Players and coaches at Valencia celebrate after winning CIF Southern Section title. We think there’s a very good chance the Vikings will be doing the same at the CIF state finals in Sacramento. Photo: @VHSVikingSports / Twitter.com.
Yes, we will once again have final divisional state rankings this season, but we can’t get them started until the CIF does its divisional placements and then there’s not enough time to get them done until the first round of the regional playoffs begin. No. 1 teams at this point of the sprint to the finish to the CIF state finals next week in Sacramento are Centennial of Corona (Open), Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks (D1), St. Pius X-St. Matthias (D2), Rio Americano of Sacramento (D3), Valencia (D4) and Lynwood (D5).
Note: We hope you enjoy this free post on CalHiSports.com. After these first rankings, next week’s update and then the final state rankings are available only to our Gold Club members as well as our state stat star of the week honor rolls. To check out getting a Gold Club membership to see all of those rankings plus all of our updated state record lists, totally authentic historical features, recruiting player ratings and more, CLICK HERE.
Note: These rankings are based on the usual factors of schedule strength, head-to-head wins and results from the first round of the regional playoffs. We can’t obviously do division rankings until after the CIF announces regional brackets since no one knows which divisions to put any of the teams in. We also like to do these rankings since the upcoming divisional all-state teams will be based on these same divisions.
(After games of Tuesday, Feb. 28)
*Season complete.
OPEN DIVISION
1. Centennial (Corona) 29-3
2. St. John Bosco (Bellflower) 26-6
3. Harvard-Westlake (Studio City) 30-2
4. West Ranch (Valencia) 29-2
5. St. Augustine (San Diego) 27-4
6. Modesto Christian 26-6
7. Dougherty Valley (San Ramon) 27-3
8. St. Joseph (Santa Maria) 26-6
9. De La Salle (Concord) 21-8
10. Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 21-5
Notes: These are all 10 teams (five from north, five from south) in the Open Division. There will be just one play-in game and then the regional semifinals will be on Saturday. Top seeds Corona Centennial and Modesto Christian also are the two teams that played each other in last year’s Open Division state final. All 10 teams were written up in this week’s State TOP 25 overall rankings.
Jermaine Haliburton is one of the leading players at Sacramento Inderkum. Photo: @simplyy_bball / Twitter.com.
DIVISION I
1. Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks) 23-10
2. Bishop Montgomery (Torrance) 27-4
3. Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth) 21-10
4. Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 28-6
5. Etiwanda 26-5
6. Inderkum (Sacramento) 28-3
7. St. Bernard (Playa del Rey) 22-8
8. Rancho Christian (Temecula) 21-10
9. Clovis West (Fresno) 30-3
10. Mira Costa (Manhattan Beach) 28-3
11. Salesian (Richmond) 23-7
12. Granada (Livermore) 23-10
13. Archbishop Riordan (SF) 22-6
14. San Ramon Valley (Danville) 25-7
15. University (San Francisco) 29-3
Bubble: Folsom 26-4*, Jesuit (Carmichael) 26-6*, Lincoln (Stockton) 25=5*, Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco) 23-8*, San Ysidro 15-13*.
Notes: Notre Dame obviously should have been taken for the SoCal Open since it has a head-to-head win over St. Augustine of San Diego and was highly competitive in games against the very top teams in the CIF Southern Section. The CIF, though, wanted to keep it at five teams in both the north and south and for both boys and girls for the Open Division this season. That just makes the Knights more of a big favorite for the D1 state title. There were 15 teams that were D1 that were among the top 25 in the state to start the week, but only one of them lost on Tuesday. CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D1 finalist Jesuit of Carmichael. The team that started out as top seed in that SJS division, Folsom, was also knocked out and we’ve been saying for weeks that wasn’t a proper seed. The Marauders fell to University of San Francisco, 92-85, while the Bulldogs lost to Sacred Heart Prep of Atherton, 63-62. San Ramon Valley of Danville has a win over University and won in its game, 63-59, at Clovis North and also was picked to be in the top 15 above along with University.
DIVISION II
1. St. Pius X-St. Matthias (Downey) 30-4
2. Tesoro (Las Flores) 30-4
3. Branson (Ross) 28-3
4. Weston Ranch (Stockton) 22-10
5. La Mirada 25-9
6. San Joaquin Memorial (Fresno) 22-9
7. Lutheran (Orange) 21-11
8. Vanden (Fairfield) 22-10
9. California (San Ramon) 20-11
10. Oxnard 30-3
Bubble: Bellarmine (San Jose) 15-13, Clayton Valley (Concord) 26-5*, Granite Bay 15-18, Moreau Catholic (Hayward) 23-7*, Pleasant Valley (Chico) 27-5*, Sacramento 25-7*, San Gabriel Academy (San Gabriel) 20-14, Whitney (Rocklin) 25-10.
