Final Boys, Girls BB State Top 20s

Lonzo Ball of Chino Hills drives the lane against San Ramon Valley’s J.J. Koski in CIF Division I final. Lauren Nubla does the same against Delauna Thomas of Gardena Serra in Division I girls final. Photos: Willie Eashman

There were some tough choices to be made not toward the top but for the final few spots in each State Top 20 for the 2014-15 season. Getting the nods are De La Salle of Concord and Woodcreek of Roseville for the boys and La Jolla Country Day, Modesto Christian and Salesian of Richmond for the girls.

Check below for this week’s final list of the State Top 20 boys and girls basketball rankings.

To read our expanded final rankings out to at least 40 each for both boys & girls with breakdowns on each of those teams, why some of these rankings moves were made and for the various final 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.

FINAL BOYS BASKETBALL
TOP 20 OVERALL RANKINGS

With its 65-64 overtime victory over Mater Dei of Santa Ana in the CIF Open Division state title game, Bishop O’Dowd of Oakland completed a wire-to-wire run as the state’s No. 1 ranked team.

The game was won when senior Ivan Rabb, the No. 1 player in the 2015 Cal-Hi Sports Hot 100, nailed a free throw with 0.8 seconds remaining after short-arming his first attempt of two. Rabb finished with 19 points, 21
rebounds and two blocks.

Brothers Jeremy (42) and Justin (43) Hemsley of La Verne Damien celebrate after D3 state final. Photo: Willie Eashman.

CIF Division I champ San Ramon Valley of Danville moves up three spots in the final rankings after downing Chino Hills 79-71 for the D1 title on Friday evening. SRV’s victory also means De La Salle of Concord could be one of two newcomers to the rankings, which will be expanded to 40 later this week (a list with writeups on each team for Gold Club members only).

De La Salle defeated San Ramon Valley three times during the season, but lost to NorCal D1 runner-up Woodcreek of Roseville in the regional playoffs. Woodcreek also was awarded a final State Top 20 ranking as well.

In addition, San Ramon Valley also remains behind arch-rival Monte Vista of Danville in the final rankings. Monte Vista, the state D1 champ in 2014, split with SRV during the regular season, but beat De La Salle three times to win the East Bay Athletic League and CIF North Coast Section D1 titles. The Mustangs couldn’t defend their D1 state title because they were moved up to the Open Division where they lost to Modesto Christian.

Division II state champ La Mirada just missed the final State Top 20 after defeating previous No. 20 Mitty of San Jose for the state title 71-70 in double overtime.  The final spot in the rankings instead went to Woodcreek, which in addition to having a win over De La Salle also went 1-1 in games against Folsom and also suffered one of its losses by just one point to Monte Vista.

(Compiled by Ronnie Flores; updated through games played Saturday, March 28; previous rating in parentheses)
*Indicates forfeit wins/losses not included.

1. (1) BISHOP O’DOWD (OAKLAND) 28-4

2. (2) MATER DEI (SANTA ANA) 29-5

3. (3) BISHOP MONTGOMERY (TORRANCE) 31-2

4. (4) FAIRFAX (LOS ANGELES) 32-3

5. (5) ETIWANDA 24-9

6. (6) SIERRA CANYON (CHATSWORTH) 26-4

7. (7) DAMIEN (LA VERNE) 26-5

8. (9) LUTHERAN (ORANGE) 24-6

9. (10) CATHEDRAL (LOS ANGELES) 22-8

10. (11) MODESTO CHRISTIAN 30-4

11. (12) MONTE VISTA (DANVILLE) 27-4

12. (15) SAN RAMON VALLEY (DANVILLE) 27-6

13. (8) CHINO HILLS 24-8*

14. (13) CENTENNIAL (CORONA) 25-6

15. (14) FOLSOM 28-5

16. (18) EL CERRITO 29-4

17. (NR) DE LA SALLE (CONCORD) 27-5

18. (17) REDONDO UNION (REDONDO BEACH) 25-8

19. (16) CAMPOLINDO (MORAGA) 28-5

20. (NR) WOODCREEK (ROSEVILLE) 27-6

Dropped Out:
Previous No. 19 Serra (San Mateo); No. 20 Archbishop Mitty (San Jose).

