NEW FAB 50: Big Games On Horizon!

It was a relatively quiet week among the top ranked teams in the latest FAB 50 National Team Rankings powered by Ballislife.com, but that could change with many big games set for MLK weekend. There will be many high-profile matchups at the National Guard Hoophall Classic presented by Spalding in Springfield, Mass., through MLK Monday. One team drops from the top 10 and there are three newcomers led by No. 44 Patrick School (Hackettstown, N.J.).

By Ronnie Flores

After a busy holiday season of high-powered matchups, the first week of January was mostly light work for the teams in the FAB 50 National Team Rankings powered by Ballislife.com. There was little movement and we update these rankings with the thoughts of those affected and devastated by the wildfires in Southern California that ravaged through the communities of Pacific Palisades and Altadena.

The wildfires did affect scheduled games among FAB 50 ranked teams in SoCal, as previous No. 4 St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.) has its Wednesday contest with Santa Margarita (Rancho SM, Calif.) postponed due to air quality issues. On Friday, the Trinity Leagues and Mission Leagues, traditionally two of the best in California that currently have three of its teams FAB 50 ranked, were scheduled to play at the Intuit Dome, home of the L.A. Clippers, in Inglewood, but the event was postponed until Feb. 1.

Two of the event's marquee games were played on Friday at home sites and that caused two Trinity League teams to drop in the rankings this week, including one of the three teams that dropped out of the nation's longest running weekly poll. Santa Margarita played then No. 44 JSerra (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) at home and used a big third quarter to propel itself to a 70-49 victory. Junior guard Kaiden Bailey had 11 points in the third period and nailed a 40-foot buzzer beater to close the quarter and give the Eagles a 50-33 lead after leading 33-25 at halftime. He finished with three 3-pointers and 25 points, while Long Beach St.-bound forward Dallas Washington added three 3-pointers and 17 points for Santa Margarita, which lost earlier in the season to No. 43 De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) by four points (61-57).

St. John Bosco coach Matt Dunn has a team that hasn't been able to use its gym for practice since Monday, Jan. 6, but it traveled to Orange County to face traditional Trinity League power Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Ana.) on Friday and the Braves were upset by a team that had dropped out the Cal-Hi Sports State Top 25 for the first time in 27 years, 62-59. The Braves didn't shoot particularly well and were unable to make much of a defensive impact in the paint, as Mater Dei scored 28 paint points while Bosco wasn't credited with a blocked shot. USC-bound Elzie Harrington was the one player who had a big impact offensively with 23 points, although he did commit six turnovers.

St. John Bosco drops 15 spots to No. 19 and remains in front of California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) clubs No. 24 St. Joseph (Santa Maria, Calif.) and No. 29 Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks, Calif.). Bosco, whose only other loss is in overtime to No. 3 Roosevelt (Eastvale, Calif.), plays in a much tougher league than St. Joseph and has more quality games coming up and the Braves easily downed (61-32) the Layton Christian of Utah club that Notre Dame has a split with.

As of now, Bosco's game with Santa Margarita is tentatively re-scheduled for Jan. 27 and Notre Dame's Mission League showdown with Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.) will be played on Feb. 1 prior to the Mission League Tournament. Notre Dame, Roosevelt and St. John Bosco all have big games at the Army National Guard Hoophall Classic presented by Spalding in Springfield, Mass., that could impact next week's special MLK edition of the FAB 50 that will be posted on Tuesday, Jan. 21.

FAB 50 No. 1 Prolific Prep will play No. 39 AZ Compass Prep (Chandler, Ariz.) on Friday at the Flyin' To The Hoop in Dayton, Ohio and then will play bubble club Highland (Warrenton, Va.) on Sunday in Springfield at 8:45 pm ET. No. 2 Columbus (Miami, Fla.) will take on Notre Dame on Saturday (5:30 pm ET). A game earlier (4 pm ET), St. John Bosco will take on No. 33 Paul VI (Chantilly, Va.). Sierra Canyon will take on No. 13 Grayson (Loganville, Ga.) at 7 pm ET.

On Sunday right before the Prolific Prep-Highland matchup, No. 7 Utah Prep (Hurricane, Utah) will take on No. 9 Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.) in a marquee matchup on ESPN2 (7 pm ET) featuring BYU-bound A.J. Dybansta vs. the defending FAB 50 national champions.

On MLK Monday, Roosevelt takes on No. 5 Gonzaga (Washington, D.C.) at 11 am ET, while Columbus will come back and play a second game vs. No. 6 Perry (Gilbert, Ariz.) at 1 pm ET. At 3 pm ET, Montverde Academy will take on AZ Compass Prep and at 5 pm ET No. 22 Long Island Lutheran (Glen Head, N.Y.) will take on No. 38 La Lumiere (La Porte, Ind.).

Columbus is in the FAB 50 national title hunt and those two games will be critical for the Explorers and also a great opportunity for Notre Dame and Perry. For Roosevelt, its MLK Monday game will produce a critical common opponent with No. 4 Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood, Calif.), which defeated Gonzaga at Hoophall West, 66-63, in the semifinals of that event. Gonzaga lost to Columbus in triple overtime earlier in the season. Harvard-Westlake also handed Perry its only defeat, 57-54, in the Hoophall West quarterfinals and defeated De La Salle in the title game.

As of Monday, there are no reported travel issues for any of the California teams affected by the wildfires with traveling to Massachusetts later in the week.

