Two players on the move during Saturday’s CIF North Coast Section finals were Paris Austin of Bishop O’Dowd and Katie Rathbun of Carondelet. Photos: Phillip Walton/SportStars.
With all the CIF section championship games now complete, we update our State Top 20 rankings of California’s elite boys and girls basketball teams this week on the eve of the bracket release for the NorCal and SoCal regional playoffs. San Diego Section D2 champ Foothills Christian of El Cajon and Sac Joaquin Section D1 champ Folsom are the two newcomers among the boys. The girls were shaken up even more with St. Mary’s of Stockton moving up to No. 1 after Mater Dei’s loss to Chaminade in the CIFSS Open Division final.
For our Sunday morning preview of the CIF regional playoff pairings for boys, CLICK HERE.
For our Sunday morning preview of the CIF regional playoff pairings for girls, CLICK HERE.
Check below for this week’s new list of the State Top 20 boys and girls basketball rankings released on Saturday night so CIF officials can review for their Sunday morning selection meeting.
To read our breakdowns on each Top 20 team, why some of these rankings moves were made, which teams are on the bubble and for the usual 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.
The big section championship Saturday game was the mega showdown between state No. 3 Bishop Montgomery and No. 5 Etiwanda. After Bishop Montgomery defeated Etiwanda, 56-50, the pecking order became clear for the SoCal open regional. Bishop Montgomery will nab the No. 1 seed as the CIFSS Open Division champion, runner-up Etiwanda (which defeated Mater Dei) should grab the No. 2 seed with Mater Dei (which defeated L.A. City Section Open Division champion Fairfax) at No. 3 followed by the Lions.
The top seed in the NorCal Open regional will be Bishop O’Dowd of Oakland, which topped previous No. 10 Moreau Catholic of Hayward, 70-61, in Saturday’s NCS Division 3 final. With the loss, the Mariners drop two spots in the state top 20 and are now behind NCS Division I champion and defending state Division 1 champion Monte Vista of Danville. Monte Vista is now No. 10 in the state and No. 2 in the NorCal pecking order after defeating De La Salle of Concord for the third time this season, and sixth in a row overall, in the NCS D1 title game.
Modesto Christian moves up five spots this week and knocked out previous No. 13 Sacramento from the rankings with a 49-46 victory in Saturday’s Sac Joaquin Division 2 championship game.
The other team to drop from the rankings this week is previous No. 19 Westchester (Los Angeles), which lost to Fairfax in the L.A. City Section Open Division title game.
The Comets are replaced by new No. 19 Foothills Christian of El Cajon, which rolled to the San Diego Section D2 title. Foothills owns a victory over Westchester with close losses to No. 14 Long Beach Poly and No. 16 Redondo Union.
NEW BOYS BASKETBALL
TOP 20 OVERALL RANKINGS
(Compiled by Ronnie Flores; updated through games played Saturday, March 7; previous rating in parentheses)
1. (1) BISHOP O’DOWD (OAKLAND) 24-4
2. (3) BISHOP MONTGOMERY (TORRANCE) 30-1
3. (5) ETIWANDA 23-8
4. (2) MATER DEI (SANTA ANA) 26-4
5. (4) FAIRFAX (LOS ANGELES) 30-2
6. (6) SIERRA CANYON (CHATSWORTH) 22-4
7. (7) CATHEDRAL (LOS ANGELES) 20-7
8. (8) LUTHERAN (ORANGE) 24-5
9. (9) CENTENNIAL (CORONA) 22-5
10. (12) MONTE VISTA (DANVILLE) 27-3
11. (11) CHINO HILLS 20-7*
12. (10) MOREAU CATHOLIC (HAYWARD) 23-6
13. (14) EL CERRITO 29-3
14. (15) LONG BEACH POLY (LONG BEACH) 25-4
15. (20) MODESTO CHRISTIAN 28-3
16. (16) REDONDO UNION (REDONDO BEACH) 23-7
17. (17) DAMIEN (LA VERNE) 24-5
18. (18) DE LA SALLE (CONCORD) 26-4
19. (NR) FOOTHILLS CHRISTIAN (EL CAJON) 25-6*
20. (NR) FOLSOM 27-4
*Forfeit wins and/or losses not included.
Dropped Out:
Previous No. 13 Sacramento, No. 19 Westchester (Los Angeles).
NEW GIRLS BASKETBALL
TOP 20 OVERALL RANKINGS
With a lone loss to national No. 3 Blackman of Tennessee, St. Mary’s of Stockton has moved up to No. 1 in the state this week after previous No. 1 Mater Dei of Santa Ana was upset 64-63 by Chaminade of West Hills in Saturday’s CIF Southern Section Open Division championship. The Rams won their eighth straight CIF Sac-Joaquin Section divisional title on Saturday night over McClatchy of Sacramento.
(Compiled by Harold Abend; updated through games played Saturday, March 7; previous rating in parentheses)
1. (2) ST. MARY’S (STOCKTON) 29-1
2. (3) CHAMINADE (WEST HILLS) 25-3
3. (1) MATER DEI (SANTA ANA) 28-2
4. (5) LONG BEACH POLY (LONG BEACH) 25-3
5. (6) MIRAMONTE (ORINDA) 26-2
6. (9) BISHOP ALEMANY (MISSION HILLS) 24-6
7. (10) SIERRA CANYON (CHATSWORTH) 21-5
8. (14) SACRED HEART CATHEDRAL (SAN FRANCISCO) 17-10
9. (11) VANDEN (FAIRFIELD) 28-3
10. (7) PINEWOOD (LOS ALTOS HILLS) 24-3
11. (15) VISTA MURRIETA (MURRIETA) 22-7
12. (16) BREA-OLINDA (BREA) 22-4
13. (4) ST. IGNATIUS (SAN FRANCISCO) 21-6
14. (17) EASTSIDE PREP (EAST PALO ALTO) 22-5
15. (13) BISHOP O’DOWD (OAKLAND) 20-8
16. (NR) OAKS CHRISTIAN (WESTLAKE VILLAGE) 24-6
17. (NR) MODESTO CHRISTIAN (MODESTO) 27-4
18. (19) SALESIAN (RICHMOND) 26-3
19. (8) CARONDELET (CONCORD) 26-3
20. (NR) MISSION HILLS (SAN MARCOS) 25-5
Dropped Out:
Previous No. 12 Garces (Bakersfield), No. 18 Archbishop Mitty (San Jose), No. 20 Mt. Carmel (San Diego)
Mark Tennis & Paul Muyskens contributed to this report.
Ronnie Flores is the managing editor of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at ronlocc1977@yahoo.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @RonMFlores
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
3 Comments
How many times does a team have to beat another before it is no longer considered an “upset” Chaminade is 9-3 in 12 games vs your top 20 and os undefeated after 2 games vs the standing #1 team in the nation on 2 separate occasions.. What other team in the state has played 12 games against top 20 ranked teams or beaten the nations #1 ranked team even once?
Along the same lines as Lbess4, how is that a team with only loss since December (and that to the #1 CA ranked team) and beat Vanden by 10 points in Feb, now finds itself ranked 8 spots below Vanden? Either Modesto Christian is ranked too low or Vanden is ranked too high.
Vanden’s best wins are all against SoCal teams — Brea, Clovis West, Vista Murrieta — which don’t matter in NorCal seedings. MC’s best win is the one over Vanden at home. You are right, though, that MC may be too low.