Michael Oguine (left) goes for layup in Chaminade boys’ win over Drake in CIF D3 state final. Valerie Higgins (right) brings up ball for Chaminade girls in win over Archbishop Mitty for CIF D2 state championship. Photos: Willie Eashman.
We will expand these out to at least 40 deep later this week, but for now here’s our final Top 20 for boys and girls basketball. Risers for boys include Monte Vista, J.W. North, El Camino Real and Cathedral. Risers for girls were none, except for different team at No. 20.
Check below for this week’s final 2013-14 list of the State Top 20 boys and girls basketball rankings.
The final rankings will be expanded out to at least 40 teams deep later this week. To read those rankings and breakdowns on each team, why some of these rankings moves were made, and for this week’s CIF divisional state rankings for both boys and girls basketball, you need to be a member of our Gold Club. Join our team today by CLICKING HERE.
Coach and trainer Chris Asher works with state stat stars and players from state-ranked teams of all ages, helping them to improve their speed, quickness and agility. He is based in Hollywood, also has a role with the UCLA track program and serves athletes within many miles of his location. For more about him, CLICK HERE. For a video about his Gold Medal Excellence training program, CLICK HERE.
FINAL BOYS BASKETBALL
STATE TOP 20 OVERALL RANKINGS
The big question for the final state rankings after Saturday’s CIF state finals were in the books obviously wasn’t about No. 1 with Mater Dei’s finish at 35-0, but which team should be No. 2.
Bishop O’Dowd had been in the No. 2 slot for much of the season and certainly could have stayed there since two of the team’s five losses were to Mater Dei (once in overtime).
The fact that seems to be the prevailing one in favor of moving Etiwanda to No. 2 is that the Eagles were unbeaten when they had USC-bound standout guard Jordan McLaughlin playing for a full game – other than a double-overtime loss to Mater Dei. It’s a close call, but we are making that move for the final rankings.
Monte Vista of Danville, which won the Division I crown, moves up from No. 6 to No. 4 in the final rankings, right behind Bishop O’Dowd. Sure, consideration could have been stronger to put the Mustangs as high as No. 2 at 32-1. They weren’t in the open division, however, so we weren’t going to put them higher than O’Dowd in the Bay Area and for Northern California.
Other teams getting boosts in the final rankings are J.W. North of Riverside (from No. 10 to No. 9), St. John Bosco (from No. 14 to No. 13), Chaminade of West Hills (from No. 15 to No. 14), El Camino Real (from No. 19 to No. 18) and Cathedral of Los Angeles (from unranked to No. 19).
(Compiled by Mark Tennis with assistance from Ronnie Flores; updated through games played Saturday, March 29; previous rating in parentheses)
1. (1) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 35-0
2. (3) Etiwanda 27-5
3. (2) Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) 28-5
4. (6) Monte Vista (Danville) 32-1
5. (4) Centennial (Corona) 29-4
6. (5) Chino Hills 29-6
7. (7) Capital Christian (Sacramento) 28-4
8. (8) Westchester (Los Angeles) 30-7
9. (10) J.W. North (Riverside) 26-2*
10. (9) Redondo Union (Redondo Beach) 25-6
11. (11) Bishop Montgomery (Torrance) 28-6
12. (12) Loyola (Los Angeles) 27-4
13. (14) St. John Bosco (Bellflower) 23-11
14. (15) Chaminade (West Hills) 27-6
15. (13) Folsom 32-3
16. (16) Cantwell-Sacred Heart (Montebello) 23-9
17. (17) Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth) 29-4
18. (19) El Camino Real (Woodland Hills) 25-7
19. (NR) Cathedral (Los Angeles) 24-6
20. (18) Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 27-5
*Forfeit loss or forfeit losses not included
Dropped Out: Previous No. 20 Modesto Christian.
A key player for Orinda Miramonte in playoff wins over St. Mary’s of Stockton and Carondelet was senior Mariah Seals. Photo: Harold Abend.
NEW GIRLS BASKETBALL
TOP 20 OVERALL RANKINGS
Unlike the final State Top 20 for the boys, the final State Top 20 for the girls resulted in only one change. It’s not as if no final changes, though, were contemplated.
Perhaps the toughest evaluation was at No. 4 between Salesian of Richmond (which lost to Long Beach Poly on Saturday) and Etiwanda (lost to Poly in the SoCal final). Both teams have huge wins to point to — Salesian over Shabazz of N.J. and four times over St. Mary’s of Berkeley compared to Etiwanda over Windward plus St. Mary’s of Berkeley plus Cleveland of Washington – but since we don’t have ties we just liked the way Salesian came back on Saturday to take the lead over the Jackrabbits before All-American Mariya Moore fouled out.
Other possible shifts upward were considered for Sierra Canyon at No. 11, Chaminade at No. 13 and Canyon Springs at No. 14. All three should be proud of winning CIF state titles, but none of them put together overall season slates that merited boosts in front of the teams they were ranked behind last week.
The only change that was made was at No. 20 where we’re replacing Camarillo with Ventura. That frankly should have been the team listed in that spot last week since the Cougars have two wins over the Scorpions. CIF Division III state champ Modesto Christian will probably land between No. 22 and No. 25 when the final expanded version is compiled.
(Compiled by Mark Tennis with assistance from Harold Abend; updated through games played Saturday, March 29; previous rating in parentheses)
1. (1) Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) 27-3
2. (2) Windward (Los Angeles) 25-3
3. (3) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 27-3
4. (4) Salesian (Richmond) 30-7
5. (5) Etiwanda 22-7
6. (6) St. Mary’s (Berkeley) 27-8
7. (7) Miramonte (Orinda) 30-2
8. (8) Carondelet (Concord) 28-4
9. (9) St. Mary’s (Stockton) 25-5*
10. (10) Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) 23-4
11. (11) Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth) 29-4
12. (12) Serra (Gardena) 25-6
13. (13) Chaminade (West Hills) 29-4
14. (14) Canyon Springs (Moreno Valley) 25-6
15. (15) Bishop Alemany (Mission Hills) 24-8*
16. (16) Bishop’s (La Jolla) 27-6
17. (17) Clovis West (Fresno) 27-4
18. (18) Troy (Fullerton) 24-8
19. (19) Hanford 26-4
20. (NR) Ventura 29-3
*Forfeit loss or forfeit losses not included
Dropped Out: Previous No. 20 Camarillo.
Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark, Ronnie Flores and Harold Abend on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
