By Ronnie Flores

There are over 20,000 teams across the country and we do our best to know as much about them as possible. Obviously, we can't look up the scores of that many teams each week and frankly, we don't need to. That's why it's important that there are quality state and local rankings to refer to, having the input of credible journalists in each region and doing the homework in the preseason.

We do follow and look up the results of approximately 200 teams each week and as teams played mostly league/conference games this past week two things should be clear: FAB 50 ranked teams don't often lose games and it's incredibly difficult to be nationally ranked. Even state ranked teams win the majority of its games, but to be nationally ranked takes good scheduling and a terrific talent level. There has been plenty of movement this year in the rankings and that speaks to the national schedules teams that know they are good enough to be nationally-ranked play. When the National Prep Poll (FAB 50 precursor) began in 1987-88, many of the teams in the final Top 10 finished unbeaten. That simply isn't the case anymore.

This week is the calm before the storm, as the playoffs will tip-off around the country in many states in early February. Each of the Top 15 teams in the FAB 50 National Team Rankings powered by www.ebooksnet.com won all their games last week, and so did many of the teams looking to climb in the rankings. Only two clubs fell out and that was after each lost three games, including previous No. 27 Kenwood Academy (Chicago, Ill.). The Broncos reign as the top team in the greater Chicago metro was short lived as they fell to Hyde Park of Chicago, 54-51, to No. 10 Camden (N.J.), 68-54, and to bubble club Benet Academy (Lisle, Ill.), 67-53. Those results also caused Chicago No. 1 Simeon to drop two spots this week, as their only loss so far this season is to the Broncos.

Camden is one of the teams that will have a big week coming up. Not only will leading player and Mr. Basketball USA candidate D.J. Wagner will be selected for the 2023 McDonald's All-American Game (to be announced on Jan. 24 at 3 pm ET), he will make history. Wagner's father, 2001 Mr. Basketball USA choice Dajuan Wagner, and his grandfather, 1981 Camden graduate Milt Wagner, were also McDonald's All-Americans. As for the current edition of the Panthers, they will face No. 14 Imhotep Charter (Philadelphia, Pa.) on Jan. 28 at Hagan Arena of Saint Joseph's University. Many feel D.J. Wagner and Imhotep Charter's Justin Edwards are the top two prospects in the country. Both are headed to Kentucky.

Top-ranked Paul VI (Chantilly, Va.) also has a huge week, hosting No. 12 St. John’s (Washington, D.C.) on Tuesday and hitting the road to face No. 19 Gonzaga (Washington, D.C.) on Friday in Washington Catholic Athletic Conference play.

This week will be a celebration of individual talent in high school basketball. Talent is at the forefront of what it takes to make a great basketball team, but as we've seen during the 2022-23 season, it takes more than talent to crack the industry's longest running weekly national rankings. It takes a special team to remain and keep winning week after week.

RELATED: ?Preseason 2022-23 Mr. Basketball USA Tracker | | ??

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

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