Maryknoll (19-2) marched through ILH country last week and ran roughshod with wins over ‘Iolani and Sacred Hearts to retain the No. 1 ranking in the Star-Advertiser Girls Basketball Top 10 released Monday.
The Spartans are 5-0 in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu, where six of this week’s Top 10 reside. Maryknoll collected all 12 first-place votes.
Maryknoll is also 13-2 against Top 10 and Top-10 level teams. The only losses on the Spartans’ ledger were to Southridge (Ore.) and Post Falls (Idaho).
The rest of the poll in positions two through seven are identical to last week. However, two new teams entered the Top 10 on Monday: Mililani at No. 8 and Mid-Pacific at No. 10. Mililani was 3-7 in preseason in the midst of a coaching change, but has since scorched the OIA West with a 9-0 mark. That includes a 51-40 win over Campbell, which lost two games last week and is no longer in the poll.
Mid-Pacific, which also had a coaching change in preseason, returned to the Top 10 despite a loss to No. 2 Kamehameha.
Hawaii Baptist remained in the poll, rising one spot higher to No. 9. Unbeaten St. Francis (18-0) and HBA (18-5) are the only Division II teams in the Top 10.
Sacred Hearts (10-9) dropped out of the poll following losses to Punahou and Maryknoll. The Lancers had been in the Top 10 in each of the first five polls this season.
Also receiving votes: Sacred Hearts 12, Kalani 9, Kamehameha-Hawaii 4, Hilo 3, Moanalua 1.
Honolulu Star-Advertiser Top 10
| GIRLS VOLLEYBALL | ||
|---|---|---|
| Updated: 10/23 | ||
| RANK | TEAM | VOTES |
| 1. | Kamehameha (10) | 100 |
| 2. | Punahou | 89 |
| 3. | KS-Hawaii | 80 |
| 4. | Moanalua | 67 |
| 5. | 'Iolani | 60 |
| 6. | Baldwin | 46 |
| 7. | Mililani | 34 |
| 8. | Mid-Pacific | 27 |
| 9. | Damien | 20 |
| 10. | University | 14 |
Punahou is so bad. I believe they are 1-6 now, maybe worse. The last time Punahou had only 1 win this late in the season, Moses was parting the Red Sea.
Coaching is just atrocious. Parents are working to get Kuehu and her staff removed after the season. I don’t know if that’s the right move, but history shows that parents at this school often get what they want.
Their offense is very plain and easy to scout. The wrong personnel is often in the game. Many teams play Punahou zone since Tama is a matchup issue. But their best shooter Heaven sits on the bench vs zones.
They have no flow to their offense and often take highly contested and low percentage shots. The coaches cannot manufacture easy buckets.
Defensively they run simple sets and there is no variety to dictate tempo or create disadvantages for their opponents.
The staff might be the worse in the state. Kuehu yells a low but nothing very high level and isn’t detail orientated. There is minimal instruction that goes on during practice and games. The video guy is worse. He yells and screams but the kids don’t listen. Kyle Pape’s job is to hang out on the bench and cruise. The dude barely says anything. Sometimes he looks asleep. And no idea who the other girl is.
I get that this is probably the best staff you will get due to the dysfunction for the Punahou program over the past 5 years. It’s Kurt very bad now.
Maybe bring back V!