By Ronnie Flores

All the state titles around the country have been decided and the results around the country proved it's not easy to complete a undefeated state championship season. Three teams went down in flames in their respective state championship game after entering the contest with a high spot in the FAB 50 National Team Rankings powered by www.ebooksnet.com and without a loss.

The highest ranked team to lose was previous No. 9 Archbishop Moeller (Cincinnati, Ohio), which fell to talented Jackson (Massillion, Ohio), 39-38, in the Ohio Division I state title game before 11,750 fans at Value City Arena. Butler-bound Kyle Young of Jackson (our highest rated Ohio team in the preseason FAB 50 at No. 43) made his first of two free throws with 3.6 seconds left to account for the final points of the game, as Moeller's last-second heave was off the mark. Jackson was this week's highest rated newcomer at No. 33, while Moeller fell out of the top 10 to No. 37 with its lone loss.

In Minnesota, Apple Valley (Apple Valley, Minn.) ended Champlin Park's dream of an unbeaten championship season for the second time in three years with a 60-54 victory at Target Center. Tre Jones, the younger brother of Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Tyus Jones, led Apple Valley with 24 points, 18 rebounds and five assists, as the Eagles won their third Class 4A crown in five years.

Apple Valley entered this week's FAB 50 at No. 36, while Champlin Park (which split games with the Eagles this season) fell 23 spots to No. 39. In 2014-15, Champlin Park also entered the MSHSL Class 4A championship game 31-0 and lost to Apple Valley 64-61, as Apple Valley finished No. 40 in the final FAB 50 that season. Tyus Jones led Apple Valley to a state title in 2012-13 during his junior season.

Grand Rapids Christian (Grand Rapids, Mich.) was up to No. 18 in last week's FAB 50, but it came crashing down with a 75-69 loss to No. 35 Clarkston (Clarkston, Mich.) in the Class A state title game at the Breslin Center. Foster Loyer led longtime Clarkston coach Dan Fife to his first state title by scoring 29 points. Clarkston (which began the season No. 33 in the FAB 50) shot up to No. 19 this week, while the Eagles fell to one spot behind Champlin Park at No. 40.

The highest ranked team to win a state title last week was two-loss and No. 7 Bishop Montgomery (Torrance, Calif.), which defeated No. 36 Woodcreek (Roseville, Calif.) in the CIF Open Division state title game, 74-67, behind 26 points from Oregon St.-bound Ethan Thompson. The Knights lost to an unranked club to begin the season, but in the post-season defeated No. 12 Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) twice, No. 18 Chino Hills (Chino Hills, Calif.) and No. 21 Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.) in addition to the Timberwolves.

Bishop Montgomery did not lose to a team from Southern California and its only other loss was to No. 5 Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.), one of seven FAB 50 ranked teams and one bubble club still playing this season at Dick's Nationals, set for March 30-April 1 at Christ the King (Middle Village, N.Y.).

Updated FAB 50 National Team Rankings
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(Fifteenth poll of 2016-17 regular season; Through games played on Sunday, March 25; Previous ranking in parentheses; *Indicates forfeit wins, forfeit losses not included; **Indicates forfeits and defaults not included; ***Indicates season not complete)

Dropped Out: Previous No. 37 Long Island Lutheran (Glen Head, N.Y.), No. 46 North Side (Fort Wayne, Ind.), No. 47 Simeon (Chicago, Ill.).

Bubble Teams:  Bingham (South Jordan, Utah) 24-3; Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.) 22-9; Bishop Miege (Shawnee Mission, Kan.) 22-3; Blue Valley Northwest (Overland Park, Kan.) 21-3; Bolingbrook (Bolingbrook, Ill.) 30-2; Bowling Green (Bowling Green, Ky.) 36-2; Butler (Matthews, N.C.) 30-1; Clark (Las Vegas, Nev.) 27-5; Cooper (Burlington, Ky.) 34-5; Corona Del Sol (Tempe, Ariz.) 26-4; DeMatha Catholic (Hyattsville, Md.) 25-10; Edwardsville (Edwardsville, Ill.) 30-2; Evanston (Evanston, Ill.) 28-4; Fern Creek (Louisville, Ky.) 35-3; First Love Christian Academy (Washington, Pa.) 24-3; Garfield (Seattle, Wash.) 21-6; Hamilton Heights Christian Academy (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 31-7; Keller (Keller, Texas) 33-3; Kentwood (Covington, Wash.) 27-3; Klein Forest (Houston, Texas) 34-1; L.C. Bird (Chesterfield, Va.) 27-1; Lone Peak (Highland, Utah) 23-5; Long Island Lutheran (Glen Head, N.Y.) 23-4; Mansfield Timberview (Arlington, Texas) 32-7; Morgan Park (Chicago, Ill.) 26-6; Mt. St. Joseph (Baltimore, Md.) 35-4; Muskegon (Muskegon, Mich.) 23-1; Neumann-Goretti (Philadelphia, Pa.) 24-7; Newton (Covington, Ga.) 28-2; North (Oshkosh, Wis.) 25-1; North Side (Fort Wayne, Ind.) 27-3; Oak Ridge (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) 31-3; Pebblebrook (Mableton, Ga.) 21-8; Pickerington Central (Pickerington, Ohio) 26-3; Rock Creek Christian (Upper Marlboro, Md.) 28-4; Roselle Catholic (Roselle, N.J.) 18-11; Scotlandville (Baton Rouge, La.) 31-4; Sheldon (Sacramento, Calif.) 30-4; Simeon (Chicago, Ill.) 30-4; Southwest Guilford (High Point, N.C.) 28-3; St. Augustine (San Diego, Calif.) 28-5; Sunrise Christian Academy (Bel Aire, Kan.) 23-7; Union (Tulsa, Okla.) 28-1; Wagner (San Antonio, Texas) 36-3; Wasatch Academy (Mt. Pleasant, Utah) 24-4***; Wesley Christian (Allen, Ky.) 33-9; West (Lee's Summit, Mo.) 25-3; Westlake (Atlanta, Ga.) 18-11; Wheeler (Marietta, Ga.) 21-9; Wise (Upper Marlboro, Md.) 21-1.

