MIAA Releases First Installment Of State Tournament Power Rankings

The Lower Cape’s high school basketball and hockey teams learned where they stack up against the competition as the winter season nears the halfway point. 

 The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association on Friday released the first installment of its basketball and hockey state tournament power rankings that are used to determine state tournament seedings.

The rankings feature a rating system that combines teams’ average margin of victory (capped at plus or minus 10 points/goals for each game) with the average of their opponents’ ratings.

Teams ranked 32 or better automatically qualify for the hockey state tournaments, while basketball teams ranked 33 and below qualify for a play-in game if they hold a .500 record or better.

Fresh off a state runner-up finish in last year’s Division 3 state tournament, the Nauset boys hockey team is the highest-ranked team among Lower Cape programs after earning the top spot in the initial Division 3 power rankings. 

The Warriors (6-0-1) came in ahead of Medfield and Scituate atop the Division 3 rankings, while Marblehead holds the fourth spot after skating to a 1-0 victory over Nauset in last year’s Division 3 final. 

In Division 4, the Dennis-Yarmouth/Cape Cod Tech/Cape Cod Academy boys squad (3-3-0) is ranked 18th, and the Monomoy/Mashpee co-op squad (5-3-0) is ranked 22nd. 

The Nauset/Monomoy girls hockey team (4-3-1) was ranked seventh in the first Division 2 rankings. The Warriors co-op team already has a signature outcome on its resume after skating to a 1-1 Jan. 4 tie against Notre Dame Academy Hingham, the top-ranked team in the Division 1 rankings. 

On the hardwood, the Nauset boys (2-4) were ranked No. 44 in the first Division 2 boys basketball power rankings. Monomoy (0-6) was ranked No. 33 in Division 4, while Cape Cod Tech (6-3) was No. 54 in Division 5. 

The Nauset girls (1-4) were No. 65 in the Division 2 girls basketball rankings, Monomoy (1-4) was No. 40 in Division 4, and Cape Tech (2-5) was No. 28 in Division 5. 

 The power rankings are released every Tuesday and Friday. Visit miaa.net for more information about the power rankings system and to view Tuesday’s rankings, which were released after The Chronicle’s deadline.