RELATED:   Preseason 2024-25 Mr. Basketball USA Tracker | "In The Paint" Podcast (Spotify) |  "In The Paint" Podcast (YouTube) 

Updated FAB 50 National Team Rankings
Powered by Ballislife.com

(4th poll of 2024-25 regular season; Through games played on Sunday, January 12; *Indicates forfeit wins, forfeit losses not included; **Indicates forfeits and defaults not included)

No. Prev. High School (City)Record
11Prolific Prep (Napa, Calif.)18-3
22Columbus (Miami, Fla.)14-3
33Roosevelt (Eastvale, Calif.)21-1
45Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood, Calif.)18-1
56Gonzaga (Washington, D.C.)12-2
611Perry (Gilbert, Ariz.)15-1
78Utah Prep (Hurricane, Utah)16-4
89Brewster Academy (Wolfeboro, N.H.)14-2
910Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.)10-2
107CIA Bella Vista (Phoenix, Ariz.)13-2
1112IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.)12-2
1213Christ School (Arden, N.C.)14-0
1314Grayson (Loganville, Ga.)15-1
1415DeMatha Catholic (Hyattsville, Md.)12-2
1516St. John’s (Washington, D.C.)12-3
1617Brennan (San Antonio, Texas)21-2
1718Allen (Allen, Texas)22-1
1819John Marshall (Richmond, Va.)11-0
194St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.)17-2
2020Wasatch Academy (Mt. Pleasant, Utah)13-4
2121Link Academy (Branson, Mo.)10-4
2222Long Island Lutheran (Glen Head, N.Y.)10-5
2323Calvary Christian Academy (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.)12-0
2424St. Joseph (Santa Maria, Calif.)16-1
2525Owasso (Owasso, Okla.)9-3
2630Hoover (Hoover, Ala.)21-0
2727DME Academy (Daytona Beach, Fla.)13-6
2828Dream City Christian (Glendale, Ariz.)17-4
2929Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks, Calif.)15-2
3031Fishers (Fishers, Ind.)12-0
3139Sunrise Christian Academy (Bel Aire, Kan.)9-2
3236Wheeler (Marietta, Ga.)13-3
3338Paul VI (Chantilly, Va.)9-3
3432Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.)13-3
3533Combine Academy (Lincolnton, N.C.)19-5
3634Winstom-Salem Christian (Winston-Salem, N.C.)21-4
3735Bishop O’Connell (Arlington, Va.)12-3
3826La Lumiere (La Porte, Ind.)12-8
3940AZ Compass Prep (Chandler, Ariz.)7-4
4041Reidsville (Reidsville, N.C.)12-0
4143Huntsville (Huntsville, Ala.)22-1
4242U of D Jesuit (Detroit, Mich.)9-1**
4347De La Salle (Concord, Calif.)15-1
44NRPatrick School (Hackettstown, N.J.)12-3
4545St. Frances Academy (Baltimore, Md.)13-2
4646St. Thomas Aquinas (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.)14-1
4749Reynoldsburg (Reynoldsburg, Ohio)10-0
4850DePaul College Prep (Chicago, Ill.)16-1
49NRCretin-Derham Hall (St. Paul, Minn.)11-0
50NROak Park (Kansas City, Mo.)10-1

Dropped Out: Previous No. 37 Sidwell Friends (Washington, D.C.), No. 44 JSerra (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.), No. 48 Lawrence North (Indianapolis, Ind.).

Bubble Teams:  Annie Wright (Tacoma, Wash.) 11-1; Archbishop Riordan (San Francisco, Calif.) 11-1; Archbishop Stepinac (White Plains, N.Y.) 9-3; Bolingbrook (Bolingbrook, Ill.) 16-2; Brother Rice (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) 12-1; Catholic (Baton Rouge, La.) 21-1; Chaminade (St. Louis, Mo.) 7-4; Crown Point (Crown Point, Ind.) 9-0; De Pere (De Pere, Wis.) 9-1; DeSmet (St. Louis, Mo.) 11-1; East Lansing (East Lansing, Mich.) 9-1**; Ft. Bend Marshall (Missouri City, Texas) 25-2; Gibbs (St. Petersburg, Fla.) 13-4; Highland (Warrenton, Va.) 18-5; Hopkins (Minnetonka, Minn.) 12-0; Imhotep Charter (Philadelphia, Pa.) 11-4; Jordan (Fulshear, Texas) 23-2; JSerra (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) 16-4; Kenwood (Chicago, Ill.) 17-1; Lake Norman (Mooresville, N.C.) 13-1; Lake Ridge (Mansfield, Texas) 24-2; Milton (Milton, Ga.) 11-3; Monsignor Bonner (Drexel Hill, Pa.) 11-1; Montgomery (San Diego, Calif.) 17-1; Muskegon (Muskegon, Mich.) 8-1; Northwest (Shawnee Mission, Kan.) 5-1; Notre Dame (West Haven, Conn.) 8-1; Oak Ridge (Orlando, Fla.) 10-5; Olentangy Orange (Lewis Center, Ohio) 9-1; Richland (Richland, Wash.) 11-0; Rockford (Rockford, Mich.) 10-1; Salesian (Richmond, Calif.) 14-1; Santa Margarita (Rancho SM, Calif.) 15-3; St. Ignatius (Cleveland, Ohio) 10-3; St. Mary Prep (Orchard Lake, Mich.) 7-5; St. Peter’s Prep (Jersey City, N.J.) 10-2; St. Raymond (Bronx, N.Y.) 8-5; Timpview (Provo, Utah) 11-3; Vashon (St. Louis, Mo.) 12-1; Veterans Memorial (Corpus Christi, Texas) 27-0; Waubonsie Valley (Aurora, Ill.) 17-0; Webb (Knoxville, Tenn.) 19-2; Wisconsin Lutheran (Milwaukee, Wis.) 10-0; Woodward Academy (College Park, Ga.) 11-3.

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 25 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

							

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *