The initial Gazette/Iowa Prep Sports boys' basketball rankings

It has got to get easier as we go along, right?As you may or may not know, The Gazette is not a The Associated Press newspaper any more. It puts us sports guys in kind of a bind because we can't vote in college football and basketball polls or state football and basketball polls.Jeff Linder, K.J. Pilcher, Jeremiah Davis and myself put together our own rankings each week during the high-school football season. Hope you enjoyed them, and we plan on including more voters next season.The Iowa Girls' High School Athletic Union takes care of all girls' basketball rankings during the season, but boys' rankings? Well, that has fallen on yours truly this winter.I took a week's worth of games into consideration before attempting this journey. It's tough enough coming up with a preseason poll.Iowa City West is the natural No. 1 in Class 4A. The Trojans have won back-to-back state championships and are 2-0 this season, bringing their overall win streak to 54, top 10 all-time and tied with Ames for longest ever in the big-school class.Palmer won 103 games from 1986 to 1989, by the way. West has a way to go to top that.Harlan, which lost to Waverly-Shell Rock in last season's title game, is my initial No. 1 in Class 3A. Cedar Rapids Xavier, which has moved down from 4A and toppled W-SR last weekend, is ranked second.In Class 2A, Western Christian is No. 1, with Carroll Kuemper (the 2A football winner) second. When in doubt, it's never difficult to put a traditional power like WC on top.Newell-Fonda is No. 1 in Class 1A, followed by LeMars Gehlen and West Lyon. Keota debuts at No. 5.We'll bring you these rankings each and every Monday afternoon. Please, please, please contact me with any and all information on teams you would like to share, particularly in the smaller classes.So without further delay, here you go - The Gazette's first boys' basketball rankings:

CLASS 4A 1. Iowa City West (2-0) 2. Bettendorf (2-0) 3. Dubuque Senior (1-0) 4. North Scott (3-0) 5. Sioux City North (3-0) 6. Waukee (2-0) 7. Ankeny Centennial (2-0) 8. Urbandale (2-0) 9. Pleasant Valley (2-0) 10. Des Moines Hoover (1-1)

CLASS 3A 1. Harlan (1-0) 2. Cedar Rapids Xavier (2-0) 3. Pella (2-0) 4. Sergeant Bluff-Luton (2-1) 5. Clear Lake (2-0) 6. Solon (2-0) 7. Dubuque Wahlert (1-1) 8. Waverly-Shell Rock (1-1) 9. Sioux City Heelan (1-0) 10. Denison-Schleswig (3-0)

CLASS 2A 1. Western Christian (1-0) 2. Carroll Kuemper (1-0) 3. Rock Valley (2-0) 4. Fort Dodge St. Edmond (1-0) 5. East Sac County (1-0) 6. Cascade (2-0) 7. Sioux Center (1-1) 8. New Hampton (1-0) 9. West Fork (1-0) 10. MFL/Mar-Mac (2-0)

CLASS 1A 1. Newell-Fonda (2-0) 2. LeMars Gehlen (3-0) 3. West Lyon (2-0) 4. Dunkerton (2-0) 5. Easton Valley (1-0) 6. Keota (1-0) 7. Ankeny Christian (1-0) 8. West Monona (3-0) 9. Belmond-Klemme (3-0) 10. Danville (1-0)