New State Boys BB Divisional Rankings

Salesian of Richmond won the CIF Division IV state title last year but will have to win the NorCal open division crown this season if it wants another state championship appearance. Photo: Ronnie Flores.

Hart gains honor no team wants as state’s first major upset victim of the postseason. Most significant result from Tuesday sees La Verne Lutheran top Windward. Highest-rising newcomer is Westlake in Division II.

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By Mark Tennis
Contributing: Ronnie Flores, Paul Muyskens

It wasn’t that long ago when Hart of Newhall was in the overall state top 20, but that was before the Indians lost to West Ranch of Valencia in a league game and now their season is over after a second-round loss to West of Torrance in the CIF Southern Section Division III-AAA playoffs.

Hart was dropped from No. 6 in last week’s Division III state rankings and was replaced by Leuzinger of Lawndale, which has a 2-1 record in games against West Torrance.

The No. 1 teams in the state by division, meanwhile, continue to be Long Beach Poly (D1), Archbishop Mitty (D2), Bishop O’Dowd (D3), Bishop Montgomery (D4) and Village Christian (D5).

All teams have been ranked according to their CIF divisions, but some will obviously be pulled up into the new CIF Open Division for the Northern California and Southern California regional playoffs. We have indicated which teams in which divisions are eligible for the Open Division so readers can then visualize which non-Open Division teams may end up battling it out for the various CIF divisional state titles.

Teams in some sections also can petition the CIF to be considered for the open division. This likely isn’t going to happen, though, for any team that is outside top 10 overall in the state.

(After results of Saturday, Feb. 16 with some scores from early this week indicated)

DIVISION I
1. (1) Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) 25-2
2. (2) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 27-1
3. (3) Sheldon (Sacramento) 21-5
4. (4) Etiwanda 23-3
5. (5) Centennial (Corona) 26-2
6. (6) Bullard (Fresno) 24-2
7. (7) Loyola (Los Angeles) 21-6
8. (8) El Camino Real (Woodland Hills) 26-2
8. (9) Westchester (Los Angeles) 25-6
10. (10) De La Salle (Concord) 23-3
11. (12) Mission Viejo 25-3
12. (13) Deer Valley (Antioch) 21-5
13. (14) San Leandro 21-5
14. (11) Pleasant Grove (Elk Grove) 21-5
15. (15) West Ranch (Valencia) 19-6
Dropped Out: None.
Eligible for Open Division: Long Beach Poly, Mater Dei, Sheldon, Loyola, Bullard, De La Salle, El Camino Real. It is confirmed from the CIF, by the way, that a team is eligible for the Open Division if it wins a section title in a different division from the year before.
Teams on the Bubble: Bellarmine (San Jose) 16-9, Edison (Fresno) 27-5, El Toro (Lake Forest) 24-5, Heritage (Brentwood) 20-6, Inglewood 17-9, Lutheran (Orange) 18-9, Mission Hills (San Marcos) 23-4, Palo Alto 23-1, Rancho Verde (Moreno Valley) 22-5, San Benito (Hollister) 21-3, Santa Monica 21-6.
Notes & Highlights: We already went over our disagreement with San Leandro being seeded in front of De La Salle and Deer Valley in the CIF North Coast Section Division I playoffs in the overall state top 20. To reiterate, however, this means that a DLS-Deer Valley matchup will be in the semifinals and not the finals. The only team to lose from last week’s top 15 in this division was Pleasant Grove, but its loss was to higher-ranked Sheldon. The two teams may meet again in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I championship. On Tuesday of this week, there were no upsets in either the CIFSS or L.A. City playoffs. As expected, Long Beach Poly and Loyola will play in the CIFSS Division I-AA quarterfinals on Friday.

DIVISION II
1. (1) Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 22-5
2. (2) Serra (San Mateo) 23-4
3. (3) La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad) 24-4
4. (4) J.W. North (Riverside) 24-3
5. (5) Redondo (Redondo Beach) 19-8
6. (6) Newark Memorial (Newark) 19-7
7. (7) Sacramento 21-6
8. (NR) Westlake (Westlake Village) 23-4
9. (NR) Hoover (San Diego) 25-5
10. (8) El Camino (South San Francisco) 22-5
Dropped Out: Previous No. 9 Dublin, No. 10 San Marcos.
Eligible for Open Division: Archbishop Mitty, La Costa Canyon, Newark Memorial.
Teams on the Bubble: Canyon (Anaheim) 20-9, College Park (Pleasant Hill) 22-4, Dublin 21-5, Morse (San Diego) 22-7, San Ysidro 22-7, San Marcos 23-4, Sunny Hills (Fullerton) 22-7, Thousand Oaks 22-6, Westmoor (Daly City) 23-4.
Notes & Highlights: Since Serra of San Mateo was not jumped by La Costa Canyon or J.W. North in the overall top 20, the Padres don’t drop in the divisional rankings, either. Their loss last week was to No. 1 Archbishop Mitty, but they do still have one win against the Monarchs this season against two defeats. Dublin and San Marcos did drop from this week’s top 10 in favor of Westlake and Hoover. We did not drop out El Camino completely as the Colts hang on at No. 10 after a loss to Westmoor of Daly City. It was their first loss to Westmoor after two wins from earlier in the season. El Camino is now in the new CCS Open Division and has been guaranteed a berth in the NorCal D2 playoffs. Westmoor is going to have earn its way into the regional playoffs by doing well in the CCS Division II playoffs. On Tuesday, there were no upsets in the CIFSS playoffs involving D2 state-ranked teams. One bubble team that lost was Sunny Hills of Fullerton, which fell 89-71 to 16-13 Temecula Valley of Temecula.

