Monday, Dec. 10, 2012: Christ the King opens season at No. 1 in state

   Leading off today: Christ the King is starting the season at No. 1 in Class AA in the first boys basketball rankings of the season from the New York State Sportswriters Association.

   The Royals opened last week with a 71-70 victory against Cardinal Hayes.

   Others holding top sports in their respective classes are Springfield Gardens (Class A), Collegiate (B), Buffalo Middle College (C) and Argyle (D).

   The complete season-opening rankings can be found here.

   Now that's a schedule: Albany Academy has rejoined Section 2 in boys basketball after a year of going the AIS route in the postseason, though it might me tough to tell based on the schedule.

   The Cadets have already played Kingston and have games against Rochester Bishop Kearney, Long Island Lutheran, Syracuse Henninger, Brooklyn Nazareth and Utica Notre Dame this month alone. After the holidays, opponents include the likes of Syracuse Bishop Ludden, Burke Catholic from Goshen, Manhasset St. Mary's and a rematch with LuHi.

   Albany Academy will compete in Class AA in sectionals.

   Reference material: We've updated our lists of 2,000-point career scorers in boys and girls basketball and will be turning our attention this week to fleshing out the lists of top single-game performances. Stay turned.

TOURNEY BRACKETS NYSPHSAA football Long Island football NYSPHSAA boys soccer NYSPHSAA girls soccer NYSPHSAA field hockey Past state tournaments

   Mixed competition note of the week: It's pretty alarming when a school of any size cannot field a varsity basketball team, though that's been all too common the past couple of years in Section 5. There's a bit of a twist to it this year though.

   Avoca did not have enough players for a girls team this winter and could not work out an agreement with a neighboring district to absorb its upperclassmen onto the roster. So the Tigers have placed seniors Allison Cornish, a 5-foot-4 guard, and Danielle Seratt, a 5-10 forward, on the boys roster. Both are seniors.

   Extra points: Chad Andrews' "The View From Centercourt" blog already is a must-read for boys basketball fans in Western New York (and Section 5, for that matter). There are only three or four non-traditional (i.e., newspaper-operated) site that I regularly visit, but his is one of them.

   Over the weekend, though, he added tweeting to his arsenal. If you're own Twitter, you'd be wise to star following him at @centercourt42.