The Carmel girls’ basketball program sits in a unique position. On one side are the powerful teams in Carmel’s own Metropolitan Conference. On the other side are the powerful teams in Carmel’s own Hamilton County backyard.

There are two girls’ polls produced by coaches. One is the Indiana Coaches  of Girls Sports Association and the other is the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association.

The difference? I don’t know. Why two polls? I don’t know.

One thing for certain, one thing agreed on by both polls is the No. 1 team in the state in Class 4A. That’s South Bend Washington. That’s a no-brainer.

Last year Washington lost its first game of the season, falling to Fort Wayne South. Since that time, the Panthers haven’t been beaten. They won 28 games last season, including the state championship. They’re off to a 5-0 start this season.

There have been two close calls. Washington got past Fort Wayne South by eight points in its season opener and then last time out last week the Panthers won by seven over Fort Wayne Luers.

South Bend Washington plays a tough schedule. The Panthers meet lots of good teams in the northern part of the state. Also, they’ll play two games against teams from Ohio and they’ll also play in the Lexington Catholic in Kentucky and in the Chicagoland Classic.

But, back to Carmel.

Let’s begin with the ICGSA poll where the Lady Greyhounds are ranked No. 7. Teams above Carmel in this poll are Washington as No. 1, No. 2 Ben Davis, No. 3 Lawrence North, No. 4 North Central, No. 5 Bloomington South and No. 6 Hamilton Southeastern.

Ben Davis, Lawrence North and North Central all play with Carmel in the MIC. Also in the MIC is Terre Haute South, which currently is tied with Carmel for the No. 7 position. Southeastern, of course, is here in Hamilton County and so is No. 9 Fishers.

Carmel, which lost to Hamilton Southeastern 54-50 last Saturday, this week in a Friday night headliner will play at Fishers.

The IBCA rankings have things a little different. South Bend Washington is No. 1, followed in the top 10 by No. 2 Ben Davis, No. 3 Heritage Christian (another Carmel foe), No. 4 Lawrence North, No. 5 Hamilton Southeastern, No. 6 Wawasee, No. 7 North Central, No. 8 Carmel, No. 9 Columbus East and No. 10 Bloomington South. Fishers is ranked No. 12.

If playing the best prepares a team for postseason competition, Carmel should be ready by sectional time, where Southeastern and Fishers will be waiting.

The sectional still is a couple of months away, but Fishers could be the team which will carry the tag as favorite entering the postseason.

If, of course, Fishers defeats Carmel this Friday. Fishers already has defeated Hamilton Southeastern and Hamilton Southeastern has beaten Carmel. If, Carmel defeats Fishers, what then can be taken from the early season wars here in Hamilton County?

A wide-open sectional? That’s the way, if you recall, it was last year.

During the regular season in Fishers’ first season, the Tigers lost to Southeastern, Carmel, Noblesville and Westfield and then shocked lots of folks by beating Carmel and Noblesville in the first two rounds of the sectional before losing to Hamilton Southeastern in the title game.

The new kid on the block more than held its own last year and now, well, who knows? We could know a little more come Friday when the Carmel-Fishers game has ended.

But, don’t count on it.