DIVISION III
1. (1) Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) 23-3
2. (2) St. John Bosco (Bellflower) 21-6
3. (3) Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) 24-3
4. (4) St. Augustine (San Diego) 21-4
5. (5) Tustin 27-2
6. (7) Modesto Christian 24-3
7. (8) Independence (Bakersfield) 28-1
8. (9) Oak Park (Agoura Hills) 26-3
9. (NR) Leuzinger (Lawndale) 21-7
10. (NR) Compton 19-9
Dropped Out: Previous No. 6 Hart (Newhall), No. 10 Sonora (La Habra).
Eligible for Open Division: Bishop O’Dowd, Cathedral Catholic, Modesto Christian, Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco).
Teams on the Bubble: Calabasas 23-5, Chaminade (West Hills) 22-6, Damien (La Verne) 22-6, Drake (San Anselmo) 23-5, El Cerrito 20-9, Enterprise (Redding) 22-3, Hart (Newhall) 25-3*, Ocean View (Huntington Beach) 23-6, Royal (Simi Valley) 21-7, Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco) 16-10, Servite (Anaheim) 18-12, St. Ignatius (San Francisco) 15-10, West (Torrance) 18-10. (*Season complete.)
Notes & Highlights: If there’s a common theme for teams like Hart and Sonora getting bounced early in the playoffs it’s going up against teams from strong leagues. Sonora’s loss was 44-40 to Servite of Anaheim, which may have lost that one game at the Nike Extravaganza to D5 Brethren Christian, but still has a solid record from the Trinity League where most of its losses were to much higher-ranked opponents. Compton’s inclusion as a newcomer was held up until we could see who won in Tuesday’s CIFSS Division III-AAA matchup against Calabasas. The Tarbabes were behind by seven with two minutes left, forced overtime and then won 74-69.

DIVISION IV
1. (1) Bishop Montgomery (Torrance) 28-0
2. (2) Salesian (Richmond) 26-3
3. (3) Brentwood (Los Angeles) 25-3
4. (4) Windward (Los Angeles) 20-8
5. (5) Pacific Hills (Los Angeles) 21-4
6. (6) Serra (Gardena) 22-6
7. (7) Price (Los Angeles) 25-3
8. (8) Army-Navy (Carlsbad) 23-4
9. (9) Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) 26-2
10. (10) Lutheran (La Verne) 23-6
Dropped Out: None.
Eligible for Open Division: Salesian, Pacific Hills, Gardena Serra, Price.
Teams on the Bubble: Archbishop Riordan (San Francisco) 17-9, Colfax 21-5, Crespi (Encino) 21-8, Half Moon Bay 20-6, Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood) 18-10, JSerra (San Juan Capistrano) 17-8, Mater Dei Catholic (Chula Vista) 22-5, Palma (Salinas) 18-6, Riverbank 22-3, St. Joseph (Santa Maria) 21-7, St. Mary’s (Berkeley) 18-11.
Notes & Highlights: This division remained locked for another week as teams either wrapped up the regular season or breezed to early-round section playoff wins. We already know that next week there will be changes, however. La Verne Lutheran has topped Windward 73-68 in Tuesday’s CIFSS Division IV-AA quarterfinals. That result (and Friday’s semifinal) contest could help the Lions crack next week’s state overall top 20. Also on Tuesday, Crespi of Encino has eliminated Price with a 70-67 triumph. Those two results plus Bishop Montgomery and Serra of Gardena moving on with wins set up the following semifinals – Bishop Montgomery vs. La Verne Lutheran and Crespi vs. Gardena Serra. One bubble team to watch is Palma out of the CIF Central Coast Section. The Chieftains haven’t had UCLA-bound Noah Allen for a good chunk of the season due to injury, but Allen is rounding into form just in time for the playoffs.

DIVISION V
1. (1) Village Christian (Sun Valley) 25-3
2. (2) St. Joseph Notre Dame (Alameda) 18-11
3. (3) Flintridge Prep (La Canada) 21-5
4. (4) Central Catholic (Modesto) 24-3
5. (5) Brethren Christian (Huntington Beach) 24-3
6. (6) Capital Christian (Sacramento) 21-4
7. (7) Brookside Christian (Stockton) 25-1
8. (8) Mission Prep (San Luis Obispo) 20-7
9. (9) Rolling Hills Prep (San Pedro) 19-8
10. (10) Rock Academy (San Diego) 18-7
Dropped Out: None.
Eligible for Open Division: Village Christian, St. Joseph Notre Dame (though it’s unlikely that either would get chosen for that much of a jump in competition)
Teams on the Bubble: Bentley (Lafayette) 23-4, Branson (Ross) 17-11, Buckley (Sherman Oaks) 21-6, Head-Royce (Oakland) 22-4, Modoc (Alturas) 20-4, Ripon Christian 22-4, Tri-City Christian (Vista) 23-3, View Park (Los Angeles) 19-13.
Notes & Highlights: The only top 10 team to lose last week was No. 2 St. Joseph Notre Dame and we definitely weren’t going to drop the Pilots at all for losing by just 53-50 to D3 bubble team El Cerrito. One team that could move up from the D5 bubble in a hurry is Ripon Christian. The Knights have been seeded at No. 3 ahead of Brookside Christian in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division V playoffs. We won’t change a state ranking based on a seeding until the seeding is proved to be correct. If the seeds in that bracket hold, Ripon Christian would play Capital Christian in one semifinal with Brookside Christian meeting Central Catholic in the other. In Tuesday’s CIFSS playoffs, the Mamadou N’diaye era at No. 5 Brethren Christian is over after the 7-foot-5 center and his team were knocked off by Buckley of Sherman Oaks 75-51. Buckley was ranked in the top 10 of this division earlier in the season and should go back in next week.

Comments or corrections? Email markjtennis@gmail.com.