Boys BB: Divisional State Rankings

We don’t do divisional state rankings until the CIF does its regional pairings and then we have to wait until the first round of the regional playoffs is complete to do the first one. This is why they don’t match our State TOP 35 rankings from earlier this week. We just like to take our approach to doing rankings and apply it to each CIF division leading up to the CIF state championships on March 8-9 in Sacramento. No. 1 teams are Harvard-Westlake (Open), Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks (D1), Heritage Christian of Northridge (D2), Hesperia (D3), Cleveland of Reseda (D4) and Athenian of Danville (D5).

FOR THIS WEEK’S STATE TOP 35 RANKINGS (DONE ON MONDAY), CLICK HERE.

Note: We hope you enjoy this free post on CalHiSports.com. This will be a Gold Club post next week plus the final state divisional rankings. All regular season weekly and final state rankings are available only to our Gold Club members as well as our state stat star of the week honor rolls. Some of our upcoming all-state teams also will be for Gold Club members only. To check out getting a Gold Club membership to see all of these features plus all of our updated state record lists, and more, CLICK HERE.

NOTE: Results from Tuesday of this week are included but not the two Wednesday Open Division contests.
*Indicates season complete.
**Indicates forfeit wins/losses not included in record.

OPEN DIVISION
(All 12 teams in order)

1. Harvard-Westlake (Studio City) 30-3
2. Roosevelt (Eastvale) 30-3
3. Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth)
4. Salesian (Richmond) 29-1
5. St. Pius X-St. Matthias (Downey) 24-6
6. Archbishop Riordan (San Francisco) 24-4
7. Clovis North (Fresno) 27-6
8. St. Joseph (Santa Maria) 30-3
9. De La Salle (Concord) 25-5
10. Branson (Ross) 23-7
11. Carlsbad 29-2
12. Modesto Christian 27-5

DIVISION I
(Counting Tuesday results)

1. Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks) 30-3
2. St. John Bosco (Bellflower) 25-7
3. Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 27-5
4. Windward (Los Angeles) 29-4
5. JSerra (SJ Capistrano) 25-7*
6. Centennial (Corona) 21-13
7. San Ramon Valley (Danville) 26-7
8. Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 22-7
9. Damien (La Verne) 27-5
10. Clovis West (Fresno) 27-6
11. Redondo (Redondo Beach) 25-5
12. Granada (Livermore) 23-4**
13. Etiwanda 25-6*
14. St. Anthony (Long Beach) 25-8*
15. Rolling Hills Prep (San Pedro) 27-6
16. St. Ignatius (San Francisco) 25-6
17. Montgomery (San Diego) 28-4*
18. St. Augustine (San Diego) 25-6*
19. Los Alamitos 24-6*
20. Serra (San Mateo) 20-8
Next: Clayton Valley (Concord) 23-9, Lincoln (Stockton) 26-7*, Monterey Trail (Elk Grove) 27-4, Santa Margarita (Rancho SM) 19-11*, Vanden (Fairfield) 24-9*, Weston Ranch (Stockton) 26-4*.
Comments: All of these rankings match our order from the State TOP 35 Rankings compiled before the first round of the regionals played on Tuesday. Notre Dame has been higher than Bosco in our rankings and just like the CIFSS and CIF never change their order (with Open Division teams always being higher than non-Open teams) we don’t change ours either (until proven otherwise on the court). Notre Dame is only the No. 7 seed in D1 South based on that criteria. Bosco is No. 1 in D1 South. At least the two teams wouldn’t face off until the regional finals next Tuesday as they are on opposite sides of the bracket. There was a shocker down south on Tuesday with Rolling Hills Prep taking out JSerra (the No. 2 seed), 41-39. JSerra has been top 10 overall in the state and had two wins over Mater Dei. We wouldn’t drop the Lions all the way behind RHP for the one result, but they will be dropping a lot of spots for the final rankings.

DIVISION II
(Counting Tuesday results)

1. Heritage Christian (Northridge) 23-9
2. La Habra 30-4
3. Oakland Tech (Oakland) 26-5
4. Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) 20-9
5. Thousand Oaks 26-7
6. La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad) 20-8
7. Del Oro (Loomis) 25-8
8. Jesuit (Carmichael) 24-8
9. Mission Bay (San Diego) 22-11
10. Clovis East (Clovis) 21-11
Next: Bakersfield Christian 20-11, Bellarmine (San Jose) 11-17, Centennial (Bakersfield) 25-7, King-Drew (Los Angeles) 20-11, Marina (Huntington Beach) 25-8*, Menlo-Atherton (Atherton) 21-7, Oakland 23-8.
Comments: All of Heritage Christian’s losses were either to out-of-state teams or those from D1 or the Open Division. The Warriors also fell in the CIFSS D2AA playoffs to eventual champion St. Anthony of Long Beach. They won on Tuesday, 72-41, over L.A. City Open Division finalist LACES. Clovis East won on Tuesday as a No. 16 seed in the north over No. 1 seed Branham of San Jose. Please, it was not an upset. The Timberwolves had a computer ranking of 86 coming into the game while Branham was at 109. The No. 3 seeds in both north and south also lost in the first round – Sacramento to Menlo-Atherton and Marina to King-Drew of Los Angeles.

