.
Above you may have noticed that AV-CTL Division 2 had the second-best winning percentage of any league on that list. While that is still impressive, here you can see that the league's accomplishments don't stack up to some of the others as all 13 wins came against "Average" or worse competition. Not to mention the league went 0-6 against "Good" teams.
I was a little surprised that the Sunflower League, which holds a sterling reputation for pumping out quality basketball, wasn't a little better. The league did pick up four wins against "Good" teams, but took five losses to teams rated "Average" or below and 13 of the league's 17 wins came against "Average" or worse competition.
If you're looking for other impressive performances, I would point out the Greater Wichita Athletic League and its five victories against "Great" and "Good" opponents, as well as the Centennial League coming away with a "Great" victory and four "Good" ones.
Another way of looking at how leagues stacked up was to look at how the "Great" and "Good" teams from the league did in their mid-season tournaments. Here are the teams that qualified from each league and brief summary of how they did.
AV-CTL DIVISION 1
|
Total
|
Great
|
Good
|
Avg
|
B. Avg
|
Bad
|
Derby
|
1-2
|
0-1
|
1-1
| |||
Maize
|
1-2
|
0-2
|
1-0
| |||
Salina Central
|
3-0
|
1-0
|
2-0
| |||
Salina South
|
2-1
|
0-1
|
1-0
|
1-0
| ||
TOTALS
|
7-5
|
0-2
|
1-2
|
5-1
|
0-0
|
1-0
|
WINNING PERCENTAGES
|
58%
|
0%
|
33%
|
83%
|
0%
|
100%
|
AV-CTL DIVISION 2
|
Total
|
Great
|
Good
|
Avg
|
B. Avg
|
Bad
|
Andover Central
|
2-1
|
0-1
|
1-0
|
1-0
| ||
Goddard Eisenhower
|
3-0
|
2-0
|
1-0
| |||
TOTALS
|
5-1
|
0-1
|
2-0
|
2-0
|
1-0
| |
WINNING PERCENTAGES
|
83%
|
0%
|
0%
|
100%
|
100%
|
100%
|
CENTENNIAL LEAGUE
|
Total
|
Great
|
Good
|
Avg
|
B. Avg
|
Bad
|
Manhattan
|
2-1
|
1-1
|
1-0
| |||
Topeka Highland Park
|
2-1
|
0-1
|
1-0
|
1-0
| ||
Topeka Seaman
|
2-1
|
0-1
|
1-0
|
1-0
| ||
TOTALS
|
6-3
|
1-3
|
1-0
|
2-0
|
1-0
|
1-0
|
WINNING PERCENTAGES
|
67%
|
25%
|
100%
|
100%
|
100%
|
100%
|
EASTERN KANSAS LEAGUE
|
Total
|
Great
|
Good
|
Avg
|
B. Avg
|
Bad
|
Bishop Miege
|
3-0
|
1-0
|
1-0
|
1-0
| ||
Blue Valley
|
3-0
|
1-0
|
1-0
|
1-0
| ||
Blue Valley North
|
3-0
|
1-0
|
1-0
|
1-0
| ||
Blue Valley Northwest
|
3-0
|
1-0
|
1-0
|
1-0
| ||
Blue Valley West
|
2-1
|
2-1
| ||||
St. Thomas Aquinas
|
2-1
|
1-1
|
1-0
| |||
TOTALS
|
16-2
|
4-0
|
5-2
|
3-0
|
4-0
|
0-0
|
WINNING PERCENTAGES
|
89%
|
100%
|
71%
|
100%
|
100%
|
0%
|
GREATER WICHITA LEAGUE
|
Total
|
Great
|
Good
|
Avg
|
B. Avg
|
Bad
|
Bishop Carroll
|
2-1
|
0-1
|
1-0
|
1-0
| ||
Wichita East
|
2-0
|
1-0
|
1-0
| |||
Wichita Heights
|
2-0
|
1-0
|
1-0
| |||
Wichita Southeast
|
3-0
|
1-0
|
1-0
|
1-0
| ||
TOTALS
|
9-1
|
2-1
|
3-0
|
2-0
|
2-0
|
0-0
|
WINNING PERCENTAGES
|
90%
|
67%
|
100%
|
100%
|
100%
|
0%
|
SUNFLOWER LEAGUE
|
Total
|
Great
|
Good
|
Avg
|
B. Avg
|
Bad
|
Lawrence
|
3-0
|
1-0
|
2-0
| |||
Lawrence Free State
|
2-1
|
0-1
|
2-0
| |||
Olathe East
|
3-0
|
2-0
|
1-0
| |||
Olathe North
|
2-0
|
1-0
|
1-0
| |||
Olathe South
|
1-2
|
0-1
|
0-1
|
1-0
| ||
Shawnee Mission East
|
1-2
|
0-1
|
0-1
|
1-0
| ||
Shawnee Mission Northwest
|
1-2
|
0-1
|
1-1
| |||
Shawnee Mission South
|
2-0
|
1-0
|
1-0
| |||
Shawnee Mission West
|
1-2
|
0-1
|
0-1
|
1-0
| ||
TOTALS
|
16-9
|
0-3
|
4-3
|
6-2
|
6-1
|
0-0
|
WINNING PERCENTAGES
|
64%
|
0%
|
57%
|
75%
|
86%
|
0%
|
As you're sure to notice, the Sunflower League by far has the most "Great" and "Good" teams labeled by me this season. I believe they deserve it, as I think that league is certainly one of the most competitive leagues in the state year-in and year-out. But the numbers don't lie. The Sunflower League disappointed in mid-season tournament, as its top teams went 4-6 against what I consider to be state-caliber competition.
What I took away from the above charts was just how good the Eastern Kansas League was (i.e. EXTREMELY GOOD) and how well the Greater Wichita Athletic League top teams did against the "Great" and "Good" teams (5-1). Once again, the Ark Valley leagues came away without a single victory against state-caliber competition, while the Centennial League came away with a respectable 2-3 record against the same competition.
Presented with the above evidence, I don't know how anyone can say anything other than the Eastern Kansas League was the most impressive basketball league in Kansas during the week of mid-season tournaments. Does that mean that it has a case for the best league in the state? Absolutely. But that doesn't mean that I'm ready to knock the Sunflower League off its perch as the best basketball league in the state. While I definitely will agree that the Eastern Kansas League was significantly better as a whole in their mid-season tournaments, I still believe the quality at the top and the quality of depth of the Sunflower League is what sets it apart from every other league in the state.
If you ask me right now to rank the leagues in order of how strong I perceive them to be based on the quality of the top teams and the depth in the leagues, here's what I'm going with for this season:
1) Sunflower League
2) Eastern Kansas League
3) Greater Wichita Athletic League
4) Centennial League
5) AV-CTL Division 1
6) AV-CTL Division 2
7) Western Athletic Conference
8) Kansas City Atchison League
What about you? Either leave me a comment or be sure to tweet back at me at @teldridge24.
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