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

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By Ronnie Flores

With the vast majority of the top 25 teams in the FAB 50 National Team Rankings powered by www.ebooksnet.com winning, it's time to focus on the newcomers and potential risers, and big games coming up that can shake up the rankings.

Simeon of Chicago didn't start ranked in the FAB 50, but served notice it would be a force to be reckoned this season with a win over current No. 23 Gonzaga (Washington, D.C.) at the Chicago Elite Classic to begin the season. The Wolverines stumbled a bit in losing to Bogan of Chicago and cross-city arch rival Morgan Park in their second meeting of the season and dropped out of the rankings after climbing into the Top 10.

Even though coach Robert Smith's club fell in the annual City-Suburban Shootout to Evanston (Evanston, Ill.) 56-38 on the eve of the Chicago Public League City Title Game, Simeon bounced back in a big way, winning the rubber match with Morgan Park, 68-64, to claim the CPL crown (FULL GAME HIGHLIGHTS). With the win, Simeon defeated Morgan Park for the second time in three games this season, claimed its eighth city crown and returned to the FAB 50 this week at No. 46.

Junior guard Kezo Brown, who missed a vast majority of his sophomore campaign with a serious health issue after earning underclass All-American honors as a ninth-grader, led Simeon with 26 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field. The Wolverines also got 18 points from senior Evan Gilyard and six points, seven rebounds and a big tip-in with under a minute to play to give Simeon a lead it wouldn't relinquish from Messiah Jones. Although it will be a long road to climb high again in the FAB 50, Simeon's early season win over Gonzaga will come into play if the Wolverines make a deep run at the IHSA Class 4A state crown.

The No. 2 ranked team in greater Chicago -- Bolingbrook (Bolingbrook, Ill.) -- dropped its first game of the season to Lincoln-Way East (Frankfort, Ill.) 65-64 in a Southwest Suburban Blue contest. The Raiders trailed 65-56 with a minute to go with a frantic comeback just falling short. Bolingbrook was No. 48 in the FAB 50 last week, but remains in as it played that contest without 6-foot-6 standout Malik Binns due to illness.

Gonzaga, meanwhile, is currently the top ranked team from the powerful Washington Catholic Athletic Conference at No. 23. It came into the week owning a share of the WCAC regular season crown and recorded an avenging 72-57 win over Paul VI (Fairfax, Va.) last week. The Eagles jumped up five spots to No. 23, while Paul VI stayed at No. 25 because it has a split with Gonzaga. On Monday evening, Paul VI grabbed a share of the WCAC crown with a 72-59 win over DeMatha Catholic (Hyattsville, Md.) after losing to the Stags in the first round of conference play. Before that Monday result came in, the decision was already made to drop DeMatha from the FAB 50 this week for the first time in recent memory after the Stags lost to unranked St. Mary's Ryken (Leonardtown, Md.).

Another team to make a big splash in the rankings is Webster Groves (Webster Groves, Mo.), which defeated defending Class 4A state champ and previous No. 50 Vashon (St. Louis, Mo.) 60-59, overcoming a 17-point second quarter deficit on the road. Standout junior guard Courtney Ramey nailed one of two free throws with four seconds remaining to give his team the lead and Vashon's Mario McKinney missed a runner at the buzzer.

Ramey, a Louisville commit, finished with 18 points and eight rebounds, while seior forward Isaiah Ford had a big outing with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Webster Groves has now won 15 games in a row after beginning the season No. 45 in the FAB 50, including a win over the Morgan Park team that advanced to the Chicago Public League title game.

