Two of the Bay Area’s brightest stars this basketball season — Bishop O’Dowd’s Ivan Rabb and Carondelet’s Natalie Romeo — hope to lead their teams to CIF Northern California Open Division titles over the next week. Photos: Ronnie Flores & Willie Eashman.
It’s an NCS party in the top NorCal girls playoff divisions while on the boys side there are many changes thanks to upsets by McClymonds, Lincoln of San Francisco and Drake. 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: Mack shakes up the NorCal D1 bracket
Cinderella stories don’t just exist in the NCAA tournament.
In the CIF NorCal Division I playoffs, McClymonds of Oakland looked like the role of bracket buster when it went out to Danville on Saturday night and knocked off San Ramon Valley 57-48.
Watch highlights of the Bay Area’s best teams every Sunday at 6 p.m. on KOFY, Channel 20, San Francisco.
The Wolves came into the contest at No. 7 in the Bay Area and possibly were caught looking ahead to a potential NorCal semifinal matchup on Tuesday against Monte Vista. Instead, it will be Mack heading back out to Danville to play the Mustangs.
Since it was a NorCal playoff game, the Warriors had to come up in front of San Ramon Valley in this week’s Bay Area Top 20. Salesian of Richmond, which is still playing in the NorCal D4 playoffs, also had to move up since the Pride own a win over Mack.
That earlier Salesian contest and several other of Mack’s eight losses came early in the season before current head coach Edgar Jackson took over. Against SRV, Deion Ellis, Jackson’s son, led the Warriors with 18 points and seven rebounds.
In addition to Mack, other teams making charges into this week’s Top 20 are Lincoln of San Francisco (beat De La Salle last Tuesday), St. Patrick-St. Vincent of Vallejo (also in CIF NorCal D4 semis) and Branson of Ross (champs of Marin County Athletic League over Drake, which is the team that beat Sacred Heart Cathedral).
Here is this week’s complete Bay Area Top 20 for boys (Compiled by Mark Tennis; previous ranking in parentheses; after games of Saturday, March 15):
1. (1) Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) 26-4
2. (2) Monte Vista (Danville) 29-1
3. (3) Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 27-4
4. (4) El Cerrito 27-5
5. (5) Newark Memorial (Newark) 23-8
6. (6) St. Joseph Notre Dame (Alameda) 26-5
7. (8) Serra (San Mateo) 22-8
8. (9) Freedom (Oakley) 25-6
9. (12) Campolindo (Moraga) 23-7
10. (14) Moreau Catholic (Hayward) 25-6
11. (10) St. Ignatius (San Francisco) 23-7
12. (16) Archbishop Riordan (San Francisco) 18-11
13. (NR) Salesian (Richmond) 22-14
14. (NR) McClymonds (Oakland) 21-8
15. (7) San Ramon Valley (Danville) 24-6
16. (15) Pittsburg 22-6
17. (NR) Lincoln (San Francisco) 25-9
18. (11) De La Salle (Concord) 19-9
19. (NR) St. Patrick-St. Vincent (Vallejo) 25-9
20. (NR) Branson (Ross) 25-6
Dropped Out: Previous No. 13 Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco); No. 17 Burlingame; No. 18 Concord; No. 19 Dougherty Valley (San Ramon); No. 20 St. Francis (Mountain View).
Teams On The Bubble: Acalanes (Lafayette) 17-13; Aragon (San Mateo) 20-10; Bellarmine (San Jose) 12-17; Burlingame 26-5; Concord 22-9; Dougherty Valley (San Ramon) 20-8; Drake (San Anselmo) 24-7; Fortuna 27-4; Half Moon Bay 26-5; Heritage (Brentwood) 15-13; Leigh (San Jose) 24-5; Miramonte (Orinda) 18-12; Montgomery (Santa Rosa) 26-7; Pinole Valley (Pinole) 16-14; Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco) 19-12; San Benito (Hollister) 21-5; San Leandro 16-12; Santa Cruz 20-10; St. Francis (Mountain View) 17-13.
Girls: NCS dominates NorCal Open, D1 playoffs
There was no movement through the first 17 spots in this week’s Cal-Hi Sports Bay Area Top 20 girls basketball rankings, but from there it was a slight shakeup with two newcomers entering.
Clayton Valley Charter was a no-brainer. The Ugly Eagles come in for the first time and take the place of the previous No. 18 San Jose Lynbrook team they beat 52-45 in the CIF Northern Regional Division II quarterfinals. Clayton Valley, in turn, falls in behind a Presentation team that handed it a six-point loss in front of the Cal-Hi Sports Caravan at the Bentley/Campolindo event.
Watch highlights of the Bay Area’s best teams every Sunday at 6 p.m. on KOFY, Channel 20, San Francisco.
Previously-ranked Piedmont snags the other spot for the time being as a result of advancing to the NorCal D4 semifinals, but Lynbrook could come back in next week if No. 6 seed Piedmont goes down to No. 2 seed Arcata.
Previous No. 19 St. Francis could also return, but the defending NorCal Division II champions did not advance to the NorCals. That means head coach Brian Harrigan ends the season with 655 career wins, good for No. 5 all-time and No. 2 in the CIF Central Coast Section behind the 662 wins of Menlo-Atherton’s Pam Wimberly.
After the first week of the NorCal playoffs, the Bay Area, and the CIF North Coast Section in particular, are looking very good in the top two divisions heading into the semifinals on Tuesday.
All four of the Open Division semifinalists are from the NCS, as are three of the four Division I semifinalists.
The NCS also has 11 of the 24 remaining teams. Overall, the Bay Area has 14 of the teams left in action.
Here is this week’s complete Bay Area Top 20 for girls (Compiled by Harold Abend; previous ranking in parentheses; after games of Saturday, March 15): (*Forfeits not included)
1. (1) St. Mary’s (Berkeley) 27-7
2. (2) Salesian (Richmond) 28-6
3. (3) Carondelet (Concord) 28-3
4. (4) Miramonte (Orinda) 29-1
5. (5) Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) 23-4
6. (6) St. Ignatius (San Francisco) 26-5
7. (7) Deer Valley (Antioch) 25-5
8. (8) Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco) 21-8
9. (9) Pinewood (Los Altos Hills) 27-3
10. (10) Berkeley 23-8
11. (11) Monte Vista (Danville) 26-4
12. (12) Scotts Valley 25-5
13. (13) Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 19-11
14. (14) Eastside College Prep (East Palo Alto) 20-10
15. (15) Santa Rosa 28-5
16. (16) Wilcox (Santa Clara) 23-6
17. (17) Presentation (San Jose) 16-14
18. (NR) Clayton Valley (Concord) 24-7
19. (20) Justin-Siena (Napa) 27-6
20. (NR) Piedmont 19-9
Dropped Out: Previous No. 18 Lynbrook (San Jose), No. 19 St. Francis (Mountain View).
Teams On the Bubble: (Playoff teams only) Campolindo (Moraga) 17-12, Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) 24-8, Dublin 19-11, Encinal (Alameda) 21-8, Lowell (San Francisco), 22-6, Lynbrook (San Jose) 20-9, McClymonds (Oakland) 16-13, North Salinas (Salinas) 25-3, St. Francis (Mountain View) 16-12, Skyline (Oakland) 21-9, Valley Christian (San Jose) 15-14.
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
One Comment
Appreciate that Justin-Siena is in the Top 20!
Yeah go braves! Would be nice to see some of the TV attention
Move to the North in the Bay Area and not always to the south!
Thanks!