Being that these top 10s are at least partially subjective, in my mind they should be ranked in order of who could beat who in a five-game series. Sure anybody can beat anybody else in a one-shot deal(Villanova over Georgetown, 1985), but could they beat them in a series? I say no D2 team, including Iolani, could beat any top 10 D1 team in a five-game series, thus I’d be hard pressed to include a D2 team on a top 10 poll.

That said, here is what I posted on another local website with a couple of adjustments:

1) Kamehameha
2) Leilehua
3) Punahou
4) St Louis
5) Mililani
6) Kahuku
7) Campbell
8) Waianae
9) McKinley
10) Kapolei

…I originally had Campbell at #6 and Kahuku at #7, and McKinley at #8 and Waianae at #9, but I flip-flopped those pairs here. We’ll see what happens this week and next.

For me, after seeing both Kaiser and ‘Iolani play D-I teams, ‘Iolani was the much more competitive team. The Raiders led Leilehua 21-14 in the first half before losing. When the Cougars played Campbell, they trailed all the way and the offense could barely move the ball.

It’s not like I thought it out this far when I voted over the weekend. But if you want an explanation, that’s as close as it gets. It’ll always be more art than science. I’d be interested to see what your ballot would look like.

I get that since Kaiser doesn’t get to “prove” themselves against any more D1 opponents like Iolani does, it’ll be harder for them to crack the Star Advertiser top 10. But what I don’t get is if Iolani loses their D1 match ups, it won’t really count against them too much as far as making the top 10 goes — right? It’s ridiculous to have regular season games that only count if you win and not so much if you lose just because it’s D1 vs D2.

Both Kaiser and Iolani lost by a fair margin against their D1 opponents earlier this season, both smashed Kalani but the Cougars scored more and allowed fewer points than Iolani did, and so far only the Cougars have a quality win(vs Radford). Unless you’re basing this season’s top 10 lists on the past, why isn’t Kaiser the one ranked right next to/instead of Iolani?

“they” refers to “sabers.” Although it is a little confusing just dropping in campbell like that.

As for Konawaena and Kealakehe, that’ll be a fun matchup. Too bad they couldn’t play the past few years. Either side told me they were ready and willing, that the other team wouldn’t do it. The gate revenue can’t hurt. I like the picture fog rolling into Julian Yates Field during warmups … it would be nuts!

808Football, a lot of fans like you and me want a format that brings out the best teams. But the process of change is very … well … democratic. It comes down to this: every year in the past five or six, when a proposal to expand the state tourney (D-I) back to eight teams is up for vote, the ILH has voted against it. That, essentially, kills it since the OIA and ILH outnumber the rest of the leagues in any voting.

I’d love to see an at-large team among the eight. Would the gate revenue offset the travel costs of having an additional neighbor island team? Or would that eighth team (with an ILH team being the seventh) automatically be from the OIA. Not everyone from the OIA wants to see more OIA teams in any state tourney. The league already represents roughly half of all entries in every state-championship sport.

You have a point that the best six teams don’t take up the six spots in the Division I state tournament, but looking at past champions Kahuku x2 and Saint Louis, I feel like the best team in the state won it all each time.