November was a busy month and a full slate of holiday showcases and tournaments over Thanksgiving weekend caused plenty of movement in the first edition of the FAB 50 National Team Rankings powered by Ballislife.com for the 2025-26 season. Eight newcomers are led by No. 23 Gaston Christian (Gastonia, N.C.) and No. 25 Tennessee Collegiate Academy (Millington, Tenn.), as preseason No. 1 Prolific Prep (Southwest Ranches, Fla.) goes down. EYBL Scholastic play and teams just starting their seasons will cause movement in coming weeks as holiday tournaments get set to tip off!
By Ronnie Flores
As we finalized the first regular season FAB 50 National Team Rankings powered by Ballislife.com, we were reminded of two rankings factors we mention often. One, every season is its own entity and two, the amount of games teams have played when the rankings are compiled is important.
Unlike the past two seasons when Montverde Academy and Columbus, both of Florida, were slam dunk preseason No. 1s, we mentioned this season a host of clubs could have realistically began at No. 1 and even more feel they have a shot to finish as the nation’s best team.
Preseason No. 1 Prolific Prep (Southwest Ranches, Fla.) fell to unranked Tennessee Collegiate Academy (Millington, Tenn.), 65-64, at the Thanksgiving Hoopfest in Dallas, one of the many holiday weekend events that shape the first in-season FAB 50. Prolific Prep’s Nasir Anderson attempted to score the game-winning bucket on a drive to the hoop in the closing seconds, but was met at the rim by a host of Tennessee Collegiate Academy defenders and was denied, as the ball fell out of bounds after a scramble for it as time ran out.
Jackson St.-bound Mason Williams led the way for Tennessee Collegiate Academy with 23 points, five rebounds and five assists.
Preseason No. 6 Archbishop Stepinac (White Plains, N.Y.) fell in its first game to unranked St. Frances Academy (Baltimore, Md.), 67-58, as the Crusaders’ offense fell flat. The game was tied at 32-32 at the half, but it was all Panthers in the second half, as Stepinac could not muster enough offense down the stretch.
Junior guard Terrence Jones III led SFA with 23 points, while senior Anthony Smith added 18.
Mr. Basketball USA candidates Josiah Jervis (20 points) and Adonis Ratliff (16 points, seven rebounds, six blocks) led the way for Stepinac.
Some teams, especially in the Midwest and East Region, have not yet played games and in some instances this early in the season, a team is not always going to be ranked ahead of the one it defeated. Make no mistake, the early-season loss for Prolific Prep and Archbishop Stepinac are factored into their ranking, and if Tennessee Collegiate Academy and St. Frances Academy keep on winning themselves, those results will become a much larger factor.
As of now, Prolific Prep falls to No. 5, while Archbishop Stepinac falls to No. 11. Keep in mind, if we didn’t think they were quality club we wouldn’t have ranked them that high to begin with.
That puts preseason No. 2 Link Academy (Branson, Mo.) as our new FAB 50 No. 1 club.
Tennessee Collegiate Academy, a member of the 20-team EYBL Scholastic League, comes in at No. 25, right below the Greensboro Day (Greensboro, N.C.) it fell to, 61-55, at the George Lynch Invitational. Those results are also a swoon for new No. 23 Gaston Christian (Gastonia, N.C.), which is still unbeaten and owns a victory over Greensboro Day. St. Francis Academy checks in at No. 27, right behind the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (Baltimore, Md.) club it lost to, 62-49.
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel began the season as the favorites in the Baltimore Catholic League and on Monday night St. Francis Academy gets to prove its rankings worth when it takes on bubble club and 6-0 Mt. St. Joseph (Baltimore, Md.) in a key BCL contest.
Timing of Rankings, Wins Paramount
When the announcement was made Tyran Stokes was checking out of preseason No. 10 Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks, Calif.), we had already begun our preseason FAB 50 countdown three days earlier and our final in a three-part series was released a mere hour before it was made official. We heard rumblings of this news, but had it been made official earlier, the preseason FAB 50 would have looked quite different and Notre Dame wouldn’t have started at No. 10.
Seven Lakes (Katy, Texas) of the Southwest Region and Redondo Union (Redondo Beach, Calif.) of the West Region were essentially our No. 51 and No. 52 teams, respectively, in the preseason FAB 50 and if Notre Dame didn’t have Stokes, the Blue Knights would have started NNo. 5 among California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) clubs right behind Redondo Union. That was the pecking order in the Cal-Hi Sports preseason state rankings.
