The State Champions Invitational (SCI) closed out the 2021-22 season and it's now time to publish our final FAB 50 National Team Rankings powered by Ballislife.com. The SCI didn't have any bearing on the top of the rankings led by FAB 50 champion Duncanville (Texas), but we still had to properly evaluate and place the four teams that played in the inaugural event. No. 7 Calvary Christian Academy (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) ran away with the SCI title, while Duncanville becomes the third public school to win the FAB 50 crown in seven seasons and the third Texas public school in the last 20 years to finish No. 1 in the country.

By Ronnie Flores

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Coming in the inaugural State Champions Invitational game, there was some question if any of three state champions could take down Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) Class 4A state champion Calvary Christian Academy (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.). The Eagles, the No. 7 team in the FAB 50 National Team Rankings powered by Ballislife.com, were the prohibitive favorite in the four-team field and had no trouble in their 58-37 semifinal victory over then No. 14 Sidwell Friends (Washington, D.C.). Because then No. 31 Auburn (Wash.) was so impressive in its 58-41 semifinal victory over No. 48 Norcross (Ga.), it created some intrigue that the Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) Class 3A champs could keep up with the high-powered state champs from Florida that lost one of two games to GEICO Nationals champion and perennial FAB 50 power Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.).

As impressive as Auburn looked against the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) Class 7A champs, Calvary Christian Academy was even that much better versus Auburn, dominating the Trojans from the opening tip on both ends of the floor en route to a 71-44 championship game victory Saturday afternoon at Berkeley Prep in Tampa, Fla. Auburn assisted on its first 14 field goals and on 20 of its 25 field goal and had three turnovers vs. Sidwell Friends, but it was a completely different story vs. Calvary Christian Academy. The Eagles used their height and length advantage to force Auburn into difficult shots and to create easy ones of their own. CCA jumped out to leads of 18-4 and 24-5 and never looked back, as the result of the first-year event was never in doubt. In stark contrast to its semifinal victory, Auburn committed 13 turnover and had 12 assists.

All five starters hit double figures for CCA, as tournament MVP and UCF commit Taylor Hendricks finished with 13 points, five rebounds and three blocks, while junior strongman Carl Cherenfant with 14 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Florida Atlanta commit Brenen Lorient had a double-double (13 points, 10 rebounds), Michigan signee Gregg Glenn had 12 points, six rebounds and five assists, while highly-regarded junior guard Marvel Allen finished with 10 points and five rebounds.

Hendricks had 24 points and 12 rebounds in the dominant semifinal win over Sidwell Friends, the District of Columbia Schools Athletic Association (DCSAA) Class AA champion, while Allen chipped in 13 points. CCA shot 55 percent (22-of-40) from the field.

Auburn was led by 2022 uncommitted prospects Maleek Arington with 17 points and four steals and Tre Blassingame with 13 points and 11 rebounds. In Auburn’s semifinal win over Norcross, Kaden Hansen netted a team-high 17 points, while Blassingame contributed 10 points, 11 rebounds and six steals.

As impressive as Calvary Christian Academy was in its two victories, it had nowhere to rise in the final FAB 50 rankings for the 2021-22 season. The Eagles lost one game to unranked Milton (Ga.) and one other game to GEICO Nationals champ and FAB 50 No. 2 Montverde Academy at the buzzer on a 3-pointer by Illinois pledge Skyy Clark. No. 6 IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.) beat Montverde Academy twice during the regular season before losing to that club in the semifinals of GEICO Nationals, so CCA stays No. 7 in the final FAB 50.

While Auburn made it to the championship game, its margin of defeat to CCA wasn’t much different than Sidwell Friends'. Sidwell Friends had a collection of more impressive victories during the season and Norcross was also missing its best player in its semifinal loss. Leading scorer London Johnson opted to participate at the Nike Hoop Summit in Portland, Ore. As a result, Sidwell Friends drops nine spots in the final ranking to No. 23, as it must remain in front of Bishop McNamara (Forestville, Md.) because of its head-to-head loss to the Quakers, which drop six spots to No. 26. Bishop McNamara does own a win over No. 16 Paul VI (Fairfax, Va.), so Sidwell Friends does deserve to stay in front of Auburn.

As for Auburn, it drops five spots to No. 36, while Norcross remains at No. 48 as the highest rated team from the Peach State and the final Southeast Region team in the rankings.

SCI organizers are hoping to expand the field to eight teams and bring in more sanctioned state champions for the 2022-23 season. While veteran observers felt the talent level and game play was much higher at GEICO Nationals than the first SCI, the top of the FAB 50 rankings does serve hope that the State Champions Invitational could develop into an event that could rival GEICO Nationals one day should the timing of the event be right and more state associations sanction the event.

FAB 50 national champion Duncanville (Texas) is a public school as part of the University Interscholastic League (UIL) and it finished its season with two victories over Top 5 clubs and seven victories in all over teams that were ranked at some point during the season. Coach David Peavy’s club defeated No. 2 Montverde Academy and No. 5 Centennial (Corona, Calif.), the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) open division champion. Centennial, which dropped its only game to Duncanville, is a public school. If the SCI can add some power states such as Texas and California to the fold, the event will become much more attractive to high school basketball fans, coaches, scouts and national media.

