New State Boys BB Divisional Rankings

Frankie Ferrari of the Archbishop Riordan basketball team hits a speed bump in the form of Santa Rosa Cardinal Newman’s defense during the CIF NorCal Division IV championship game. Photo: Willie Eashman.

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By Mark Tennis
Contributing: Ronnie Flores, Paul Muyskens

While there probably will be just one CIF girls basketball divisional state champion that also finishes No. 1 in next week’s final state divisional rankings, due to surging St. Augustine of San Diego, there’s a good chance that two boys state title teams will also be No. 1.

St. Augustine has supplanted St. John Bosco in the No. 1 position in this week’s Division III state rankings. Even though Bosco was in the open division and lost to Long Beach Poly by two points at the final horn, Poly’s subsequent 20-point loss to Mater Dei and St. Augustine’s impressive showing in the CIF SoCal Division III bracket make the switch possible.

The only other CIF divisional champion that will be No. 1 for its division in the final rankings will be the Division V winner. The other three divisional state champions will have to be ranked behind teams that were pulled up into the new open division.

The schedule for Friday at Sleep Train Arena starts at 12 p.m. with the Division V final between St. Joseph Notre Dame of Alameda vs. Horizon Christian of San Diego. That will be followed later in the day by the Division III final between Sacred Heart Cathedral of San Francisco and St. Augustine and then Division I between Pleasant Grove of Elk Grove and Santa Monica.

On Saturday, the first game at 11:30 a.m. is for Division IV between Cardinal Newman of Santa Rosa and Pacific Hills of Los Angeles. That will be followed later in the day by the Division II final between College Park of Pleasant Hill and Redondo Union of Redondo Beach and then the Open Division between Archbishop Mitty of San Jose and Mater Dei of Santa Ana.

(After results of Saturday, March 16; previous ranking in parentheses)

DIVISION I
1. (2) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 32-2*
2. (1) Etiwanda 28-3*
3. (4) Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) 28-4*
4. (3) Sheldon (Sacramento) 27-6*
5. (5) Westchester (Los Angeles) 29-7*
6. (6) Bullard (Fresno) 27-3*
7. (12) Santa Monica 29-6
8. (13) Pleasant Grove (Elk Grove) 27-6
9. (7) Loyola (Los Angeles) 25-8
10. (8) Deer Valley (Antioch) 24-6
11. (9) El Camino Real (Woodland Hills) 28-4*
12. (10) Centennial (Corona) 26-3
13. (11) De La Salle (Concord) 26-5
14. (NR) Palisades (Pacific Palisades) 23-9
15. (14) Mission Hills (San Marcos) 29-5
*Indicates CIF Open Division team (not competing for D1 state title).
Dropped Out: Previous No. 15 Inglewood.
Next Team In If Mitty, Pleasant Grove win state titles? Bellarmine (San Jose) 20-10.
Next Team In From the South? Inglewood 20-12.
More Teams on the Bubble: Central (Fresno) 21-9, Clovis West (Fresno) 27-7, Crenshaw (Los Angeles) 21-10, El Toro (Lake Forest) 28-7, Freedom (Oakley) 20-10, Lutheran (Orange) 18-10, McClymonds (Oakland) 21-8, Mission Viejo 26-5, Rancho Cucamonga 24-5, Rancho Verde (Moreno Valley) 24-7, San Leandro 24-7.
Notes & Highlights: Mater Dei moves back to No. 1 for this division after avenging a loss to Etiwanda with a convincing 60-37 win last Saturday in Ontario. Since the team the Monarchs are playing in the open division state final is from Division II, there’s no way they would drop from the top in this division next week even with a loss to Mitty. It’s harder to forecast where the winner of the game between Santa Monica and Pleasant Grove will end up. Possibly in front of Bullard, but clearly no higher.

DIVISION II
1. (1) Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 29-5*
2. (4) Redondo (Redondo Beach) 27-8
3. (3) Serra (San Mateo) 25-6*
4. (2) J.W. North (Riverside) 31-4
5. (6) Newark Memorial (Newark) 23-8*
6. (NR) College Park (Pleasant Hill) 26-5
7. (5) Hoover (San Diego) 31-6
8. (9) Dublin 26-7
9. (7) Westlake (Westlake Village) 28-6
10.(8) La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad) 28-6
*Indicates CIF Open Division team (not competing for D2 state title).
Dropped Out: Previous No. 10 Sacramento.
Next Team In If College Park upsets Redondo? Sacramento 26-8.
Next Team In From the South? San Marcos 27-6.
More Teams on the Bubble: Antelope 25-7, Arroyo Grande 21-10, El Camino (South San Francisco) 22-8, Grant (Sacramento) 23-9, Morse (San Diego) 22-8, Mt. Eden (Hayward) 19-11, San Ysidro 23-8, St. Francis (Mountain View) 14-17, Thousand Oaks 25-8, Villa Park 24-8.
Notes & Highlights: Redondo vs. San Mateo Serra for the second spot in this week’s divisional rankings as well as for the 18th position in the overall state top 20 is a close call that could still go either way. The strength of Redondo’s argument is a current 20-game win streak. For Serra, owning a win in four tries against Mitty is hard to beat. Clearly, if Mitty wins against Mater Dei in the open division, that would strengthen Serra’s case no matter what happens between Redondo and College Park.