Seven Lakes earned its way into the FAB 50 with a 58-57 victory over preseason No. 17 Atascocita (Humble, Texas) at the RCS Sports Season Opener and checks in at No. 35. As for Redondo Union, the Sea Hawks check in at No. 38 after a come-from-behind 68-64 victory over preseason No. 44 Sunnyslope (Phoenix, Ariz.) at the Battlezone at Centennial (Corona, Calif.).
As for Notre Dame, it must now be behind No. 46 Santa Margarita (Rancho SM, Calif.) after losing to that club, 77-73, at the Trinity-Mission League Showcase at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion.
Similar to Seven Lakes and Redondo Union, Notre Dame is now the odd man out, but keep in mind all these above mentioned teams have plenty of big December games coming up that will give us more evidence as to a clear pecking order heading into 2026.
The next FAB 50 update is scheduled for Monday, December 15.
RELATED: Preseason 2025-26 FAB 50 National Rankings | Preseason 2025-26 Mr. Basketball USA Tracker | “In The Paint” Podcast (Spotify) | “In The Paint” Podcast (YouTube)
Updated FAB 50 National Team Rankings
Powered by Ballislife.com
(1st poll of 2025-26 regular season; Through games played on Sunday, November 30; *Indicates forfeit wins, forfeit losses not included; **Indicates forfeits and defaults not included)
| No. | Prev. | High School (City) | Record |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Link Academy (Branson, Mo.) | 5-0 |
| 2 | 3 | CIA Bella Vista (Phoenix, Ariz.) | 3-0 |
| 3 | 4 | Long Island Lutheran (Glen Head, N.Y.) | 0-0 |
| 4 | 5 | AZ Compass Prep (Chandler, Ariz.) | 6-0 |
| 5 | 1 | Prolific Prep (Southwest Ranches, Fla.) | 6-1 |
| 6 | 22 | Columbus (Miami, Fla.) | 4-1 |
| 7 | 7 | Southeastern Prep Academy (Orlando, Fla.) | 9-2 |
| 8 | 8 | Brewster Academy (Wolfeboro, N.H.) | 8-0 |
| 9 | 9 | Paul VI (Chantilly, Va.) | 1-0 |
| 10 | 11 | IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.) | 4-0 |
| 11 | 6 | Archbishop Stepinac (White Plains, N.Y.) | 0-1 |
| 12 | 12 | Spire Academy (Geneva, Ohio) | 2-1 |
| 13 | 14 | Bishop McNamara (Forestville, Md.) | 1-0 |
| 14 | 15 | Wheeler (Marietta, Ga.) | 3-0 |
| 15 | 18 | Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.) | 4-0 |
| 16 | 28 | La Lumiere (La Porte, Ind.) | 6-0 |
| 17 | 26 | Fishers (Fishers, Ind.) | 3-0 |
| 18 | 29 | Oak Cliff Faith Family (Dallas, Texas) | 7-2 |
| 19 | 20 | Petersburg (Petersburg, Va.) | 0-0 |
| 20 | 44 | Chris School (Arden, N.C.) | 6-0 |
| 21 | 27 | Bergen Catholic (Oradell, N.J.) | 0-0 |
| 22 | 33 | Salesian (Richmond, Calif.) | 1-0 |
| 23 | NR | Gaston Christian (Gastonia, N.C.) | 11-0 |
| 24 | 31 | Greensboro Day (Greensboro, N.C.) | 10-1 |
| 25 | NR | Tennessee Collegiate Academy (Millington, Tenn.) | 8-1 |
| 26 | 23 | Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (Baltimore, Md.) | 5-1 |
| 27 | NR | St. Frances Academy (Baltimore, Md.) | 4-1 |
| 28 | 34 | Bishop O’Connell (Arlington, Va.) | 2-0 |
| 29 | 35 | Timpview (Provo, Utah) | 3-0 |
| 30 | 32 | Millennium (Goodyear, Ariz.) | 3-1 |
| 31 | 16 | Dream City Christian (Glendale, Ariz.) | 1-2 |
| 32 | 30 | Sunrise Christian Academy (Bel Aire, Kan.) | 5-1 |
| 33 | 21 | Wasatch Academy (Mt. Pleasant,, Utah) | 1-2 |
| 34 | 36 | The Villages Charter (The Villages, Fla.) | 2-1 |
| 35 | BB | Seven Lakes (Katy, Texas) | 7-0 |
| 36 | 43 | Webb (Knoxville, Tenn.) | 4-1 |
