New State Boys BB Divisional Rankings

Sophomore standout Anthony Townes from Modesto Christian helped shut down Bishop O’Dowd’s Ivan Rabb in last Friday’s NorCal open division playoffs. Townes was an all-state freshman last season.

Despite last-second loss, St. John Bosco goes back to No. 1 in Division III. Others getting significant bumps include Mission Hills of San Marcos, J.W. North of Riverside, Modesto Christian and Capital Christian of Sacramento.

By Mark Tennis
Contributing: Ronnie Flores, Paul Muyskens

For game reports, please go to our twitter page @CalHiSports and for other updates please visit our Facebook page. To subscribe to our weekly e-newsletter, click here.

This is the one week we strive to get all of these rankings done as fast as possible because so many big games are coming on Tuesday night in the regional playoffs.

Some of you, in fact, may be seeing these for the first time after those games have been played. Keep that in mind when looking over these rankings. Any Tuesday results won’t be reflected until next week’s rankings.

(After results of Saturday, March 9; previous ranking in parentheses)

DIVISION I
1. (1) Etiwanda 27-2*
2. (2) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 31-2*
3. (3) Sheldon (Sacramento) 26-5*
4. (4) Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) 28-3*
5. (6) Westchester (Los Angeles) 29-6*
6. (5) Bullard (Fresno) 27-3*
7. (9) Loyola (Los Angeles) 24-7
8. (8) Deer Valley (Antioch) 23-5
9. (7) El Camino Real (Woodland Hills) 28-4*
10. (NR) Centennial (Corona) 26-3
11. (13) De La Salle (Concord) 26-4
12. (10) Santa Monica 27-6
13. (11) Pleasant Grove (Elk Grove) 25-6
14. (NR) Mission Hills (San Marcos) 29-4
15. (12) Inglewood 20-11
*Indicates CIF Open Division team (not competing for D1 state title).
Dropped Out: Previous No. 14 Mission Viejo, No. 15 San Leandro.
Teams on the Bubble: Bellarmine (San Jose) 21-9, Central (Fresno) 21-9, Clovis West (Fresno) 27-7, Crenshaw (Los Angeles) 21-9, El Toro (Lake Forest) 28-7, Freedom (Oakley) 20-10, Lutheran (Orange) 18-10, McClymonds (Oakland) 21-8, Mission Viejo 26-5, Palisades (Pacific Palisades) 23-9, Rancho Cucamonga 24-5, Rancho Verde (Moreno Valley) 24-7, San Leandro 24-7.
Notes & Highlights: One of the ramifications of Inglewood, Mission Viejo and San Leandro all losing last week is that it became much easier to get Corona Centennial back up there. The Huskies were one of the top 10 overall teams in the state all year (one win was against No. 1 Etiwanda), but were bounced early in the CIF Southern Section Division I-AA playoffs by Silverado of Victorville 77-75. Since then, Silverado didn’t go any further so we can revert back to Centennial’s more outstanding overall season to justify a higher ranking. While it is great that Mater Dei vs. Long Beach Poly and Salesian of Richmond (D4 No. 1 below and No. 1 overall in the state) vs. Sheldon is happening in the new open division, it’s too bad those games are taking place on a weeknight and away from the bright lights and TV exposure that they deserve.

DIVISION II
1. (1) Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 27-5*
2. (3) J.W. North (Riverside) 30-3
3. (2) Serra (San Mateo) 25-6*
4. (4) Redondo (Redondo Beach) 25-8
5. (6) Hoover (San Diego) 31-5
6. (5) Newark Memorial (Newark) 23-8*
7. (9) Westlake (Westlake Village) 28-5
8. (8) La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad) 28-6
9. (10) Dublin 25-6
10. (NR) Sacramento 26-7
*Indicates CIF Open Division team (not competing for D2 state title).
Dropped Out: Previous No. 8 Antelope.
Teams on the Bubble: Antelope 25-7, Arroyo Grande 21-10, College Park (Pleasant Hill) 24-5, El Camino (South San Francisco) 22-8, Grant (Sacramento) 23-9, Morse (San Diego) 22-8, Mt. Eden (Hayward) 19-11, San Ysidro 23-8, San Marcos 27-6, St. Francis (Mountain View) 14-16, Thousand Oaks 25-8, Villa Park 24-8.
Notes & Highlights: J.W. North, which has wins over Rancho Cucamonga and Silverado in addition to beating Sylmar and Hanford West last week, almost went into this week’s top 20 overall and did pass San Mateo Serra in this division. Serra lost in the NorCal open division to Sheldon of Sacramento and could go back in front of J.W. North if Sheldon does well this week and if J.W. North does not win the D2 South regional title. This week’s only newcomer is Sacramento after the Dragons avenged their CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D2 playoff loss to Grant of Sacramento with a convincing victory over the Pacers last Saturday.

