John Sears, Jeff Linder and myself talk a little boys and girls basketball. Thank you John for relating one of the questions to wrestling for me.

Here is a link to the IHSAA’s Web site, where you can find 2010 and 2011 football schedules for each team from 8-man up through Class 3A:
http://www.iahsaa.org/football/District%20Information/2010_FOOTBALL_SCHEDULES.txt
A couple notes:
Solon debuts as a 3A school with a game at DeWitt Central in Week 1. Solon has won 41 straight games and captured the last three 2A state titles.
Meskwaki Settlement School will play its first game on its home field with a Week Zero game against Central City.
Other fun Week 1 matchups:
Benton Community at Vinton-Shellsburg
Center Point-Urbana at Williamsburg
Dyersville Beckman at Western Dubuque
East …

Marion High School senior Maggie Murphy has accepted an offer from Charleston Southern University to play volleyball.
Charleston Southern is an NCAA Division I university and a member of the Big South Conference. Murphy helped lead Marion to the 3A state title in 2008 and 3A state semifinals in 2009. 
She holds the single season digs record and is second all-time in digs in Marion volleyball history.  She plans to study biology and chemistry.

DES MOINES — Have you ever seen a bunch of Lions line dance?
No, that’s not a punch line to a bad joke. It’s the tale of this Class 4A state tournament quarterfinal.
The Linn-Mar Lions lived and made Clinton die at the free-throw line in their 67-60 Class 4A state tournament quarterfinal victory last night at Wells Fargo Arena.
Linn-Mar (23-1) went 24 for 30 from the charity stripe, 19 of 22 in the second half, to finally subdue a scrappy bunch of River Kings and keep its impressive quarters record intact. …

DES MOINES — The Class 4A part of the boys’ state basketball tournament begins, and the Division I coaches start showing up.
Northern Iowa’s Ben Jacobson strolled around the Wells Fargo Arena floor following Wednesday afternoon’s session. Cedar Rapids Washington wing Josh Oglesby said coaches from Florida, West Virginia and Virginia were in town to watch him play.
Well, maybe not just Oglesby. The potential future college players in action Wednesday included Linn-Mar’s Marcus Paige and Matt Bohannon, Cedar Rapids Jefferson’s Jarrod Uthoff and Sioux City East’s Adam Woodbury.
Bohannon, Uthoff and Oglesby …

CEDAR RAPIDS — All the banging and crashing done against them. All the size they had to confront inside.
And the thing that doomed the Cedar Rapids Jefferson J-Hawks in their Class 4A state tournament quarterfinal was the 3-point shot. Go figure.
It was a trio of treys that were pivotal as Sioux City East rallied in the fourth quarter to end Jefferson’s season, 51-43, Wednesday afternoon at Wells Fargo Arena.
“We tried to stop their inside game the whole game,” said Jeff’s Jarrod Uthoff. “Then they hit those outside shots.”
Jefferson (18-5) led …

DES MOINES — The best player in Iowa history? The best team in Iowa history?
You make the call.
Make no mistake, Harrison Barnes is a great basketball player. You don’t get handed the Morgan Wootten Award as the nation’s top prep, as he did Wednesday, without being special.
And he was unstoppable at times in the second half as his team eased to a 57-44 Class 4A state tournament quarterfinal win over Cedar Rapids Washington at Wells Fargo Arena. But without trying to sound too homerish here, if Ames is the best …

CLASS 4A QUARTERFINALS
CEDAR RAPIDS WASHINGTON (14-8) vs. AMES (24-0), 1:45 p.m.: The Warriors will be heavy underdogs to an Ames squad that won last year’s 4A title and has notched 50 wins in a row. Harrison Barnes averages 26.9 ppg and 10.5 rpg and is a North Carolina recruit. Doug McDermott, a Northern Iowa recruit and son of Iowa State basketball coach Greg, averages 20.5 ppg and 7.8 rpg. The Little Cyclones aren’t so little, going 6-8, 6-8, 6-7 and 6-4 in the starting lineup … Washington’s big two-some all …

With minimal changes in classification (it appears Storm Lake will replace Oskaloosa as the 48th school), here is a preseason rankings list for Class 4A girls’ basketball in 2010-11. These are based somewhat on mathematics, somewhat on hunch.
1. Des Moines East (25-1)
2. Ankeny (21-3)
3. Linn-Mar (26-0)
4. Pleasant Valley (20-4)
5. Iowa City High (14-9)
6. Mason City (13-8)
7. Cedar Rapids Washington (14-9)
8. Waterloo West (14-10)
9. Waukee (24-2)
10. Iowa City West (16-7)
11. Lewis Central (18-5)
12. Ames (17-8)
13. Sioux City North (15-7)
14. Bettendorf (17-5)
15. Ottumwa (10-12)
16. West Des Moines Valley (12-11)
17. Sioux City East …

After adjusting for changes in classification, here is a preseason rankings list for Class 3A girls’ basketball in 2010-11. These are based somewhat on mathematics, somewhat on hunch.
1. Ballard (23-2)
2. DeWitt Central (19-4)
3. Mount Vernon (25-3)
4. MOC-Floyd Valley (21-2)
5. Davenport Assumption (22-3)
6. Pella (15-5)
7. Carroll (16-5)
8. Sergeant Bluff-Luton (18-5)
9. Harlan (21-3)
10. Dallas Center-Grimes (19-3)
11. Union (16-7)
12. Keokuk (14-9)
13. Glenwood (14-9)
14. Williamsburg (16-7)
15. Winterset (12-10)
16. Grinnell (12-10)
17. Charles City (16-7)
18. Sioux City Heelan (26-1)
19. Dubuque Wahlert (10-13)
20. Denison-Schleswig (13-9)