Tyrell Alcorn of El Cerrito of Mariya Moore from Salesian of Richmond both shined in big wins by their teams on MLK Day. Photos: Mark Tennis & Harold Abend.
St. Mary’s of Berkeley girls stay on top despite losing twice at MLK Showcase while Sacred Heart Cathedral boys move up two spots despite losing twice. Check this post for the new Cal-Hi Sports Bay Area top 20 rankings in both boys and girls basketball. We produce these rankings in support of the Cal-Hi Sports Bay Area TV show, which airs live on KUSI Channel 20 in San Francisco on Sunday nights.
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Boys: Sacred Heart Cathedral still can come up to fifth
After all of the games are in the books through the Martin Luther King holiday (which we traditionally wait on before doing the next rankings), the top four teams in the Bay Area are easy to rank with Bishop O’Dowd at No. 1, followed by Monte Vista, El Cerrito and probably Mitty despite a loss on Saturday to St. Ignatius.
For the No. 5 position, however, it’s extremely complicated due to the number of teams that lost games last week. Here’s how we came up with Sacred Heart Cathedral for that spot even though the Irish lost games last week to Mitty and El Cerrito: First, Mitty and El Cerrito are both higher ranked teams and SHC wasn’t beaten badly in either game. Second, the Irish also notched a big WCAL win last week over Riordan during a week in which Riordan beat previous No. 6 St. Ignatius. And third, there was no other team that did enough to move in front of SHC.
Newark Memorial certainly looked better than Sacred Heart Cathedral during Monday’s games at Cal, but for now we’ve jumped the Cougars from No. 20 to No. 10 and have kept them behind Campolindo due to a head-to-head loss. If they keep going, though, they’ll be closer to the top five even with seven overall losses.
Here are this week’s Bay Area boys’ top 20 (previous ranking in parentheses; after games of Monday, Jan. 20):
Watch highlights of the Bay Area’s best teams every Sunday at 7 p.m. on KOFY, Channel 20, San Francisco.
1. (1) Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) 10-4
2. (2) Monte Vista (Danville) 16-0
3. (5) El Cerrito 18-1
4. (3) Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 12-3
5. (7) Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco) 11-4
6. (8) Serra (San Mateo) 11-4
7. (9) De La Salle (Concord) 10-5
8. (4) St. Joseph Notre Dame (Alameda) 14-4
9. (6) St. Ignatius (San Francisco) 12-3
10. (10) Campolindo (Moraga) 13-5
11. (20) Newark Memorial (Newark) 10-7
12. (16) Berkeley 12-1
13. (13) Archbishop Riordan (San Francisco) 9-6
14. (14) San Ramon Valley (Danville) 14-2
15. (15) Leigh (San Jose) 14-1
16. (17) Drake (San Anselmo) 15-3
17. (NR) St. Mary’s (Berkeley) 15-4
18. (18) Freedom (Oakley) 12-4
19. (NR) Burlingame 13-3
20. (11) St. Patrick/St. Vincent (Vallejo) 16-3
Dropped Out: Previous No. 12 St. Francis (Mountain View); No. 19 Castro Valley.
Teams On The Bubble: Aragon (San Mateo) 11-5, Branson (Ross) 15-3, Castro Valley 11-5, College Park (Pleasant Hill) 13-3, Montgomery (Santa Rosa) 12-4, Piedmont Hills (San Jose) 13-2; Salesian (Richmond) 10-8, San Benito (Hollister) 14-1, San Leandro 8-7, St. Francis (Mountain View) 11-4.
Girls: WCAL getting wacky as usual
You try to figure it out, because just like in about every other sport in the West Catholic Athletic League, this year you can’t even predict what might happen over the short haul.
Just when it looked like St. Ignatius had a chance to take control of the league last week coming into a game with Archbishop Mitty, after a win over a Sacred Heart Cathedral team that two weeks ago pinned a loss on Mitty, the San Francisco girls couldn’t close the deal, and fell to Mitty 54-50 in San Jose.
With St. Francis winning its two games last week and only having a lone two-point league loss to Mitty, a four-way tie at 3-1 was created between the previously mentioned teams.
Despite losing to both Etiwanda and Windward at the MLK Showcase at Stockton St. Mary’s, the Berkeley St. Mary’s Panthers remain in the top spot since both teams are outstanding, since the Windward loss was just by three points and because they still have wins over both St. Mary’s of Stockton and state No. 1 Mater Dei of Santa Ana.
Here are this week’s Bay Area girls’ top 20 (previous ranking in parentheses; after games of Monday, Jan. 20):
(*Forfeits not included)
Watch highlights of the Bay Area’s best teams every Sunday at 7 p.m. on KOFY, Channel 20, San Francisco.
1. (1) St. Mary’s (Berkeley) 13-4
2. (2) Carondelet (Concord) 12-2
3. (4) Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) 14-3
4. (3) Salesian (Richmond) 14-5
5. (5) Miramonte (Orinda) 15-1
6. (6) St. Ignatius (San Francisco) 14-2
7. (7) Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 10-6
8. (8) Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco) 9-5
9. (9) Pinewood (Los Altos Hills) 14-1
10. (10) Berkeley 9-5
11. (11) Santa Rosa 15-1
12. (13) Deer Valley (Antioch) 11-4
13. (12) Monte Vista (Danville) 14-2
14. (14) Wilcox (Santa Clara) 13-2
15. (NR) Eastside College Prep (East Palo Alto) 10-6
16. (17) Scotts Valley 14-3
17. (18) St. Francis (Mountain View) 11-5
18. (16) Moreau Catholic (Hayward) 14-2
19. (15) Lynbrook (San Jose) 10-5
20. (19) Piedmont 10-4
Dropped Out: Previous No. 20 Valley Christian (Dublin) .
On the Bubble
Castro Valley 12-3, Clayton Valley 12-4, Galileo (San Francisco) 14-4, Justin-Siena (Napa) 14-4, North Salinas (Salinas) 13-2, Northgate (Walnut Creek) 14-4, Pittsburgh 12-5, Presentation (San Jose) 9-6, Skyline (Oakland) 11-6, Valley Christian (Dublin) 14-3, Valley Christian (San Jose) 12-5, Windsor 14-3.
Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @CalHiSports
Harold Abend is the associate editor of CalHiSports.com and the vice president of the California Prep Sportswriters Association. He can be reached at marketingharoldabend@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @HaroldAbend
4 Comments
How is Moreau Catholic 12-4 no in the top 20? Their not even on the bubble? There only losses locally to0:
#2 Monte Vista
#3 Mitty
#10 Newark
and there the #1 Division 4 team in Northern California on Cal Preps and Max Preps
I don’t get it
None of the losses were very close and there isn’t a great win. It’s still early, though, so perhaps Folsom win will end up meaning more later on.
Also NorCal D4 is horrible this year especially compared to the South. Being No. 1 in that group isn’t necessarily that great.
Montgomery beat Campolindo and gave Monte Vista all they could handle. Interesting that they aren’t even in the top 20??
Just went with Burlingame (win over Serra) this week instead. Montgomery would have to go in behind Freedom due to two head-to-head losses.