By Ronnie Flores

After the grueling MLK weekend when many of the nation's elite teams travel and take on tough foes, it was a short week and light work a majority of the teams in the FAB 50 National Team Rankings powered by www.ebooksnet.com. In addition, the inclement weather that has battered the East and parts of the Southeast caused the cancellation of many games in states such as Tennessee and Virginia.

In fact, the only team among the first 25 in the FAB 50 to lose was previous No. 4 DeMatha Catholic (Hyattsville, Md.), which fell to previous No. 10 Paul VI (Fairfax, Va.) 93-78 in Washington Catholic Athletic Conference play. Sophomore sensation Jeremy Roach led the way for the Panthers, which is still unbeaten in WCAC play. Two weeks ago, Paul VI handed new No. 10 Gonzaga (Washington, D.C.) its first WCAC and overall loss, 67-53.

The Stags drop from No. 4 to No. 11, as they fall in line behind the Gonzaga team that beat them 71-62 in conference play where they now stand at 6-2. The second round of conference play won't begin for at least another week, but DeMatha does play 6-3 St. John's (Washington, D.C.) on January 23.

Paul VI moves up one spot to No. 9 in front of Gonzaga and one spot behind the Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.) team it lost to. The Panthers also have a split with No. 14 Oak Ridge (Orlando, Fla.). Steve Reece's talented club not only has the Paul VI split, it has lost to DeMatha and No. 7 Memphis East (Memphis, Tenn.), which recently had some games wiped out by the cold weather.

The pecking order among the Top 15 falls well in line as No. 13 Imhotep Charter (Philadelphia, Pa.) also has a loss to DeMatha, Memphis East has a split with No. 5 Simeon (Chicago, Ill.), which has a loss to No. 4 McEachern (Powder Springs, Ga.) and must behind City of Palms Tournament Champion and No. 3 University (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.).

There could be some shake up next week as Findlay Prep and still unbeaten and No. 6 Shadow Mountain (Phoenix, Ariz.) head to Florida to participate in the Montverde Academy Invitational. Naturally, the Pilots and Shadow Mountain after scheduled to meet in a semifinal showdown on Friday, while the top-ranked Eagles could face a talented Madison Prep Academy (Baton Rouge, La.) club that has recorded some solid wins and is on the radar of the FAB 50 bubble.

Among this week's six FAB 50 newcomers, three are unbeaten and the others return after being ranked in the 2017-18 preseason FAB 50 rankings. New No. 47  Cretin-Derham Hall (St. Paul, Minn.) had done enough to recover from its December 7 loss to Edina (Minn.) after beginning the season at No. 47. Romeo Langford and new No. 50 New Albany (New Albany, Ind.) lost to Floyd Central (Floyd Knobs, Ind.) by two points on December 8 after beginning the season at No. 32. New No. 49 Westlake (Austin, Texas), Texas' No. 2 ranked Class 6A club, has done enough to overcome its hard-to-explain 54-52 loss to Catalina Foothills (Tucson, Ariz.) in the first round of the Rancho Mirage Holiday Classic in California after Christmas. Westlake, which began the season one spot ahead of New Albany at No. 31, has also lost twice to Class 6A No. 1 and No. 15 Guyer (Denton, Texas).

Get Ready For Mac McClung

Gate City (Va.) is a FAB 50 bubble club at 13-1 and in order to get a shot at cracking the FAB 50, the Blue Devils must win two big games this weekend. Gate City, which has a single loss to 16-1 North Mecklenburg, is led by high-flying point guard and Georgetown commit Mac McClung.

You can catch both Gate City Games this weekend live on the Ballislife HS Basketball Weekly Showcase. On January 26, the Blue Devils host Union (Tenn.) at 7:45 pm (ET) and the next night Gate City hosts highly-regarded Cleveland (Tenn.) at 6 pm (ET). Make sure to check the Ballislife Show Page to get a reminder link for both games and for other game updates.