Notes: St. Pius X-St. Matthias is the only one of the D2 teams that was in this week’s State TOP 25 so it only made sense for us to put the Warriors in the No. 1 slot. They won in their first regional game, 70-62, on Tuesday over longtime L.A. City Section power Westchester. The big upsets of No. 1 north seed Clayton Valley of Concord and No. 1 south seed Canyon of Anaheim were to Granite Bay (team with a losing record) and King-Drew of Los Angeles. We probably would have had Tesoro higher than Canyon in the south since its win in its section final was to Orange Lutheran of the Trinity League. Both Tesoro and OLu had solid wins on Tuesday. In the north, Weston Ranch is clearly a team we would have had higher than a No. 7 seed since it was the team that bounced Folsom in the Sac-Joaquin D1 playoffs. The Cougars are playing No. 2 seed Branson in the next round.
DIVISION III
1. Rio Americano (Sacramento) 27-5
2. Oakland Tech (Oakland) 20-11
3. La Jolla Country Day 26-7
4. Mission Bay (San Diego) 24-9
5. Culver City 18-12
6. King’s Academy (Sunnyvale) 23-3
7. Lincoln (San Francisco) 27-3
8. Lincoln (San Diego) 30-2
9. Pinole Valley (Pinole) 28-6
10. Oakland 23-8
Bubble: Bonita (La Verne) 19-14, Carlmont (Belmont) 19-8, Justin-Siena (Napa) 27-5, Las Lomas (Walnut Creek) 21-11*, Mission Prep (San Luis Obispo) 22-9, Oakwood (North Hollywood) 22-9,
Notes: Just like in D2 on Tuesday, the top seed in the north lost in a matchup to a No. 16 team. Las Lomas of Walnut Creek was the team that fell, 70-66, to Carlmont of Belmont. South top seed La Jolla Country Day was the south squad with the top seed and the Torreys almost lost to No. 16 Bonita of La Verne, but rallied for a 55-52 triumph. We still had Rio Americano and Oakland Tech higher than LJCD before Tuesday. Rio had a win over Jesuit during the regular season and split with Sac High in league games. Just seeing that team in D3 is a good spot for it. Same is true for the Oakland Athletic League top teams Oakland Tech and Oakland High. The NorCal quarterfinal game between Oakland Tech and Lincoln of SF is going to be nuts. Lincoln of San Diego also appeared to have gotten a bad seed at No. 10 in the south and having had to go on the road. One of its two losses to Otay Ranch was later avenged and its only other loss was to a team from Colorado. The Hornets won on Tuesday, 53-52, at La Serna of Whittier and are receiving criticism for some of its fans storming the La Serna court afterwards.
Jason Crowe Jr. of Lynwood is shown not long after he dropped 60 points in a game vs Gahr. Photo: Ronnie Flores.
DIVISION IV
1. Valencia 23-10
2. Jordan (Long Beach) 22-12
3. Head-Royce (Oakland) 28-4
4. St. Bonaventure (Ventura) 24-9
5. Monterey 21-8
6. Hillsdale (San Mateo) 20-7
7. Victory Christian Academy (Chula Vista) 25-8
8. Chico 22-8
9. San Pedro 19-11
10. Marin Catholic (Kentfield) 15-17
Bubble: Arroyo Grande 22-10*, Blair (Pasadena) 24-10, Burlingame 22-5, Central Catholic (Modesto) 22-10, Marysville 29-4*.
Notes: When the CIF released its pairings on Sunday, it didn’t take but a quick scan to see Valencia sitting in D4 might have been a mistake. Apparently it wasn’t. This is a team that based on its resume certainly could have been seeded near the top in D3 or even D2. The Vikings are from the same league as West Ranch (Open Division) and lost to that team in somewhat competitive matchups (by eight and 12-point margins). In its first regional D4 game, Valencia rolled over Tulare Western, 89-50. Long Beach Jordan is a clear-cut No. 2 choice for us in this division. The Panthers were co-champs this year in the Moore League and it’s just a bit scary to see a Moore League co-champ also sitting in the D4 bracket.
DIVISION V
1. Lynwood 22-11
2. Pacifica Christian (Santa Monica) 26-6
3. Venture Academy (Stockton) 24-4
4. Ramona 22-10
5. Ripon Christian 24-7
6. North (Torrance) 26-6
7. Garfield (Los Angeles) 25-5
8. Fortune Early College (Sacramento) 21-8
9. Sierra (Tollhouse) 28-5
10. University Prep (Redding) 20-12
Bubble: Kerman 22-11, South Gate 21-12.
Notes: Lynwood was initially placed as a low seed in D4 with Bosco Tech of Rosemead as the No. 1 seed in the south for D5, but that was an error for the order of those two teams so it was quickly fixed. Instead of completely changing both brackets, though, Lynwood was placed in the No. 1 spot for D5 south. That looks like a mistake, too. The Knights crushed Taft in their first regional playoff game on Tuesday, 112-49, as state scoring leader and all-time state freshman scoring record holder Jason Crowe Jr. scored 44 points. It now looks like Jason will likely be playing all the way through the CIF state finals in Sacramento and he’ll be moving way up on the all-time season state scoring list regardless of class. NorCal top seed Venture Academy had its Tuesday game with Mt. Shasta moved to Wednesday due to travel issues on Tuesday for Mt. Shasta.
*Indicates season complete
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 on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