DIVISION III
1. (2) St. John Bosco (Bellflower) 24-7*
2. (3) St. Augustine (San Diego) 26-4
3. (5) Modesto Christian 29-3*
4. (1) Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) 26-4*
5. (6) Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) 30-4
6. (9) Chaminade (West Hills) 26-7
7. (4) Tustin 30-3
8. (NR) Royal (Simi Valley) 25-8
9. (NR) Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco) 20-11
10. (7) Independence (Bakersfield) 32-2
*Indicates CIF Open Division team (not competing for D3 state title).
Dropped Out: Previous No. 8 El Cerrito, No. 10 Ocean View (Huntington Beach).
Teams on the Bubble: Calabasas 23-6, Campolindo (Moraga) 20-8, Compton 20-11, Damien (La Verne) 25-7, Drake (San Anselmo) 26-6, El Cerrito 22-11, Enterprise (Redding) 25-3, Hart (Newhall) 25-3, Leuzinger (Lawndale) 23-9, Mission Oak (Tulare) 26-6, Oak Park (Agoura Hills) 27-4, Ocean View (Huntington Beach) 23-8, Santa Margarita (Rancho SM) 16-16, West (Torrance) 18-11.
Notes & Highlights: There is a new No. 1 in this division after Bishop O’Dowd’s stunning loss to Modesto Christian in the NorCal open division. It’s not that Crusaders won the game, but they did it by 57-42. St. John Bosco was an easy choice to move up to the top since the Braves lost on a buzzer-beater to D1 power Long Beach Poly in the SoCal open division. If the Crusaders keep playing like that this week, they obviously could keep moving up in the rankings. In addition to the changes at the top, Royal of Simi Valley made a lot of noise with two wins in the D3 South bracket, most importantly its 60-52 win at Independence of Bakersfield, which was 32-1 entering the game and was coming off of a 60-58 win over Compton. We couldn’t move up the Highlanders any further because their CIFSS playoff loss was to No. 7 Tustin.

DIVISION IV
1. (1) Salesian (Richmond) 31-3*
2. (2) Bishop Montgomery (Torrance) 31-1
3. (3) Pacific Hills (Los Angeles) 26-4
4. (4) Serra (Gardena) 26-6
5. (7) Army-Navy (Carlsbad) 29-4
6. (6) Lutheran (La Verne) 26-8
7. (5) Brentwood (Los Angeles) 27-5
8. (8) Windward (Los Angeles) 20-9
9. (10) Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) 30-3
10. (NR) Mater Dei Catholic (Chula Vista) 25-7
*Indicates CIF Open Division team (not competing for D4 state title).
Dropped Out: Previous No. 9 Crespi (Encino).
Teams on the Bubble: Archbishop Riordan (San Francisco) 19-11, Corning 28-3, Crespi (Encino) 23-10, Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood) 18-11, JSerra (San Juan Capistrano) 17-9, Marin Catholic (Kentfield) 25-8, Price (Los Angeles) 25-4, Soquel 24-7, St. Joseph (Santa Maria) 23-9.
Notes & Highlights: There was finally some breakup of the logjam of teams from the CIFSS in this division, thanks to Mater Dei Catholic. The CIF San Diego Section team knocked off previous No. 5 Brentwood of Los Angeles 62-58 in the D4 South bracket before losing itself to No. 4 Gardena Serra. Before that, the Crusaders made it to the San Diego D4 final where they lost to No. 5 Army-Navy. The D4 South semifinals on Tuesday are almost as good as an open division. Bishop Montgomery vs. Army-Navy will be especially tough on the visiting Knights because they’ll be without standout player Lamond Murray Jr. Then there’s Pacific Hills vs. Gardena Serra. Both are currently among the top 15 ranked teams overall in the state.

DIVISION V
1. (1) St. Joseph Notre Dame (Alameda) 23-11
2. (2) Buckley (Sherman Oaks) 25-6
3. (5) Capital Christian (Sacramento) 25-4
4. (6) Horizon (San Diego) 18-11
5. (NR) View Park (Los Angeles) 25-13
6. (NR) San Gabriel Academy (San Gabriel) 23-9
7. (4) Village Christian (Sun Valley) 26-5
8. (3) Mission Prep (San Luis Obispo) 24-8
9. (NR) University (San Francisco) 26-8
10. (NR) Foothills Christian (El Cajon) 19-15
Dropped Out: Previous No. 7 Brookside Christian (Stockton), No. 8 Flintridge Prep (La Canada), No. 9 Central Catholic (Modesto), No. 10 Rolling Hills Prep (San Pedro).
Teams on the Bubble: Branson (Ross) 20-12, Brethren Christian (Huntington Beach) 24-4, Brookside Christian (Stockton) 28-3, Central Catholic (Modesto) 26-5, Flintridge Prep (La Canada) 22-7, Head-Royce (Oakland) 25-6, Liberty Christian (Redding) 24-8, Ripon Christian 23-6, Rock Academy (San Diego) 20-9, Rolling Hills Prep (San Pedro) 22-9.
Notes & Highlights: This division had more upheaval than any division in the state in any week so far this season. That’s mainly the result of two teams coming from well outside the top 10 to pull off upsets in the D5 South bracket. For View Park, which plays mostly D1 schools in its L.A. City Section league, its big win was over defending D5 state champion Village Christian. For San Gabriel Academy, its feat was to down previous No. 3 Mission Prep of San Luis Obispo. Buckley and Horizon are still favored to meet in Saturday’s final, but it may be hard for both. Buckley is playing San Gabriel Academy next while Horizon is facing View Park. A St. Joe vs. Capital Christian final seems likely, meanwhile, in the north.

Comments or corrections? Email markjtennis@gmail.com