RELATED: Ballislife HS Basketball Weekly Showcase | Gate City (VA) vs. Union (VA) Game Link | Gate City (VA) vs. Cleveland (TN) Game Link 

Updated FAB 50 National Team Rankings
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(Sixth poll of 2017-18 regular season; Through games played on Sunday, January 21; *Indicates forfeit wins, forfeit losses not included; **Indicates forfeits and defaults not included)

Dropped Out: Previous No. 27 Lincoln (Brooklyn, N.Y.), No. 37 Bishop Miege (Shawnee Mission, Kan.), No. 38 Iowa City West (Iowa City, Iowa), No. 42 Huffman (Birmingham, Ala.), No. 45 West Oaks Academy (Orlando, Fla.), No. 48 Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.).

Bubble Teams:  Bishop Miege (Shawnee Mission, Kan.) 9-1; Belleville West (Belleville, Ill.) 17-2; Broken Arrow (Broken Arrow, Okla.) 14-1; Camel Christian (Matthews, N.C.) 20-3; Canton (Canton, Miss.) 18-2; Chaminade (St. Louis, Mo.) 14-2; Curie (Chicago, Ill.) 17-2; Cypress Falls (Houston, Texas) 22-3; DeKaney (Houston, Texas) 25-3; Federal Way (Federal Way, Wash.) 18-0; Gate City (Gate City, Va.) 13-1; Greensboro Day (Greensboro, N.C.) 20-3; Hazelwood Central (Florissant, Mo.) 17-1; Hopkins (Minnetonka, Minn.) 16-1 Iowa City West (Iowa City, Iowa) 11-1; Lake Taylor (Norfolk, Va.) 14-0; Las Cruces (Las Cruces, N.M.) 19-0; Lincoln (Brooklyn, N.Y.) 15-3; Lincoln (Tacoma, Wash.) 16-0; Lincoln East (Lincoln, Neb.) 15-0; Loundon Valley (Purcellville, Va.) 14-1; Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) 13-6; McPherson (McPherson, Kan.) 12-1; Memorial (Tulsa, Okla.) 13-1; Mills University Studies (Little Rock, Ark.) 15-2; Meridian (Meridian, Miss.) 23-1; Morgan County (Madison, Ga.) 20-1; Mountain Brook (Mountain Brook, Ala.) 22-5; Mt. Vernon (Mt. Vernon, N.Y.) 12-1; Newton (Covington, Ga.) 17-3; Norcross (Norcross, Ga.) 17-3; North Mecklenburg (Huntersville, N.C.) 16-1; Northwest Classen (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 15-1; Olive Branch (Olive Branch, Miss.) 13-4; Olympus (Salt Lake City, Utah) 15-0; Osceola (Kissimmee, Fla.) 15-5; Oshkosh North (Oshkosh, Wis.) 14-1; Pickerington North (Pickerington, Ohio) 10-2; Rainier Beach (Seattle, Wash.) 13-3; Ranney School (Tinton Falls, N.J.) 11-3; Richland (Richland, Wash.) 16-0; Rock Canyon (Highlands Ranch, Col.) 15-0; Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.) 14-3; Skyline (Ann Arbor, Mich.) 10-0; Solon (Solon, Ohio) 10-0; South Central (Winterville, N.C.) 15-0; South Garland (Garland, Texas) 25-3; Southwind (Memphis, Tenn.) 19-1; Trinity Episcopal (Richmond, Va.) 15-2; Wasatch Academy (Mt. Pleasant, Utah) 16-2; Webster Groves (Webster Groves, Mo.) 9-6; Westchester (Los Angeles, Calif.) 17-4**.

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 18 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 NEW FAB 50: Top Teams Keep ROLLING! appeared first on www.ebooksnet.com.

By Ronnie Flores

There isn't too much movement in the latest FAB 50 National Team Rankings powered by www.ebooksnet.com, but there surely will in the next set of rankings after the results of the major holiday tournaments come in.

For this set of rankings, we stay with theme of not overly punishing elite teams that play a difficult schedule and suffer a loss to another FAB 50-ranked team. A clear example is previous No. 6 Wheeler (Marietta, Ga.), which fell to new No. 7 DeMatha Catholic (Hyattsville, Md.) 66-58 at the National High School Hoops Festival at DeMatha the day after falling 73-67 to new No. 28 Westlake (Atlanta) on the road. The Wildcats drop 27 spots to No. 33, as they receive rankings credit for an earlier 53-42 victory over No. 21 Greenforest Christian Academy (Decatur, Ga.), which owns a win over Westlake.