DIVISION III
1. (2) St. Augustine (San Diego) 28-4
2. (1) St. John Bosco (Bellflower) 24-7*
3. (3) Modesto Christian 29-4*
4. (4) Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) 26-4*
5. (5) Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) 30-5
6. (6) Chaminade (West Hills) 27-8
7. (9) Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco) 22-11
8. (7) Tustin 30-3
9. (8) Royal (Simi Valley) 25-9
10. (10) Independence (Bakersfield) 32-2
*Indicates CIF Open Division team (not competing for D3 state title).
Dropped Out: None.
Next Team In If Sacred Heart Cathedral upsets St. Augustine? Campolindo (Moraga) 21-9.
Next Team In From the South? Leuzinger (Lawndale) 23-9.
More Teams on the Bubble: Calabasas 23-6, Compton 20-11, Damien (La Verne) 25-7, Drake (San Anselmo) 26-6, El Cerrito 22-11, Enterprise (Redding) 25-4, Hart (Newhall) 25-3, Mission Oak (Tulare) 26-6, Oak Park (Agoura Hills) 27-4, Ocean View (Huntington Beach) 23-8, Santa Margarita (Rancho SM) 16-16, West (Torrance) 18-11.
Notes & Highlights: A second win over Cathedral Catholic is just one reason why St. Augustine was inserted ahead of St. John Bosco for the No. 1 ranking this week for this division. The Saints have suffered three of their losses to the Dons and have now bounced back to beat that same team twice. St. Augustine also has a quality win over Salesian of Richmond. Another tough call was between Cathedral Catholic and Chaminade. It’s close because Chaminade lost to the Dons by just 61-57, but at the same time St. Augustine actually beat the Dons three times, including once in last week’s regional semifinals .

DIVISION IV
1. (1) Salesian (Richmond) 31-4*
2. (3) Pacific Hills (Los Angeles) 28-4
3. (2) Bishop Montgomery (Torrance) 31-2
4. (4) Serra (Gardena) 26-7
5. (6) Lutheran (La Verne) 26-8
6. (7) Brentwood (Los Angeles) 27-5
7. (9) Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) 32-3
8. (5) Army-Navy (Carlsbad) 29-5
9. (8) Windward (Los Angeles) 20-9
10. (10) Mater Dei Catholic (Chula Vista) 25-7
*Indicates CIF Open Division team (not competing for D4 state title).
Dropped Out: None.
Next Team In If Cardinal Newman Upsets Pacific Hills? Soquel 24-8.
Next Team In From the South? Crespi (Encino) 23-10.
More Teams on the Bubble: Archbishop Riordan (San Francisco) 20-12, Corning 28-3, Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood) 18-11, JSerra (San Juan Capistrano) 17-9, Marin Catholic (Kentfield) 25-8, Price (Los Angeles) 25-4, St. Joseph (Santa Maria) 23-9.
Notes & Highlights: While Pac Hills has moved up right behind Salesian in the overall state top 20, there doesn’t seem to be a strong enough overall body of work for the Bruins to pass the Pride for the final rankings, even if they win the D4 state crown. Soquel is one team that could rise in the final rankings not so much depending on what happens with Cardinal Newman (team that the Knights lost to in the NorCal regionals) but also what happens in the open division. When Soquel played Archbishop Mitty in the first round of the CCS Open Division playoffs, Mitty won 59-57 but needed a last-second 3-point attempt by the Knights to miss.

DIVISION V
1. (1) St. Joseph Notre Dame (Alameda) 25-11
2. (4) Horizon (San Diego) 20-11
3. (5) View Park (Los Angeles) 25-14
4. (3) Capital Christian (Sacramento) 26-5
5. (6) San Gabriel Academy (San Gabriel) 24-10
6. (2) Buckley (Sherman Oaks) 25-7
7. (7) Village Christian (Sun Valley) 26-5
8. (8) Mission Prep (San Luis Obispo) 24-8
9. (9) University (San Francisco) 26-9
10. (10) Foothills Christian (El Cajon) 19-15
Dropped Out: None.
Next Team In If Horizon wins D5 state title? Flintridge Prep (La Canada) 22-7.
Next Team In If St. Joseph wins D5 state title? Branson (Ross) 20-13.
More Teams on the Bubble: Brethren Christian (Huntington Beach) 24-4, Brookside Christian (Stockton) 28-3, Central Catholic (Modesto) 26-5, Head-Royce (Oakland) 25-6, Liberty Christian (Redding) 24-8, Rio Hondo Prep (Arcadia) 25-8, Ripon Christian 23-6, Rock Academy (San Diego) 20-9, Rolling Hills Prep (San Pedro) 22-9.
Notes & Highlights: The St. Joseph vs. Horizon final in this division is the only one in the state this year that will match No. 1 and No. 2 teams from the divisional state rankings. San Gabriel Academy’s rise over the last two weeks finally ended with a loss to Horizon. The Eagles made their mark, though, with a win over previous No. 2 Buckley. They also became known for their religious beliefs, which the CIF accommodated by moving their Saturday game to after sundown due to Sabbath observances. We wonder what would happen if a D5 school like San Gabriel Academy was scheduled to be in a D5 state final on a Saturday morning (which has happened before). Due to TV commitments, it’s doubtful in that case whether the CIF could accommodate.

Comments or corrections? Email markjtennis@gmail.com.