Perusing the polls:

High School: Coach Buggs' Long Beach Poly sits in the top spot. A while back, he was quite upfront about the love/grrrrr relationship that can exist between high school and AAU coaches.

Doubtless, high school players reap enormous benefits from playing AAU ball, especially at the elite level. In fact, says Carl Buggs, coach at Poly-Technic in Long Beach, California, “In order to have a good high school program, you almost have to have good AAU experience coming in, just because it’s so competitive. Seventy-five percent of my team plays.”

But there are drawbacks. With the increased importance of visibility during the summer, players are playing two to three times as many games in AUU as they are during a high school season.

“It’s way too much wear and tear on these kid’s bodies, and the program that suffers is the high school,” says Buggs. “If a kid is injured, they will play travel ball, because you have to sacrifice for your team. The more you win, the more you’ll be seen. High school is not as important. You’ve been seen, colleges know who you are. Those same injuries you had in travel ball, if the [high school] coach attempts to play you, then he’s being an evil guy. The high school has become secondary.”

The top six Junior College Division I teams are undefeated: 1) Jefferson College (MO) 2) Central Arizona 3) Gulf Coast (FL) 4) Midland (TX) 5) U of Arkansas Fort-Smith and 6) Walters State (TN). I've got to believe that Trinity Valley's (TX) pedigree (remember Bobbitt?) gets them to 7th with a 9-5 record.

Des Moines Area Community College sits in the #1 spot of the NJCAA Division II poll, and our friends up north at Monroe College (the '08 champs) rule the current D-III rankings.

NAIA Division II goes all middle-America with their top 5: Morningside (IA), Shawnee State (OH), Davenport (MI), Hastings (NE), Jamestown (ND).

Familiar names atop NAIA Division I: Undefeated Union (TN), Vanguard (CA) and Trevecca Nazarene (TN).

Of course, that will change with the next monthly poll (Jan 5th). Mid-December, the Lee (TN) Lady Flames were very un-neighboryly, knocking off Union, 86-72. See? Upsets abound! How big an upset?

Coming into the contest, the Lady Bulldogs had won 46 straight regular-season games and were 13-0. Over the years the Lady Flames had never beaten Union in Walker Arena and stood at just 1-18 in the series.

Division III:

Hope College (MI)
Illinois Wesleyan University
University of Rochester (NY)
Thomas More College (KY)
University of Wisconsin, Whitewater - (the only team with a loss)
University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire
Simpson College (IA)

Division II: 1) Northern Kentucky University 2) Washburn University (KS) 3) University of Alaska Anchorage 4) West Texas A&M University 5) California University of Pennsylvania

Division I: 1) Connecticut, 2) North Carolina 3) Texas A&M 4) Texas 5) Oklahoma. Odd observation of the moment: All the teams have a state as part their name.