Greenforest's other loss is to Norcross (Norcross, Ga.), which secured its second big win of the season over the weekend at the Memphis vs. Atlanta Roundball Classic at Duluth (Ga.). The Blue Devils downed previous No. 29 Cordova (Cordova, Tenn.), 70-55, and are now up to 13 in the FAB 50 after beginning No. 41 in the preseason. Similar to Wheeler, Cordova isn't penalized too much and only drops one spot.

One of the teams that actually defeated Wheeler is one of the four to drop out, as previous No. 27 Vashon (St. Louis, Mo) fell to Blue Valley Northwest (Overland Park, Kan.), 60-56, at the Springfield Shootout. The Huskies are the final team to break in this week to replace Vashon and will get tested right away versus No. 49 Bishop Miege (Shawnee Mission, Kan.) on December 13. The key Class 6A game between two Eastern Kansas District clubs will take place at Bishop Miege.

The most impressive team at the Hoophall West over the weekend in Arizona was new No. 47 Corona Del Sol (Tempe, Ariz.). The Aztecs dispatched Moreau Catholic (Hayward, Calif.) 99-67 on Friday and defeated Christ the King (Middle Village, N.Y.) in comeback fashion, 84-74, on Saturday. The perimeter-oriented Aztecs were led by their stellar backcourt of Vanderbilt-bound Saben Lee (6-3) and Arizona-bound Alex Barcello (6-2). The duo combined for 63 points in the victory over Christ the King (which just missed the preseason FAB 50), as Barcello had 32 points, four rebounds and five assists while the athletic Lee had 31 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. Against Moreau, Barcello had 28 points eight rebounds, three assists and two steals while Lee just missed a triple-double with 12 points, eight rebounds and 11 assists. The Aztecs will head to the Iolani Tournament in Hawaii on December 16 where it could face FAB 50 No. 1 Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) in the semifinals.

Looking Ahead

While Corona Del Sol was the most impressive team in the Valley of the Sun, the best team was the one right on the heels of Oak Hill -- No. 2 La Lumiere (La Porte, Ind.). The Lakers played on Saturday and improved to 9-0 with an easy 91-44 victory over Westbury Christian (Houston, Texas) in a game relatively close in the first half. Up next for La Lumiere is a nationally-televised matchup on December 15 with No. 48 New Albany (New Albany, Ind.), which saw its 27-game winning streak snapped in a 84-60 loss to North Central (Indianapolis, Ind.). Kris Wilkes tallied 32 points for the Panthers, who break into the FAB 50 at No. 45 and are major Indiana Class 4A state title contenders.

The La Lumiere-New Albany game (7 pm ET) is part of a ESPN doubleheader at New Castle (Ind.) which will include No. 1 Oak Hill versus No. 5 Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.) in a game (9 pm ET) that will have huge FAB 50 rankings ramifications the rest of the season. Oak Hill's Kansas-bound Billy Preston will have to slow down Marvin Bagley III, who has been quite impressive so far for Sierra Canyon and is a legitimate Mr. Basketball USA candidate despite being a junior.

Defending FAB 50 national champion Chino Hills also played at Hoophall West and saw its winning streak reach 41 games with an easy 84-70 win over Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.). The Huskies cracked the FAB 50 Top 10 this week and are the top seeded team in the upcoming Tarkanian Classic, which begins bracket play on December 16. The No. 2 seed is No. 18 Mater Dei, which defeated St. Mary's (Phoenix, Ariz.) 79-43 at Hoophall West.

There will be seven FAB 50-ranked teams participating in the traditional bracket at The City of Palms Tournament in Ft. Myers, Fla., December 16-21. They are: No. 3 Patrick School (Elizabeth, N.J.), No. 4 Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.), No. 6 Neumann-Goretti (Philadelphia, Pa.), No. 8 IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.), No. 13 Norcross, No. 17 Memphis East (Memphis, Tenn.), and No. 42 Pebblebrook (Mableton, Ga.).

