CELINA-The popular internet site Coach T, which concentrates on Tennessee high school sports, has the Clay County boys basketball team  ranked high in the state in two interesting categories. 

The Dawgs are ninth overall in the Class A “strength+success” ratings on Coach T, with Friendship Christian, whom CCHS has beaten twice this season, fourth in the rankings. The Dawgs are ranked seventh in this week’s Associated Press statewide poll, ahead of FCS (see story on website front page). 

The strength+success rankings, the website says, “combines the opponent win percentage…….with the team’s own win percentage. Teams that perform better against opponents that perform better will rank higher.” The Coach T rankings and statewide poll agree that Humboldt is number one in Class A. 

More interestingly, though, are the Coach T rankings for best scoring defense, which shows Clay County seventh in the state in all classifications, giving up an average of an even 46 points per game. Culleoka, according to Coach T, leads the state, giving up a meager 36.7 points per game. Friendship ranks two slots behind Clay in the defensive stats, giving up only 46.6 points per game. 

Humboldt, the rankings show, leads the state in scoring (in all classifications) with a very impressive 86 points per game. Livingston Academy, ranked second in Class AA on Coach T, ranks 10th in the state in scoring at 73.4 points per game, and has the ninth-toughest schedule in Class AA. District 7-A Jackson County has the seventh-toughest schedule in the state in Class A, the rankings show, with their opponents winning 57.7 percent of their games.  There were 109 teams included in Class A by Coach T.   

Girls rankings on Coach T

In girls statistics, the Clarkrange and Jackson County girls were first and second statewide in the strength ratings, with the Clay County Lady Bulldogs also very high at 14th of 109 Class A teams.  Clarkrange entered the week with the best record of any girls team in the state at 24-0. There were three other unbeaten teams across Tennessee, but the Lady Buffaloes had more wins.  

In the Class A toughest-schedule category, four District 7-A teams were in the top 10, and three were in the top five.  Jackson County was second, Monterey was third, Red Boiling fourth and Pickett County ninth. All four of those teams opponents’ win percentage ranged from 59.4 percent (Pickett) to 66.5 (Jackson).