By Ronnie Flores

RELATED: ???| | The Future Of Big-Time HS Basketball?| FAB 50 Rankings Criteria?| How To Make A HS Version Of March Madness? |?Final Southwest Region Top 20 | Final Midwest Region Top 20?| Final Southeast Region Top 20?| Final East Region Top 20?| Final West Region Top 20 | ?2020-21 Mr. Basketball USA | 2020-21?Underclass POYs

The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) finally wrapped up its season this past weekend with regional championships in Southern California. Of course the big one was the open division where Torrey Pines (San Diego, Calif.) was looking to make history as the first San Diego County team to play in the top division SoCal regional final back to 1982, when the modern CIF state finals were held for the first time.

Torrey Pines did reach the final with a 63-42 regional semifinal victory over Damien (La Verne, Calif.) that wasn't as close as the final score indicates to set up the final game on its home court. Torrey Pines was looking to close its season 31-0 and with a historic regional championship that would have put this Falcons team in conversation with the greatest CIF San Diego Section teams ever. At the top of that list in the 1969-70 Helix (La Mesa, Calif.) team led by All-American Bill Walton?(UCLA/NBA Hall of Fame) that finished 33-0.

In the other regional semifinal, unranked Etiwanda (Etiwanda, Calif.) exercised some demons by upsetting previous FAB 50 No. 32 Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.), 82-76, on the road to earn the program's first win over the Trailblazers after five crushing defeats. Ironically, it was by the same score Sierra Canyon defeated Etiwanda by earlier in the seasons in a CIF Southern Section pool play game that knocked Etiwanda out of the national rankings. This time with junior Shy Odom?missing the second half, even a terrific 37-point performance by junior Amari Bailey wasn't enough for a Sierra Canyon team that walked a tight rope this post-season.

The team that Sierra Canyon fell to in the CIFSS open title game, Centennial (Corona, Calif.), opted out of the regional in order to participate in front of college coaches at Section 7 in Phoenix, Ariz. The underclass-dominated Huskies had a vested interest in the Torrey Pines-Etiwanda regional final because it had a head-to-head loss to the Falcons. If Etiwanda could pull off the road game upset, Centennial would finish as California's No. 1 ranked team and the state's highest in the FAB 50, even though it didn't participate in the regional. Etiwanda, of course, didn't make the section open final that Centennial won over Sierra Canyon.

With Etiwanda getting over the hump vs. Sierra Canyon and coming into the regional final loose and alot riding on the game for Torrey Pines, Centennial got the two outcomes it was hoping for. On Saturday night, Etiwanda played one of its best games of the season to knock off Torrey Pines from the ranks of the unbeaten to win its first ever SoCal Regional title. On Sunday afternoon after Centennial already knew that result and that it had done enough to finish No. 1 in the state, the Huskies won their fourth game at Section 7 to claim the tournament title in front of a throng of college coaches.

"Even though I thought Torrey Pines was going to win, I kinda of knew we were the No. 1 team," said rising junior guard Jared McCain after scoring nine points to help his team defeat Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.), 84-64, to win the All About People Division at Section 7. "Beating Serra Canyon was our goal and that was great. When we lost to Torrey Pines, we hadn't jelled as a team yet."

"We wanted to play Torrey Pines and it would have been great to beat them," said rising junior guard Kylan Boswell, who scored 17 points against Bishop Gorman and got our vote as Section 7 MVP. "We wanted to play, Harvard-Westlake, too (after losing to them in pool play)."

As it worked out, Centennial rose seven spots in the final rankings as the only California team to crack the Top 25 at No. 22. Etiwanda, which ironically also lost to Harvard-Westlake, jumped into the rankings at No. 30 after its big win over Sierra Canyon and its 68-65 regional final win over Torrey Pines.

After each scored 20 points in the avenging win over Sierra Canyon, Tennessee-bound Jahmai Mashack (who is already taking a full college course load online) and senior Marcus Green had big outings versus Torrey Pines to close out their high school careers. Green had 22 points and Mashack added 21 for a team that lost to Sierra Canyon in heart-breaking fashion the season before in the same exact game right before the pandemic broke out.

Nick Herrmann led Torrey Pines with 24 points while St. Mary's-bound Chris Howell added 18. Torrey Pines trailed 19-17 after a quarter and 44-27 at halftime, but started chipping away at its deficit before having an opportunity to potentially tie the game late. Torrey Pines trialed 67-62 with 30 seconds remaining, but some missed free throws gave the Falcons life. With .9 seconds remaining, Torrey Pines set up a shot for Herrmann curling towards the right corner, but he slipped and the Falcons never got a shot off.

"Our defense led to offense, and we got some easy baskets out of it," said Etiwanda coach Dave Kleckner, who won his first regional title after being 0-5 in regional finals prior. "I couldn't be happier for the kids. Losing this game last hear broke our hearts and it was really devastating. I think all of us got stronger for it after it sat with all of us for over a year."

There were three big ranking questions after the CIF concluded its season. Which team would be No. 3 from California in the FAB 50 between Torrey Pines and Sierra Canyon? Did all four California teams do enough to remain in the final rankings? Did any Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) team deserve to crack the FAB 50?

Torrey Pines get the nod as the third team from California in the rankings and drops to No. 32 in the final edition. Torrey Pines lost to Etiwanda while Sierra Canyon split with that same team. However, Torrey Pines defeated the Centennial team Sierra Canyon lost to in the CIFSS open title game. So Sierra Canyon didn't win its section open title nor did it advance to the regional final. We determined Sierra Canyon had done enough to remain in the FAB 50, as its drops eight spots to No. 40. It does own a win over Etiwanda and defeated some talented teams in the CIFSS playoffs.

Lastly, after analyzing the results and rosters of OSAA teams and comparing them to the teams in the bottom portion of the rankings, we felt no team from Oregon would be able to crack the nation's longest-running weekly national rankings. Oregon's top teams just aren't able to play other elite teams from outside the state or build a resume strong enough in its abbreviated spring season.

That season is actually not over, so the West Region Final Top 20 won't be released until it is. The final regional rankings for our other traditional regions have already been released.

RELATED: ???|?| The Future Of Big-Time HS Basketball?| FAB 50 Rankings Criteria?| How To Make A HS Version Of March Madness |Final Southwest Region Top 20 | Final Midwest Region Top 20?| Final Southeast Region Top 20?| ?Final East Region Top 20?| Final West Region Top 20?|?2020-21 Mr. Basketball USA | 2020-21?Underclass POYs

Updated FAB 50 National Team Rankings
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(27th and final poll of 2020-21 season; Through games played on Sunday, June 20; *Indicates forfeit wins, forfeit losses not included; **Indicates forfeits and defaults not included; ***Does not include results vs. out-of-season opponents)

Dropped Out: Previous No. 50 St. Catherine’s (Racine, Wis.).

Editor's Note: No bubble clubs are included in the final FAB 50, as the final 2020-21 Top 20 Regional Rankings include all the teams considered for the bubble.

Note:?The FAB 50 powered by www.ebooksnet.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 21 years ago.

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

The post Final 2020-21 FAB 50: What A Season! appeared first on www.ebooksnet.com.

By Ronnie Flores

RELATED: ???| | The Future Of Big-Time HS Basketball?| FAB 50 Rankings Criteria?| How To Make A HS Version Of March Madness? | Final Midwest Region Top 20?| Final Southeast Region Top 20?

What happens off the court sometimes affects the FAB 50 National Team Rankings powered by www.ebooksnet.com. Off-the-court news may not be as important as the actual results of games, but it can still affect what happens down the line and the strategy in setting up the final rankings.

That was the case last week when the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) announced the re-instatement of regional championships in Southern California only. The state is broken into 10 sections with their own individual playoffs. The teams then are selected for the regional playoffs. This year, with only two of the six Northern California sections offering playoffs, NorCal will not have regional championships.

For the second consecutive year, there won't be any CIF state championships. The section playoff around California will conclude on June 12 and the CIF regional championships will be complete by June 19.

Last season, Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.), currently No. 10 in the FAB 50 and now up to 5-0 on its season, won the SoCal open division title, but the very next day the sports world shut down and the CIF state championships were never played. The NorCal open title game was never played because of a COVID-19-related delay in the regional bracket.

Sierra Canyon is the last team to win the CIF state title in 2018-19 and will go into 2021-22 as the defending CIF state champs.

The announcement that the CIF will not host NorCal regionals definitely affects the FAB 50 for teams from that region. Bishop O'Dowd (Oakland, Calif.), which made last year's NorCal open title game and is the only program from the region to win the CIF open crown (in 2015), plays in a section (CIF North Coast) that won't have a post-season. That affects its chances to play quality post-season competition and potentially play a ranked SoCal power in the CIF open title game.

It doesn't just hurt O'Dowd, it hurts any elite Northern California team and that pool of teams in smaller than its Southern California counterparts. COVID-19 is also affecting the region and potentially the ranking of its teams.

Archbishop Mitty (San Jose, Calif.), from the CIF Central Coast Section, had a game scheduled with Dublin (Calif.) last week that was cancelled because of COVID-19 protocols. So Mitty and O'Dowd quickly scheduled a game last week and it just happened to be a matchup of the two highest-ranked teams in Northern California at the time. With no regional playoffs, it was a big game (even though still relatively early in the season). Then No. 42 O'Dowd lost 58-54 and dropped out of the rankings.

Mitty, which was on the FAB bubble last week, got a big performance from Zach Granberry (a UC Santa Cruz commit) with 19 points to pull out a sloppily played game. The Monarchs would have moved into the FBA 50 this week had not lost later in the week, 51-49, to talented Capital Christian (Sacramento, Calif.), which came into the season as the No. 1 team from the massive CIF Sac Joaquin Section.

The next team in line for the rankings from NorCal, Riordan (San Francisco, Calif.), Mitty's West Catholic Athletic League (WCAL) rival, also lost. Without regional playoffs (and in the case of O'Dowd no sectionals), it will be much harder for those teams to rebound later and have a chance to jump in the FAB 50. The potential teams that usually await in the post-season simply won't be there this season.

Mitty's stumble created an opportunity for Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) Class 4A state champ Wayzata (Plymouth, Minn.). The Trojans, which won their first state title since 1959, break into the rankings at No. 50. Wayzata split games with state power Hopkins (Minnetonka, Minn.) with its only other loss coming against FAB 50 No. 7 Minnehaha Academy (Minneapolis, Minn.) by seven points (70-63).

In the Catholic High School Athletic Association (CHSAA) Spring Tournament, previous No. 26 St. Raymond (Bronx, N.Y.) dropped its first game and dropped out of the FAB 50. The new team checking in at No. 45 is Monsignor Scanlan (Bronx, N.Y.). The Crusaders are trying to prove they are the best team in the CHSAA and are currently tied for first place in the Kevin Pigott Division of the tournament with FAB 50 bubble club and host Archbishop Stepinac (White Plains, N.Y.).

Scanlan and Stepinac are scheduled to lock horns on May 6.

RELATED: ???|?| The Future Of Big-Time HS Basketball?| FAB 50 Rankings Criteria?| How To Make A HS Version Of March Madness? | Final Midwest Region Top 20?| Final Southeast Region Top 20?

Updated FAB 50 National Team Rankings
Powered by www.ebooksnet.com

(20th poll of 2020-21 regular season; Through games played on Sunday, May 2; *Indicates forfeit wins, forfeit losses not included; **Indicates forfeits and defaults not included; ***Does not include results vs. out-of-season opponents; ****Indicates season not complete.)

Dropped Out: Previous No. 26 St. Raymond (Bronx, N.Y.), No. 42 Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland, Calif.).

