Iowa high school boys' basketball rankings: Top-ranked teams remain the same in 2nd IHSAA poll

Top-ranked teams remain the same in 2nd IHSAA boys’ basketball poll

Waukee Northwest, Cedar Rapids Xavier, Central Lyon and Grand View Christian stay atop their respective classes

Jan. 9, 2023 3:00 pm

Xavier Saints forward Josef Lemker (12) and Xavier Saints guard Aidan Yamilkoski (23) reach up to block Libery Lightning forward Gage Kampman (11) as he shoots the ball in the third quarter of the game at Xavier High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Tuesday, January 3, 2023. (Savannah Blake/The Gazette)

CEDAR RAPIDS — The second official Iowa High School Athletic Association boys’ basketball rankings look a lot like the first.

At least at the top.

Your No. 1 teams are exactly the same as they were in the first poll: Waukee Northwest in Class 4A, Cedar Rapids Xavier in Class 3A, Central Lyon in Class 2A and Grand View Christian in 1A.

Xavier is off to the school’s best start at 9-0, coming off a thrilling victory this past Friday night at Iowa City West, in which Aidan Yamilkoski hit a game-winning shot at the buzzer. The Saints have games this week at Dubuque Wahlert and at home against Iowa City High, which scored with 10 seconds left to beat West in another thriller Sunday afternoon at Coralville’s Xtream Arena.

No. 6 Williamsburg (6-1) is the area’s other representative in the 3A poll. The Raiders are coming off a buzzer-beating win of their own this past Friday night over Mount Vernon.

Williamsburg’s lone loss was to Xavier in the season opener, 66-50.

The top four in 4A remain the same in Northwest (10-0), Cedar Rapids Kennedy (8-0), Waukee (9-1) and Ankeny Centennial (7-2). Kennedy is beating opponents by an average of 37.5 points per game.

Northwest beat Waukee by two in early December, while Centennial’s two losses are to Waukee and Northwest. The Mississippi Valley Conference sees two other top-10 teams in the class in No. 8 Dubuque Senior (9-0) and No. 10 Waterloo West (8-1).

The Wahawks recently had a loss to Waterloo East reversed because East used an ineligible player in the game.

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Grand View Christian (9-0) and North Linn (10-0) met in last year’s 1A state championship game and remain a strong 1-2 in the latest rankings. GVC has beaten three 4A schools in Des Moines East, Des Moines North and Des Moines Roosevelt.

North Linn has surpassed the 100-point mark three times this season and has hit 95 in another game. The Lynx have games scheduled in late January and early February against sixth-ranked Dunkerton (10-0) and No. 10 Bellevue Marquette (11-0).

North Linn’s closest game was a two-point win over Tri-Rivers Conference mate Alburnett, and the Pirates enter the poll this week at seventh in Class 2A. Alburnett (9-1) moved up a class this season.

Central Lyon (7-0), Aplington-Parkersburg (9-0) and Roland-Story remained at the top three positions in the class, with MFL MarMac (10-0) staying at No. 10.

The IHSAA is sponsoring rankings for the first time this season. Below are this week’s entire poll, with another coming next week.

Schools are listed with their season record and previous ranking in parentheses.