New State Boys BB Divisional Rankings

Nifae Lealao and Trey Belton (both grid-hoopers) show off some of the championship gear they and their team at Capital Christian of Sacramento collected after the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division V championship.

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By Mark Tennis
Contributing: Ronnie Flores, Paul Muyskens

For those who will be curious where the Open Division teams will rank in the various CIF state divisions for boys basketball if those teams had not been moved up or if there was no Open Division, the weekly and final Cal-Hi Sports state rankings will have the answer.

There is precedence for the division rankings to include teams that are not eligible or will not be competing for CIF state titles in those divisions. It was done last fall in football – Narbonne of Harbor City and Folsom, for example, being ranked in front of Division I state champ Granite Bay – and it’s going to be done this March for both boys and girls basketball.

All teams in the divisions will continue to be ranked by the same criteria as they have been all season, which means an open division team losing to a higher-ranked team is not going to change its divisional ranking that much.

This concept isn’t meant as a form of criticism for the way in which the open division and other pairings were handled by the CIF and its selection committees. It just makes the various rankings more interesting to look at for our users. And besides, nobody loves asterisks like we do.

(After results of Saturday, March 2; previous ranking in parentheses)

DIVISION I
1. (2) Etiwanda 27-2*
2. (1) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 30-2*
3. (3) Sheldon (Sacramento) 25-5*
4. (4) Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) 27-3*
5. (5) Bullard (Fresno) 27-2*
6. (7) Westchester (Los Angeles) 28-6*
7. (6) El Camino Real (Woodland Hills) 28-3*
8. (9) Deer Valley (Antioch) 22-5
9. (10) Loyola (Los Angeles) 22-7
10. (11) Santa Monica 25-6
11. (13) Pleasant Grove (Elk Grove) 24-6
12. (14) Inglewood 19-10
13. (8) De La Salle (Concord) 24-4
14. (NR) Mission Viejo 26-4
15. (12) San Leandro 23-6
*Indicates CIF Open Division team (not competing for D1 state title).
Dropped Out: Previous No. 15 Rancho Cucamonga.
Teams on the Bubble: Bellarmine (San Jose) 17-9, Centennial (Corona) 26-3, Central (Fresno) 21-8, Clovis West (Fresno) 27-6, Crenshaw (Los Angeles) 19-9, El Toro (Lake Forest) 27-6, Freedom (Oakley) 19-9, Lutheran (Orange) 18-10, McClymonds (Oakland) 21-7, Mission Hills (San Marcos) 27-4, Rancho Cucamonga 24-5, Rancho Verde (Moreno Valley) 23-6.
Best D1 Team Not Playing in Regionals: Corona Centennial.
Notes & Highlights: The eventual CIF Division I state champion probably can climb no higher than sixth for the final Division I state rankings that include open division teams. Worst case scenario for the CIF as far as its Division I champion being diminished is for Pleasant Grove of Elk Grove to win it all in conjunction with Sheldon of Sacramento being beaten (probably by Salesian of Richmond) in the NorCal Open Division playoffs. Sheldon has beaten Pleasant Grove three times this season.

DIVISION II
1. (1) Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 26-5*
2. (2) Serra (San Mateo) 25-5*
3. (4) J.W. North (Riverside) 28-3
4. (5) Redondo (Redondo Beach) 23-8
5. (6) Newark Memorial (Newark) 23-7*
6. (9) Hoover (San Diego) 29-5
7. (3) La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad) 27-5
8. (NR) Antelope 25-6
9. (8) Westlake (Westlake Village) 26-5
10. (10) Dublin 24-6
*Indicates CIF Open Division team (not competing for D2 state title).
Dropped Out: Previous No. 7 Sacramento.
Teams on the Bubble: Arroyo Grande 21-9, Chico 20-6, El Camino (South San Francisco) 22-7, Grant (Sacramento) 23-8, Montgomery (Santa Rosa) 23-8, Morse (San Diego) 22-8, Mt. Eden (Hayward) 19-10, Sacramento 24-7, San Ysidro 23-8, San Marcos 26-5, Thousand Oaks 24-7, Villa Park 24-7.
Best D2 Team Not Playing in Regionals: San Ysidro.
Notes & Highlights: If J.W. North, Redondo, San Diego Hoover or La Costa Canyon end up as the CIF Division II state champion, we can see that team perhaps finishing at No. 2 for the final rankings in this division, basically ahead of San Mateo Serra but behind Archbishop Mitty (which won D2 titles in 2011 and 2012). If there’s a team the CIF probably would not want to see winning a D2 state title it is Dublin, the top seed in the NorCal regionals and a 74-60 loser to Newark Memorial (moved up to the open division) in the CIF North Coast Section final. At no point will Dublin be placed in front of Newark Memorial in our rankings.