Bubble Teams:? Archbishop Stepinac (White Plains, N.Y.) 6-2****; Ardrey Kell (Charlotte, N.C.) 10-1; Atascocita (Humble, Texas) 24-3; Blue Ridge (St. George, Va.) 15-0; Calvary Christian Academy (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) 17-7; Catalina Foothills (Tuscon, Ariz.) 19-1; Catholic Central (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 20-0; Central (Little Rock, Ark.) 23-5; Chaminade (St. Louis, Mo.) 22-2; Cherry Creek (Greenwood Village, Col.) 17-1; Creighton Prep (Omaha, Neb.) 23-3; Davis (Kaysville, Utah) 22-4; Del City (Del City, Okla.) 22-4; DePaul College Prep (Chicago, Ill.) 14-2; Eastside Catholic (Sammamish, Wash.) 0-0; Edmond Memorial (Edmond, Okla.) 17-2; Elizabethtown (Elizabethtown, Ky.) 22-3; Garfield (Seattle, Wash.) 0-0; Gonzaga (Washington, D.C.) 0-2***; Green Run (Virginia Beach, Va.) 9-1; Highlands (Ft. Thomas, Ky.) 30-4; Imhotep Charter (Philadelphia, Pa.) 14-0; Jefferson (Portland, Ore.) 0-0; John Carroll (Bel Air, Md.) 11-5; Kickapoo (Springfield, Mo.) 28-2; La Lumiere (La Porte, Ind.) 10-10; Las Cruces (Las Cruces, N.M.) 12-0****; Mentor (Mentor, Ohio) 25-1; Richardson (Richardson, Texas) 25-2; Roselle Catholic (Roselle, N.J.) 12-3; Seattle Prep (Seattle, Wash.) 0-0; South Grand Prairie (Grand Prairie, Texas) 21-1; Starkville (Starkville, Miss.) 21-3; Stone Bridge (Ashburn, Va.) 16-1; St. Catherine’s (Racine, Wis.) 28-1; St. Mary Prep (Orchard Lake, Mich.) 15-1; St. Mary’s (Pheonix, Ariz.) 20-1; Thunderidge (Highlands Ranch, Col.) 13-2; Vashon (St. Louis, Mo.) 15-1**; Waxahachie (Waxahachie, Texas) 20-3; Westlake (Saratoga Springs, Utah) 21-4; Wheeler (Marietta, Ga.) 27-5; Whitney Young (Chicago, Ill.) 15-1; Wilson (West Lawn, Pa.) 20-2.

Note:?The FAB 50 powered by www.ebooksnet.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 21 years ago.

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

The post UPDATED FAB 50: Two New Teams! appeared first on www.ebooksnet.com.

On Episode 84 of our In The Paint Podcast, co-hosts Ronnie Flores and Devin Ugland break down games three and four of the NBA Finals. Jimmy Butler's 40-point triple-double catapulted Miami to the game three victory, but the Lakers bounced back in game four with some help from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

Click the play button below to tune in to the latest episode of our In The Paint Show!

Can Butler recreate is epic performance in game three to keep the Heat's championship hopes alive? Or will LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the rest of the Los Angeles roster close out the series - and the franchises 17th title - on Friday?

Ron and Dev also discuss hoops at the high school level, first the guys fill listeners in on the updated live viewing period dates set by the NCAA for 2021. Ron & Dev explain why these dates are so important and why prospects and parents based in California need to pay special attention to them.

At the end of the show, the guys discuss the top players and under-the-radar players from the Pangos All-South Frosh/Soph Camp last weekend in Texas. Who earned the honors as best guards and best big men in the event which was loaded with talent?

The post In The Paint Show: Lakers a Win Away From Title 17, Pangos All-South Frosh-Soph Camp Standouts! appeared first on www.ebooksnet.com.

On Episode 75 of the In The Paint Show, co-hosts Ronnie Flores and Devin Ugland continue the discussion surrounding high school and college sports during the pandemic.

The guys welcome on two senior point guards based out of California with different outlooks when it comes to recruiting. Stanford-commit and Jesuit high school star Isa Silva hops on the show to discuss how he's going about his development while not playing any travel ball games. Next, Jake Blazona out of Santa Margarita explains how the lack of travel basketball and exposure to college coaches has affected his recruitment.

Ron and Dev also bring on two college coaches - Ryan Badrtalei of UC Irvine and Jesse Pruitt of Stanford - who detail how their approach to recruiting and evaluating has changed and how prospects can take a proactive approach to their own recruitment.

This episode of the In The Paint Show is a perfect listen for any prep basketball player who wants to hear how their peers are adjusting their routines and what a college coach suggests when it comes to taking their recruitment into their own hands.

Also, be sure to check out Ron & Dev's latest piece on our site, describing how the altered high school seasons impact current high school prospects and how those same prospects can be sure to stay on the radar of college coaches.

The post In The Paint Show: HS Prospects on Development During Pandemic, College Coaches on Changes to Recruiting appeared first on www.ebooksnet.com.