Here is a look at preseason No. 1 teams in California boys basketball and how those No. 1 teams ended up going back to the 1979-80 season, which was the first season Cal-Hi Sports did state rankings. We start with a history lesson that we did prior to the start of the 2017-18 season.
While almost every credible media outlet had Sierra Canyon of Chatsworth preseason No. 1 in California and at least one had Sierra Canyon preseason No. 1 in the nation this past season (2016-17) and in 2015-16, Cal-Hi Sports did not. We started Sierra Canyon No. 2 the past two seasons. In 2015-16, Sierra Canyon promptly lost in its opener to Moreau Catholic of Hayward, while Chino Hills (with Lonzo Ball and his two brothers) went wire-to-wire as the top team in the state and eventually rose to No. 1 in the nation. For 2016-17, Bishop Montgomery also lost its opener at the same NorCal Tip-Off Classic, but wasn’t at full strength. The Knights later went on to defeat Sierra Canyon, Mater Dei of Santa Ana and Chino Hills to win coveted CIFSS and CIF state open division crowns.
While no SoCal team since the advent of the weekly Top 20 format had ever gone wire-to-wire or started and finished No. 1 in football until Mater Dei in 2017, it happened in basketball on numerous occasions over the years. We must say, it is a bit easier in basketball because teams can lose in the section playoffs and bounce back in the regionals or avenge a regular season loss in the post-season. In football, the best teams tend to be bunched in the CIF Southern Section’s top division in a lose-and-you’re-done format. Over the years, many SoCal football teams ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in the country have lost in the CIFSS semifinals or championship game.
Among preseason No. 1s from 2014 to 2017, only a less than full strength Bishop Montgomery team had even lost a single game to a California opponent (against Bishop O’Dowd of Oakland). The only program to edge California’s best team in that time frame was national power Montverde Academy of Florida. The Eagles won three straight mythical FAB 50 national crowns from 2013-2015. In 2015, Bishop O’Dowd was handed its only loss by the Eagles and went wire-to-wire as California’s No. 1 team. In 2016, Chino Hills used a victory over the Eagles to springboard its historic 35-0 season. In 2017, Montverde Academy defeated Bishop Montgomery at the Hoophall Classic in Massachusetts.
Ironically, the last preseason No. 1 to finish ranked lower, 2012-13 Long Beach Poly, also lost to probably the best Montverde Academy team in this current era. “They were like a college team,” remarked members of the Jackrabbits’ coaching staff after falling to the Eagles, 76-51, at the City of Palms Tournament in Florida. Poly didn’t fall from its No. 1 perch until losing, in overtime, to Etiwanda in the CIFSS Division I-AA semifinals. Part of the reason Poly was preseason No. 1 was the thought that junior forward Kameron Chatman would eventually be eligible to join the team, but it never happened. Still Poly had the personnel to finish No. 1 and if it would have we’d have been on a string of six consecutive No. 1s.
We actually did put together a string of six “correct” No. 1s between 2000 and 2005. Dominguez of Compton, L.A. Westchester and Mater Dei had dominant runs in that time frame and it wasn’t an overwhelming process to pick out the No. 1 team when you could see the NBA was in the future for talents such as Tyson Chandler or Amir Johnson with depth around them.
Amir Johnson is one of three Cal-Hi Sports Mr. Basketball selections to play for L.A. Westchester coach Ed Azzam. Photo: Tom Hauck
Our selections have improved over the years since we started publishing preseason overall Top 20s for California Basketball Magazine in 1988-89. There was a bit more balance among the top teams then and not as many “super teams” as we later saw with Dominguez and Westchester. This was especially true in the L.A. City Section at a time when its top four or five teams were legitimate contenders to win the D1 state title and hadn’t lost in a state title game until that point.
In retrospect, Westchester was a solid No. 1 pick in 1988-89 with the return of talented forward Zan Mason (state junior player of the year) and point guard Sam Crawford surrounded by talented leapers on the wings. The Comets, however, lost to eventual D1 state champ L.A. Crenshaw in the section quarterfinals. That year, four of the top six and five of the top nine ranked teams in the state were L.A. City programs. In 1990, six programs from the section finished in the top 20, with five earning nods in 1991 and four earning top 20 slots in 1992.
Knowing how balanced those teams were, and how L.A. Crenshaw didn’t always reveal its roster or play in summer leagues but knew the Cougars were major title contenders, it seemed like our only poor choice for preseason No. 1 was St. Monica’s in 1989-90. The Mariners were coming off a season in which it advanced to the semifinals in the CIFSS’s largest division (5AA), had an excellent showing in the summer and returned four starters. Leo Klemm did a fine coaching job at the school, but it was a small school program, hadn’t won in the regionals against bigger L.A. City Section schools and didn’t have that one star player like a Ed O’Bannon or Jason Kidd that could carry it against perhaps a bigger, deeper team.