It could be a spectacular set of games featuring four FAB 50 ranked teams this Friday at the Galen Center on the campus of the University of Southern California for the CIF Southern Section Open Division semifinals. The projected matchups are No. 2 Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.) versus No. 15 Bishop Montgomery (Torrance, Calif.) and No. 13 Chino Hills (Chino Hills, Calif.) versus No. 16 Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) in the opposite bracket and a rematch of a game Chino Hills won in the title game of the 2016 Tarkanian Classic.

Those four teams are clearly the best four in California and one of them will likely emerge as heavy favorite to capture the CIF Open Division state crown. A potential foe representing NorCal is new No. 48 Woodcreek (Roseville, Calif.), which played defending FAB 50 and CIF open champ Chino Hills tough in a December tournament game.

Before those monster section semifinal games can occur, however, all four teams must win in Tuesday's CIFSS Open Division quarterfinals against state-ranked clubs. Woodcreek, meanwhile, has to prove its rankings worth by getting past top-seeded and bubble club Sheldon (Sacramento, Calif.) down the line in the CIF Sac Joaquin Section D1 playoffs.

Updated FAB 50 National Team Rankings
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(Tenth poll of 2016-17 regular season; Through games played on Sunday, February 19; Previous ranking in parentheses; *Indicates forfeit wins, forfeit losses not included; **Indicates forfeits and defaults not included; ***Indicates season complete)

Dropped Out: Previous No. 12 St. Benedict's (Newark, N.J.), No. 34 The Rock School (Gainesville, Fla.), No. 37 DeMatha Catholic (Hyattsville, Md.), No. 46 Garfield (Seattle, Wash.), No. 47 Bishop Miege (Shawnee Mission, Kan.), No. 50 Vashon (St. Louis, Mo.).

Bubble Teams:  Apollo (Glendale, Ariz.) 25-3; Archbishop Wood (Warminster, Pa.) 20-3; Basha (Chandler, Ariz.) 28-1; Birmingham (Lake Balboa, Calif.) 24-3; Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.) 20-9; Bishop Miege (Shawnee Mission, Kan.) 16-3; Blackman (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) 23-3; Butler (Matthews, N.C.) 26-0; Cedar Hill (Cedar Hill, Texas) 28-4; Clark (Las Vegas, Nev.) 25-4; Corona Del Sol (Tempe, Ariz.) 25-3; DeMatha Catholic (Hyattsville, Md.) 21-6; Desert Vista (Phoenix, Ariz.) 19-5; Edmond North (Edmond, Okla.) 20-2; Federal Way (Federal Way, Wash.) 23-2; Garfield (Seattle, Wash.) 19-5; Godwin Heights (Wyoming, Mich.) 17-0; Houston Math, Science & Tech (Houston, Texas) 32-2; Kentwood (Covington, Wash.) 23-2; Lakeview Centennial (Garland, Texas) 29-3; Lincoln (Brooklyn, N.Y.) 23-3*; Lone Peak (Highland, Utah) 19-4; Long Island Lutheran (Glen Head, N.Y.) 19-3; Maple Grove (Maple Grove, Minn.) 20-2; Meridian (Meridian, Miss.) 26-2; Minneapolis North (Minneapolis, Minn.) 23-1; Mt. St. Joseph (Baltimore, Md.) 29-3; Muskegon (Muskegon, Mich.) 17-0; Neumann-Goretti (Philadelphia, Pa.) 18-6; New Albany (New Albany, Ind.) 21-3; Newark (Newark, Ohio) 21-1; Norcross (Norcross, Ga.) 23-5; North (Oshkosh, Wis.) 20-0; Oak Ridge (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) 25-2; Pebblebrook (Mableton, Ga.) 19-7; Pickerington Central (Pickerington, Ohio) 20-2; Pleasant Grove (Pleasant Grove, Utah) 19-3; Rindge & Latin (Cambridge, Mass.) 17-0; Rainier Beach (Seattle, Wash.) 20-7; Roselle Catholic (Roselle, N.J.) 14-9; Scotlandville (Baton Rouge, La.) 28-4; St. Anthony (Jersey City, N.J.) 19-4; St. Thomas Aquinas (Overland Park, Kan.) 16-2; The Rock School (Gainesville, Fla.) 29-3; Tift County (Tifton, Ga.) 25-2; Trinity (Louisville, Ky.) 26-3; Wagner (San Antonio, Texas) 30-2; Wasatch Academy (Mt. Pleasant, Utah) 22-4; Wesley Christian (Allen, Ky.) 29-6; West (Lee's Summit, Mo.) 20-2; Westlake (Atlanta, Ga.) 18-10; Wheeler (Marietta, Ga.) 20-8; Whitney Young (Chicago, Ill.) 20-6*; William Allen (Allentown, Pa.) 24-1; Word of God Academy (Raleigh, N.C.) 26-4.

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 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

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