Led by McDonald’s All-American Anthony Black and District MVP Ronald Holland, Duncanville is the third FAB 50 champ of the past seven seasons that is a public school. Led by Mr. Basketball USA choice Michael Porter Jr., Nathan Hale (Seattle, Wash.) went 29-0 in 2016-17 and Chino Hills (Calif.) went 35-0 and finished No. 1 in 2015-16. Chino Hills was also led by its own national player of the year in point guard Lonzo Ball.

Before Duncanville, two Texas UIL clubs captured the FAB 50 title since 2000. In 2002, Chris Bosh-led Lincoln (Dallas) finished 40-0 and in 2010, Yates (Houston) set a national record with 15 straight 100-point games, had an average winning margin greater than 40 points per game and finished 32-0. In between those two Texas clubs, Lawrence North (Indianapolis, Ind.) went 29-0 in 2005-06 to finish as wire-to-wire FAB 50 No. 1.

Congrats to Calvary Christian, Duncanville and every other team that had a strong enough resume to finish 2021-22 as a FAB 50 ranked team.

RELATED:   "In The Paint" Podcast  | Ballislife Podcast Network | How To Create A High School March Madness | Final East Top 20 | Final Southeast Top 20 | Final Midwest Top 20 | Final Southwest Top 20 | Final West Top 20  | History of High School Team Rankings | All-Time No. 1's

Updated FAB 50 National Team Rankings
Powered by Ballislife.com

(18th and FINAL poll of 2021-22 regular season; Through games played on Saturday, April 9; *Indicates forfeit wins, forfeit losses not included; **Indicates forfeits and defaults not included; ***Indicates season not complete)

No.	Prev.	High School (City)	Record
1	1	Duncanville (Duncanville (Texas)	35-1
2	2	Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.)	22-4
3	3	Sunrise Christian Academy (Bel Aire, Kan.)	25-2
4	4	Link Academy (Branson, Mo.)	34-2
5	5	Centennial (Corona, Calif.)	33-1
6	6	IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.)	21-5
7	7	Calvary Christian Academy (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.)	26-2
8	8	Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.)	33-8
9	9	Roselle Catholic (Roselle, N.J.)	29-2
10	10	Weddington (Matthews, N.C.)	31-0
11	11	La Lumiere (La Porte, Ind.)	20-5
12	12	Camden (Camden, N.J.)	31-3
13	13	Glenbard West (Glen Ellyn, Ill.)	37-1
14	17	Liberty (Henderson, Nev.)	22-4
15	18	Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.)	30-1
16	15	Paul VI (Fairfax, Va.)	31-5
17	16	North Little Rock (North Little Rock, Ark.)	27-3
18	19	Imhotep Charter (Philadelphia, Pa.)	27-4**
19	21	Cardinal Hayes (Bronx, N.Y.)	26-3
20	22	Jonesboro (Jonesboro, Ark.)	28-3
21	24	Orlando Christian Prep (Orlando, Fla.)	26-4**
22	23	Pickerington Central (Pickerington, Ohio)	26-2
23	14	Sidwell Friends (Washington, D.C.)	29-2
24	25	Archbishop Stepinac (White Plains, N.Y.)	26-4
25	30	Centerville (Centerville, Ohio)	29-1
26	20	Bishop McNamara (Forestville, Md.)	22-6
27	28	Hayfield (Alexandria, Va.)	32-0
28	26	McKinney (McKinney, Texas)	35-6
29	27	Beaumont United (Beaumont, Texas)	36-3
30	29	Oak Cliff Faith Family (Dallas, Texas)	34-4**
31	32	Christian Brothers (Memphis, Tenn.)	28-0
32	33	Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.)	26-5
33	36	Park Center (Brooklyn Park, Minn.)	32-1
34	34	Mt. St. Joseph (Baltimore, Md.)	32-7
35	35	Neumann-Goretti (Philadelphia, Pa.)	23-4
36	31	Auburn (Auburn, Wash.)	28-3
37	37	St. Frances Academy (Baltimore, Md.)	35-7
38	38	Neenah (Neenah, Wis.)	29-1
39	39	Varina (Richmond, Va.)	25-1
40	40	George Rogers Clark (Winchester, Ky.)	37-1
41	41	Memorial (Tulsa, Okla.)	27-1
42	42	Cathedral (Indianapolis, Ind.)	26-6
43	43	Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood, Calif.)	25-4
44	44	Carmel Christian (Matthews, N.C.)	26-3
45	45	Columbus (Miami, Fla.)	29-2
46	46	Westlake (Austin, Texas)	38-2
47	47	Greensboro Day (Greensboro, N.C.)	33-4
48	48	Norcross (Norcross, Ga.)	26-7
49	49	Williamston (Williamston, Mich.)	27-0
50	50	Volcano Vista (Albuquerque, N.M.)	29-0

Dropped Out: None.

Editor's Note: No bubble clubs are included in the final FAB 50, as the final 2021-22 Top 20 Regional Rankings include all the teams considered for the bubble.

Note: The FAB 50 powered by Ballislife.com is a continuation of the National Sports News Service ratings that began in 1952. These were the first national high school rankings and the late Art Johlfs of Minnesota compiled them. They were compiled for many years by the late Barry Sollenberger of Phoenix, who merged them into the FAB 50 22 years ago.

Ronnie Flores is the national Grassroots editor of Ballislife.com. He can be reached at [email protected]. Don't forget to follow him on Twitter: @RonMFlores