St. Monica lost in the CIFSS 5-AA semifinals (to Earnest Killum and Lynwood) for the second straight season and was the only preseason No. 1 in nearly 30 years to finish No. 10 or lower. The choice probably should have been one of three L.A. City powers between Fremont (preseason No. 2), Crenshaw (No. 3) or Manual Arts (No. 4). With its track record in those years (1988 D1 state title and 1989 regional finalist) and returning players, Manual Arts, in retrospect, was probably the safest pick. The Toilers won the 1990 4A city title and opened up as preseason No. 1 the following season, when 3A city champ L.A. Fremont emerged as the best team in the City and SoCal.
We didn’t nail the No. 1 pick in the Top 20 format until 1991-92, when it was easy to pick Kidd and company at St. Joseph after the Pilots ended SoCal’s D1 dominance by defeating Fremont in the 1990-91 state title game, the first loss ever by a L.A. City program in the state final. St. Joseph and Bishop O’Dowd are the only NorCal programs ever to begin ranked No. 1 in the state. St. Joseph did it twice, when it had Kidd and later Ray Young on its roster, and the Dragons when Ivan Rabb was considered the best player in the state with solid talent surrounding him.
As the evidence shows, a team has to have great depth and a solid track record, or that one great NBA-bound player, to be considered California’s best to begin the season.
All-Time Cal-Hi Sports Preseason No. 1 Ranked Teams
(Teams’ final ranking in parentheses; Overall Top 20 format began for 1988-89 season; Our final state rankings by CIF Division, league strength and/or enrollment go back to the 1975-76 season in the Cal-Hi Sports State Record Book)
1979-80: Inglewood 29-0 (No. 1)
1980-81: Poly (Long Beach) 26-2 (No. 1)
1981-82: St. Bernard (Playa del Rey) 28-3 (No. 3)
1982-83: St. Bernard (Playa del Rey) 24-3 (No. 4)
1983-84: Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 28-2 (No. 2)
1984-85: Crenshaw (Los Angeles) 24-0 (No. 1)
1985-86: Crenshaw (Los Angeles) 25-2 (No. 1)
1986-87: Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 31-1 (No. 1)
1987-88: Crenshaw (Los Angeles) 28-1 (No. 2)
1988-89: Westchester (Los Angeles) 16-6 (No. 6)
1989-90: St. Monica (Santa Monica) 23-6 (No. 10)
1990-91: Manual Arts (Los Angeles) 23-5 (No. 9)
1991-92: St. Joseph (Alameda) 32-2 (No. 1)
1992-93: Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 33-2 (No. 3)
1993-94: Crenshaw (Los Angeles) 29-2 (No. 1)
1994-95: Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 36-1 (No. 1)
1995-96: Dominguez (Compton) 34-2 (No. 1)
1996-97: Dominguez (Compton) 29-5 (No. 2)
1997-98: St. Joseph (Alameda) 30-4 (No. 2)
1998-99: Artesia (Lakewood) 32-3 (No. 4)
1999-00: Dominguez (Compton) 35-2 (No. 1)
2000-01:Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 33-2 (No. 1)
2001-02: Westchester (Los Angeles) 32-2 (No. 1)
2002-03: Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 34-2 (No. 1)
2003-04: Westchester (Los Angeles) 23-2* (No. 1)
2004-05: Westchester (Los Angeles) 25-3 (No. 1)
2005-06: Fairfax (Los Angeles) 26-3 (No. 3)
2006-07: Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 32-4 (No. 2)
2007-08: Fairfax (Los Angeles) 27-6 (No. 8)
2008-09: Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 31-2 (No. 5)
2009-10: Westchester (Los Angeles) 32-3 (No. 1)
2010-11: Poly (Long Beach) 30-2 (No. 2)
2011-12: Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 34-2 (No. 1)
2012-13: Poly (Long Beach) 28-4 (No. 3)
2013-14: Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 35-0 (No. 1)
2014-15: Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) 31-1 (No. 1)
2015-16: Chino Hills 35-0 (No. 1)
2016-17: Bishop Montgomery (Torrance) 31-2 (No. 1)
2017-18: Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 23-7 (No. 6)
2018-19: Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth) 32-3 (No. 1)
2019-20: Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth) 30-4 (No. 1)
2020-21: Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth) 16-2 (No. 4)
2021-22: Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth) 26-5 (No. 2)
2022-23: Centennial (C0rona) 30-4 (No. 2)
2023-24: Harvard Westlake (Studio City) 33-3 (No. 1)