FINAL GIRLS BASKETBALL
TOP 20 OVERALL RANKINGS

In most seasons, such as last year, it’s usually the Southern California teams that get benefit of the doubt and are moved up for the final Cal-Hi Sports girls basketball state rankings.

This time, however, it’s the other way around after NorCal gals swept the Open Division, Division I, Division II and Division III state titles last weekend at Haas Pavilion.

Senior Cal recruit Asha Thomas of Bishop O’Dowd jumps for joy at the final buzzer of D3 girls game. Photo: Willie Eashman

A selection that may look out of place is bringing up a La Jolla Country Day team that lost in the CIF San Diego Section Open Division playoffs. But when teams are young, they develop at different stages of the season based on a myriad of factors. Plus, the Torreys beat the right team in winning their state title, previous No. 14 Eastside College Prep. They had go up in front of the Panthers this week, but at the same time Eastside’s body of work was deemed too strong for a drastic drop.

La Jolla Country Day may have had its problems at times during the season because of youth and injuries, but the five-time state champions look like they have one of the state’s top young front lines with 6-foot-2 gazelle-like sophomore Alaysia Styles, and 6-foot junior Mai-Loni Henson, who is starting to show the kind of inside-out game that is going to go a long way to helping her at Washington, where she is committed.

Another factor in bringing up the Torreys so high is that they also happen to own a head-to-head win over Division I state champion McClatchy of Sacramento.

While we did not switch the positions of No. 4 Long Beach Poly and No. 5 Miramonte due to the NorCal sweep (Poly does have a win over Chaminade), we did give bumps to St. Ignatius of San Francisco, D2 state champ Archbishop Mitty and we did bring in both Modesto Christian and Salesian of Richmond into the final State Top 20.

Modesto Christian had the unenviable task of opening up the NorCal Open Division playoffs against eventual state champ St. Mary’s of Stockton, but during the season did get a win over La Jolla Country Day and had wins over Vanden and McClatchy. Salesian’s NorCal Open Division exit was at the hands of No. 9 St. Ignatius, also posted a win over McClatchy and went 3-1 in games against St. Mary’s of Berkeley.

(Compiled by Harold Abend; updated through games played Saturday, March 28; previous rating in parentheses)
*Indicates season complete.

1. (1) ST. MARY’S (STOCKTON) 34-1

2. (2) MATER DEI (SANTA ANA) 31-3

3. (3) CHAMINADE (WEST HILLS) 27-4

4. (4) LONG BEACH POLY (LONG BEACH) 26-4

5. (5) MIRAMONTE (ORINDA) 30-3

6. (6) SIERRA CANYON (CHATSWORTH) 23-5

7. (7) SACRED HEART CATHEDRAL (SAN FRANCISCO) 18-11

8. (8) BISHOP O’DOWD (OAKLAND) 25-9

9. (10) ST. IGNATIUS (SAN FRANCISCO) 22-7

10. (9) BISHOP ALEMANY (MISSION HILLS) 24-7

11. (11) PINEWOOD (LOS ALTOS HILLS) 24-4

12. (15) ARCHBISHOP MITTY (SAN JOSE) 25-6

13. (12) VANDEN (FAIRFIELD) 30-4

14. (13) BREA OLINDA (BREA) 26-4

15. (NR) LA JOLLA COUNTRY DAY (LA JOLLA) 18-11

16. (14) EASTSIDE PREP (EAST PALO ALTO) 25-6

17. (18) MCCLATCHY (SACRAMENTO) 27-7

18. (20) CLOVIS WEST (FRESNO) 26-5

19. (NR) MODESTO CHRISTIAN 27-5

20. (NR) SALESIAN (RICHMOND) 30-4

Dropped Out:
Previous No. 16 Oaks Christian (Westlake Village); No. 17 Serra (Gardena); No. 19 Mark Keppel (Alhambra).

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