| 37 | 46 | DePaul College Prep (Chicago, Ill.) | 4-0 |
| 38 | BB | Redondo Union (Redondo Beach, Calif.) | 3-0 |
| 39 | 39 | St. Thomas Aquinas (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) | 3-0 |
| 40 | BB | St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.) | 2-0 |
| 41 | 19 | Harvard-Westlake (Bellflower, Calif.) | 4-1 |
| 42 | 42 | Notre Dame (West Haven, Conn.) | 0-0 |
| 43 | BB | McEachern (Powder Springs, Fla.) | 4-1 |
| 44 | 45 | Sunnyslope (Phoenix, Ariz.) | 3-1 |
| 45 | 47 | Bartlett (Bartlett, Tenn.) | 4-0 |
| 46 | BB | Santa Margarita (Rancho SM, Calif.) | 6-0 |
| 47 | 48 | East Lansing (East Lansing, Mich.) | 0-0 |
| 48 | 49 | Principia (St. Louis, Mo.) | 0-0 |
| 49 | 50 | Owasso (Owasso, Okla.) | 1-0 |
| 50 | 25 | Brennan (San Antonio, Texas) | 7-1 |
Dropped Out: Previous No. 10 Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks, Calif.), No. 13 Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.), No. 17 Atascocita (Humble, Texas), No. 24 Winston-Salem Christian (Winston-Salem, N.C.), No. 37 Woodward Academy (College Park, Ga.), No. 38 Father Judge (Philadelphia, Pa.), No. 40 Sidwell Friends (Washington, D.C.), No. 41 Carter (Dallas, Texas).
Bubble Teams: Allen (Allen, Texas) 5-0; Archbishop Riordan (San Francisco, Calif.) 1-0; Archbishop Spaulding (Severn, Md.) 2-1; Atascocita (Humble, Texas) 8-2; Benet Academy (Lisle, Ill.) 3-1; Brother Rice (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) 0-0; Bryant (Bryant, Ark.) 5-0; Calvary Christian Academy (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) 5-0; Carter (Dallas, Texas) 4-1; Chaparral (Parker, Col.) 0-0; Cretin-Derham Hall (St. Paul, Minn.) 0-0; Davidson Day (Davidson, N.C.) 6-3; DeMatha Catholic (Hyattsville, Md.) 2-0; Duncanville (Duncanville, Texas) 4-0; Father Judge (Philadelphia, Pa.) 0-1; Forsyth Country Day (Lewisville, N.C.) 8-0; Gillion Academy (Springfield, Va.) 8-1; Grayson (Loganville, Ga.) 4-0; Hillgrove (Power Springs, Ga.) 5-1; Hopkins (Minnetonka, Minn.) 0-0; Imhotep Charter (Philadelphia, Pa.) 1-0; Lakota West (West Chester, Ohio) 0-0; Lutheran East (Cleveland Heights, Ohio) 1-0; Male (Louisville, Ky.) 0-0; Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.) 0-2; Mt. St. Joseph (Baltimore, Md.) 6-0; Mt. Vernon (Fortville, Ind.) 1-0; Neumann-Goretti (Philadelphia, Pa.) 0-0; Norman (Norman, Okla.) 2-0; North Crowley (Ft. Worth, Texas) 8-2; Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks, Calif.) 3-1; Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) 8-2; Omaha Westside (Omaha, Neb.) 0-0; Patrick School (Hackettstown, N.J.) 2-0; Pike (Indianapolis, Ind.) 2-1; Plainfield (Plainfield, N.J.) 0-0; Rainier Beach (Seattle, Wash.) 0-0; Rangeview (Aurora, Col.) 0-0; Ridge View (Columbia, S.C.) 2-0; Rockford (Rockford, Mich.) 0-0; South (Shawnee Mission, Kan.) 0-0; St. Ignatius (Chicago, Ill.) 4-0; St. John’s (Washington, D.C.) 2-0; St. Joseph (South Bend, Ind.) 0-0; St. Xavier (Louisville, Ky.) 0-0; Thomas Jefferson (Brooklyn, N.Y.) 1-1; Tri-Cities (East Point, Ga.) 1-3; Vashon (St. Louis, Mo.) 2-0; Warren Township (Gurnee, Ill.) 1-0; Waukee Northwest (Waukee, Iowa) 0-0; Wayzata (Plymouth, Minn.) 0-0; Webster Groves (Webster Groves, Mo.) 1-0; Wisconsin Lutheran (Milwaukee, Wis.) 1-0.
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 26 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