Because these major tournaments overlap two weeks and because the major post-Christmas tournaments begin on a Monday, our next FAB 50 installment will be the first Monday of calendar year 2017.

Updated FAB 50 National Team Rankings
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(Second poll of the 2016-17 regular season; Through games played on Sunday, December 11; Last week's ranking in parentheses; *Indicates forfeit wins, forfeit losses not included; **Indicates forfeits and defaults not included)

Dropped Out: Previous No. 27 Vashon (St. Louis, Mo.), No. 46 Webster Groves (Webster Groves, Mo.), No. 48 Trinity (Louisville, Ky.), No. 49 Providence Day (Charlotte, N.C.).

Bubble Teams:  Althoff Catholic (Belleville, Ill.) 5-2; Apple Valley (Apple Valley, Minn.) 2-1; Bingham (South Jordan, Utah) 5-1; Bishop O’Connell (Arlington, Va.) 4-1; Bishop O'Dowd (Oakland, Calif.) 1-0; Blackman (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) 5-2; Blanche Ely (Pompano Beach, Fla.) 9-1; Bowling Green (Bowling Green, Ky.) 4-0; Brandon (Brandon, Miss.) 10-0; Brentwood Academy (Nashville, Tenn.) 5-0; Cardinal Hayes (Bronx, N.Y.) 5-0; Centennial (Las Vegas, Nev.) 6-1; Champlin Park (Champlin, Minn.) 2-0; Christ the King (Middle Village, N.Y.) 2-1; Clark (Las Vegas, Nev.) 5-0; Corona Del Sol (Tempe, Ariz.) 6-0; Dakota (Macomb, Mich.) 1-0; Denver East (Denver, Col.) 7-0; Desert Vista (Phoenix, Ariz.) 4-1; Edmond North (Edmond, Okla.) 5-0; El Dorado (El Dorado, Ark.) 7-0; Eleanor Roosevelt (Greenbelt, Md.) 0-1; Fairfax (Los Angeles, Calif.) 5-0; Fern Creek (Louisville, Ky.) 5-0; First Love Christian Academy (Washington, Pa.) 3-1; Forest Hill (Jackson, Miss.) 7-0; Grand Rapids Christian (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 1-0; Hudson Catholic (Jersey City, N.J.) 0-0; Jonesboro (Jonesboro, Ga.) 6-1; Iowa City West (Iowa City, Iowa) 3-0; Klein Forest (Houston, Texas) 13-0; Lincoln (Brooklyn, N.Y.) 4-0; Mae Jemison (Huntsville, Ala.) 12-2; Maple Grove (Maple Grove, Minn.) 2-0; Minneapolis North (Minneapolis, Minn.) 3-1; Morgan Park (Chicago, Ill.) 4-0; Natchitoches Central (Natchitoches, La.) 9-0; Norcom (Portsmouth, Va.) 5-0; North Crowley (Ft. Worth, Texas) 11-2; Oak Ridge (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) 8-0; Omaha South (Omaha, Neb.) 4-0; Parkview (Little Rock, Ark.) 7-1; Potomac (Dumfries, Va.) 4-0; Santa Monica (Santa Monica, Calif.) 7-1; Scotlandville (Baton Rouge, La.) 6-0; Shadow Mountain (Phoenix, Ariz.) 7-0; St. James School (Hagerstown, Md.) 1-0; Sunrise Christian Academy (Bel Aire, Kan.) 8-2; Trotwood-Madison (Trotwood, Ohio) 1-0; University Lab (Baton Rouge, La.) 10-0; University of Detroit Jesuit (Detroit, Mich.) 1-0; Vashon (St. Louis, Mo.) 4-1; Wasatch Academy (Mt. Pleasant, Utah) 9-2; Wayne (Huber Heights, Ohio) 2-0; Wesley Christian (Allen, Ky.) 13-4; West Linn (West Linn, Ore.) 0-0; Westminster Academy (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) 10-0; Woodcreek (Roseville, Calif.) 7-0.

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 17 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 Its Tournament Time! NEW FAB 50 Rankings! appeared first on www.ebooksnet.com.

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