First Look St. Louis Boys basketball Green Conference 10/20/2020

 One of the purposes of the St. Louis Suburban re-alignment is to provide competitive leagues for each school.  It is discouraging for schools to get student participation, year after year, when they are "doormats" in their league.  Matching teams for competitive levels provides a healthy environment and gives teams a measure of success.  Every two years, schools can opt to move "up" to a slightly more competitive league or move "down" to find a little more success.  Of course, a team like U City, who I favor in the Green Conference this year, could be a favorite in Yellow or Red too.  They will be a top-notch St. Louis area team no matter which conference they are in.  For teams like Riverview Gardens and Ritenour, the Green Conference gives them an opportunity to be slightly more successful against some good, but not great teams this coming season.

The second reason for bi-annual re-alignment, and maybe more important, is the opportunity for more diverse competitive experiences. It is a fact that, over the past 50 years, they has been "white flight" to the suburbs.  Predominantly white suburban schools had their own conferences with other closely located schools.  There was less and less competition between pre-dominantly black, and underfunded, school districts.  The busing program helped provide opportunities for more diverse student experiences but that program ended.  Re-alignment allows more interaction between these school districts, something that wouldn't happen if schools stayed "home" in their old conferences.  It also provides the opportunity to build new, healthy rivalries with teams you have not played in past years.  At least, that is my take on the re-alignment process (and I hope I have not mangled those objectives too much).  If you have a better explanation, please post it below (no sniping please).

Take time to read more about the St. Louis Suburban Public High School Athletic and Activities Association mission and goals, which are listed with the conference alignments at:

http://stlouissuburbanathleticconference.org/all_athletic.php

So, here are my rankings for teams in the Green Conference.  I have a table below with the players and percentage of scoring from last year that are returning.  Of course, the number of players returning does not always indicate a measure of success but, not having to totally reload and having a strong group of returnees with some seasoning, surely helps some.  The Green Conference has changed with U City and Ritenour moving in and Mehlville and McCluer South-Berkley moving out.  The top five teams should be very competitive but U City should dominate.

Green Conference Prognostication:

1. University City

2. McCluer North

3. Oakville

4. Hazelwood West

5. Hazelwood East

6. Riverview Gardens

7. Rockwood Summit

8. Ritenour