DIVISION III
(Counting Tuesday results)

1. Hesperia 24-9
2. Alemany (Mission Hills) 21-15
3. Bosco Tech (Rosemead) 24-9
4. Santa Cruz 24-6
5. Justin-Siena (Napa) 27-3
6. Ygnacio Valley (Concord) 25-8
7. Carmel 25-3
8. Woodbridge (Irvine) 22-10
9. San Marcos 25-7
10. Valley Christian (San Jose) 13-14
Next: Price (Los Angeles) 21-11, Santa Barbara 24-9*, Scripps Ranch (San Diego) 21-12, Venture Academy (Stockton) 29-3*.
Comments: Hesperia should have been seeded higher than Dinuba in the south and that was proven when Dinuba lost to Price of L.A. on Tuesday in the first round. Alemany arguably should be ranked higher than Hesperia, too, but for this first run through they are 1-2. The Warriors are coming off of a big win over Bosco Tech in three overtimes in the CIFSS D3A championship and they are from the same Mission League as state No. 1 Harvard-Westlake and state No. 3 Sierra Canyon. This division also had some teams placed in it that we strongly think should have been in lower division. NorCal No. 16 seed Head-Royce (Oakland) had three wins over NorCal D5 No. 1 seed Athenian of Danville and was an NCS champion. NorCal No. 12 seed Venture Academy of Stockton, which lost to Carmel in the first round on Tuesday, was D5 last season and should have been D4 this season.

DIVISION IV
(Counting Tuesday results)

1. Cleveland (Reseda) 18-10
2. Chatsworth 17-14
3. Santa Teresa (San Jose) 20-7
4. Natomas (Sacramento) 24-9
5. Westchester (Los Angeles) 20-8
6. Grant (Van Nuys) 23-7
7. Union Mine (El Dorado) 29-3
8. Monterey 21-6
9. Washington Prep (Los Angeles) 16-15
10. Foothill (Palo Cedro) 19-10
Next: Diamond Ranch (Pomona) 22-11*, Estancia (Costa Mesa) 24-9, Lincoln (San Francisco) 22-9**, Mission College Prep (San Luis Obispo) 13-18, Temecula Valley (Temecula) 19-15*.
Comments: This division might end up being called the L.A. City Section division. Cleveland was the top seed in its Open Division but lost in the semifinals to LACES. The Cavs also have two wins over Chatsworth (one was in OT), but Chatsworth was the No. 1 seed in the south with Cleveland at No. 2. The way we do rankings, however, the head-to-heads should take priority. Washington Prep also created a lot of movement from the rough draft rankings we did prior to Tuesday night with a controversial OT win over Temecula Valley. We had penciled in Temecula Valley at No. 1 or No. 2 after its showing in the CIFSS D4A playoffs. The Bears thought they had won in their game against the Generals with a game-winning shot, but officials gave a technical foul on the crowd for celebrating on the court and there was time on the clock for a game-tying free throw. Washington then won the game after all of that chaos.

DIVISION V
(Counting Tuesday results)

1. Athenian (Danville) 24-8
2. San Pedro 22-11
3. International (San Francisco) 25-6
4. Verdugo Hills 20-11
5. Garfield (Los Angeles) 25-3
6. San Domenico (San Anselmo) 18-11
7. Mt. Miguel (Spring Valley) 24-8
8. North (Bakersfield) 27-6
9. Firebaugh (Lynwood) 19-11
10. Corcoran 28-3
Next: Buckley (Sherman Oaks) 20-11, Oakwood (Morgan Hill) 14-14, Summit Shasta (Daly City) 22-4**.
Comments: This was the only division boys or girls in which the 10 teams we ranked in a rough draft before Tuesday’s first round all won in first round games. Athenian, the top seed in the north, has a slightly better computer ranking than San Pedro, the top seed in the south. Garfield of Los Angeles has the best computer ranking but has to be behind Verdugo Hills after losing to the Dons in the CIF L.A. City D2 championship. San Pedro was in a higher L.A. City divisional playoff. We don’t know why North of Bakersfield was slotted into D5 when the team it beat in the CIF Central Section finals, Sierra of Tollhouse, was placed higher into D4.

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.