NEW Bay Area Basketball Rankings

You will notice in this photo pose after the NCS D3 final that the Bishop O’Dowd boys do not have medals but that the girls do. The boys team gave their medals to the girls’ team due to it being disqualified for playing an extra regular season contest. Photo: Willie Eashman.

CIF NorCal pairings and seedings are out, but don’t have much of an impact on these new Top 20 rankings. There are some new boys teams breaking in, including one team, Dougherty Valley, which is done for the season. For girls, Bishop O’Dowd now has to go behind Carondelet and Miramonte, but no further. Check this post for the new Cal-Hi Sports Bay Area Top 20 rankings in both boys and girls basketball. We produce these rankings in support of the Cal-Hi Sports Bay Area TV show, which airs live on KUSI Channel 20 in San Francisco on Sunday nights.

For NorCal girls basketball pairings reaction, CLICK HERE.
For NorCal boys basketball pairings reaction, CLICK HERE.

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Boys: St. Joseph slides a few spots despite title

In most cases, the CIF regional pairings matches the Cal-Hi Sports state rankings and the Cal-Hi Sports Bay Area Top 20, but sometimes they don’t. When this happens, the Cal-Hi Sports rankings are evaluated and sometimes they change.

The St. Joseph of Notre Dame boys have been No. 3 in the Bay Area and have had a body of work so far this season that has included wins over El Cerrito, Burlingame and St. Ignatius of San Francisco. But it wasn’t strong enough so that the CIF selected the Pilots for the NorCal Open Division. In fact, St. Joe wasn’t even a No. 1 seed for the NorCal Division V bracket due to a head-to-head loss early in the season to Sac-Joaquin Section D5 runner-up Central Catholic of Modesto.

Watch highlights of the Bay Area’s best teams every Sunday at 6 p.m. on KOFY, Channel 20, San Francisco.

Since the Pilots also won in the CIF North Coast Section Division V final by just one point over Branson of Ross, we’ll adjust their ranking downward as well. El Cerrito did come back to beat St. Joe later and other losses to Archbishop Riordan and St. Mary’s of Stockton do balance out some of those other win. Bottom line is that despite winning a section title last week that the team is falling behind NorCal Open Division teams Archbishop Mitty, El Cerrito and Newark Memorial in this week’s rankings.

Congratulations to all of the teams that won CCS, NCS, San Francisco and Oakland section titles over the weekend.

Here is this week’s complete Bay Area Top 20 for boys (Compiled by Mark Tennis; previous ranking in parentheses; after games of Saturday, March 8):

1. (1) Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) 26-4

Dropped Out: Previous No. 13 Montgomery (Santa Rosa); No. 19 St. Patrick-St. Vincent (Vallejo); No. 20 Salesian (Richmond).

Teams On The Bubble: Acalanes (Lafayette) 17-12; Aragon (San Mateo) 20-9; Bellarmine (San Jose) 11-16; Branson (Ross) 24-6; Fortuna 26-3; Half Moon Bay 24-5; Heritage (Brentwood) 15-13; Leigh (San Jose) 23-4; Montgomery (Santa Rosa) 25-6; Pinole Valley (Pinole) 16-14; Salesian (Richmond) 20-14; San Benito (Hollister) 21-5; San Leandro 16-12; Santa Cruz 20-9; St. Patrick-St. Vincent (Vallejo) 23-9.

Girls: With Gabby, Panthers not too shabby

The CIF section commissioners who seeded the NorCal Open Division on Sunday must have talked to Berkeley St. Mary’s head coach Nate Fripp like we did before they did the seedings.

It would almost seem that way after the Panthers were named as the top seed. It wasn’t just owning a head-to-head win over St. Mary’s of Stockton, but it also was due to the girls’ performance in the CIF NCS Division IV title game victory over Salesian.

Watch highlights of the Bay Area’s best teams every Sunday at 6 p.m. on KOFY, Channel 20, San Francisco.

“When we’re rolling we’re good, but it’s been a rough season with sickness and injuries, but right now we’re in a good place,” Fripp told Cal-Hi Sports Sunday morning.

Not only are they in a good place, but they have Cal-bound Gabby Green back at what looks like full strength. Her defense against Salesian’s Mariya Moore was a key in the 65-57 victory.

“She told me she wanted to guard Mariya so I went with it and she did a great job,” Fripp remarked.

According to Fripp, the reason Green missed five-and-half games before returning in a semifinal win over Napa Justin-Siena was she could not play due to a sore shoulder.

Not only did she play but Green looked sharp against Justin-Siena, and then went all 32 minutes against Salesian and scored 10 points while holding Moore well below her average (13 points).

With a game-high 21 points against Salesian, Green’s Cal-bound teammate Mikayla Cowling gives Fripp the 1-2 punch he will need to get the Panthers to the NorCal and state finals.

Here is this week’s Bay Area Top 20 for girls (Compiled by Harold Abend; previous ranking in parentheses; after games of Saturday, March 8):
(*Forfeits not included)

1. (3) St. Mary’s (Berkeley) 26-7

Dropped Out: Previous No. 20 Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa)

Teams On the Bubble: (Playoff teams only) Campolindo (Moraga) 17-11, Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) 23-7, Clayton Valley (Concord) 23-7, Dublin 18-10, Encinal (Alameda) 21-7, Lowell (San Francisco), 22-5, McClymonds (Oakland) 16-12, North Salinas (Salinas) 25-2, Piedmont 19-9, Skyline (Oakland) 21-8, Valley Christian (San Jose) 15-13.

Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @CalHiSports

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