DIVISION III
1. (1) Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) 26-3*
2. (2) St. John Bosco (Bellflower) 24-6*
3. (4) St. Augustine (San Diego) 25-4
4. (5) Tustin 29-2
5. (6) Modesto Christian 28-3*
6. (3) Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) 28-4
7. (7) Independence (Bakersfield) 31-1
8. (10) El Cerrito 22-10
9. (8) Chaminade (West Hills) 24-7
10. (NR) Ocean View (Huntington Beach) 23-7
*Indicates CIF Open Division team (not competing for D3 state title).
Dropped Out: Previous No. 9 Royal (Simi Valley).
Teams on the Bubble: Burlingame 21-8, Calabasas 23-6, Compton 20-10, Damien (La Verne) 24-6, Drake (San Anselmo) 24-6, Enterprise (Redding) 24-3, Hamilton (Los Angeles) 16-14, Hart (Newhall) 25-3, Leuzinger (Lawndale) 22-8, Mission Oak (Tulare) 26-4, Oak Park (Agoura Hills) 27-4, Royal (Simi Valley) 23-8, Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco) 18-11, Santa Margarita (Rancho SM) 16-15, Sierra (Manteca) 27-5, West (Torrance) 18-11.
Best D3 Team Not Playing in Regionals: Oak Park (Agoura Hills).
Notes & Highlights: This is one division in which a great potential state title matchup isn’t going to happen due to the open division. That could have pitted Bishop O’Dowd against St. John Bosco and would brought together two of the top sophomores in the nation – Ivan Rabb of the Dragons and Tyler Dorsey of the Braves. It also will take quite an impressive run over the next three weekends for any team other than O’Dowd or Bosco to be the final No. 1 team for the division. Ocean View is one team to watch coming up in the next few weeks. The Seahawks’ CIFSS playoff loss was by just 89-87 to St. John Bosco and they notched a quality win in their previous game over Compton.

DIVISION IV
1. (1) Salesian (Richmond) 30-3*
2. (2) Bishop Montgomery (Torrance) 29-1
3. (4) Pacific Hills (Los Angeles) 24-4
4. (6) Serra (Gardena) 25-6
5. (3) Brentwood (Los Angeles) 27-4
6. (5) Lutheran (La Verne) 25-7
7. (7) Army-Navy (Carlsbad) 27-4
8. (9) Windward (Los Angeles) 20-9
9. (10) Crespi (Encino) 22-9
10. (8) Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) 29-3
*Indicates CIF Open Division team (not competing for D4 state title).
Dropped Out: None.
Teams on the Bubble: Arcata 24-7, Archbishop Riordan (San Francisco) 18-11, Half Moon Bay 22-7, Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood) 18-11, JSerra (San Juan Capistrano) 17-9, Marin Catholic (Kentfield) 23-8, Mater Dei Catholic (Chula Vista) 24-6, Price (Los Angeles) 25-4, St. Joseph (Santa Maria) 22-8, Summerville (Tuolomne) 29-2.
Best D4 Team Not Playing in Regionals: Windward (Los Angeles).
Notes & Highlights: Nowhere is the difference in team strength depth between Northern and Southern California more pronounced than in this division. NorCal D4 top seed Cardinal Newman had to drop to 10th in this week’s rankings after losing 65-34 to NorCal Open Division top seed Richmond Salesian in the CIF NCS D4 final. Both Windward and Crespi have to go up based on the teams they’ve beaten even though Windward isn’t even in the SoCal D4 bracket for having the gall to lose by five points in the CIFSS Div. IVAA quarterfinals to Lutheran of La Verne. Windward still has wins this season against Bishop O’Dowd and Newark Memorial, NCS champs in D2 and D3. As for Crespi, the Celts are still playing, but you’d have to be not paying attention at all to rank them lower than Cardinal Newman, which has not beaten any opponent as strong as Loyola of Los Angeles or Price of Los Angeles, which are two teams Crespi has beaten.

DIVISION V
1. (2) St. Joseph Notre Dame (Alameda) 22-11
2. (4) Buckley (Sherman Oaks) 23-6
3. (1) Mission Prep (San Luis Obispo) 23-7
4. (5) Village Christian (Sun Valley) 25-4
5. (6) Capital Christian (Sacramento) 24-4
6. (NR) Horizon (San Diego) 17-11
7. (7) Brookside Christian (Stockton) 27-2
8. (8) Flintridge Prep (La Canada) 22-6
9. (3) Central Catholic (Modesto) 25-4
10. (9) Rolling Hills Prep (San Pedro) 22-8
Dropped Out: Previous No. 10 Rock Academy (San Diego).
Teams on the Bubble: Branson (Ross) 19-12, Brethren Christian (Huntington Beach) 24-4, Foothills Christian (El Cajon) 18-14, Head-Royce (Oakland) 24-5, Liberty Christian (Redding) 23-7, Ripon Christian 23-5, Rock Academy (San Diego) 20-8, University (San Francisco) 24-8, View Park (Los Angeles) 23-13.
Best D5 Team Not Playing in Regionals: Brethren Christian (Huntington Beach).
Notes & Highlights: Well, here’s one division in which the CIF state champion is going to be the same team that ends No. 1 in the state rankings. It’s also a division that appears wide open. Both of last year’s state finalists – St. Joseph Notre Dame and Village Christian – could get back to Sacramento, but both could not. We were surprised that Buckley was not awarded the top seed and given a first-round bye because the Griffins were the ones to beat defending state champion Village Christian in the CIFSS Division V-AA playoffs.

Comments or corrections? Email markjtennis@gmail.com.