League titles, playoff seedings on the line in next two weeks

• Tweet

• Tweet

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – It’s down to two, baby . . . as in “Just two more weeks of the ‘regular’ boys’ high school basketball season” in Southern California.

Of course, there’s been nothing “regular” about the 2020-21, pandemic-modified season – starting with it not beginning until near the middle of June with the Southern Regional Championships.

The most “significant” (relative to possible league titles and CIF Southern Section Division make-up and seedings) last week were, with updated BurlisonOnBasketball 21 for 2021 ratings were:

No. 3 Mater Dei over No. 7 St. John Bosco (Trinity League/57-54);

No. 4 Etiwanda over No. 5 Damien (Baseline League/56-53 on buzzer-beating 3 by Darvelle Wyatt);

No. 7 St. John Bosco over No. 12 Santa Margarita (Trinity/56-48);

No. 10 Colony over No. 11 Chaminade (72-69/with 48 combined points by the Titans sophomore starters).

And games to keep an eye (literal or figurative) on this week include:

No. 6 Corona Centennial at No. 2 Ribet Academy (Monday/non-league);

No. 11 Chaminade at No. 9 Harvard-Westlake (Wednesday/Mission League);

No. 2 Ribet Academy at No. 13 Heritage Christian (Saturday/non-league).

The chance that eight of those 11 aforementioned teams will make up the Southern Section Open Division is significant.

Note: In the updated BurlisonOnBasketball ratings listed below, *Windward and *Long Beach Poly are still listed because I’m not sure of the status for the remainder of the season of their respective key players.

If I was positive at this point that those two squads will be without those players (Dylan Andrews and Kijani Wright, and Peyton Watson, respectively), then I would drop Brentwood School (9-3) and Rolling Hills Prep (4-0) into those slots.

Brentwood School’s Eagles visit top-ranked Sierra Canyon Thursday, while the Rolling Hills Prep Titans – flush off a 30-point win over Loyola Saturday during the State Preview at Colony High) – are at Windward Wednesday.

The updated ratings, with records reflecting games played as of May 8:

 

21 for 2021

1. Sierra Canyon (7-0/Southern Section D1)
2. Ribet Academy (4-0/SS D1)
3. Mater Dei (17-0/SS D1)
4. Etiwanda (6-0)/SS D1)
5. Damien (21-2/SS D1)
6. Corona Centennial (12-1/SS D1)
7. Saint John Bosco (13-2/SS D1)
8. Westchester (1-0/L.A. City D1)
9. Harvard-Westlake (12-2/SS D1)
10. Colony (14-1/SS 2AA)
11. Chaminade (11-2/SS D1)
12. Santa Margarita (9-2/SS 2AA)
13. Heritage Christian (14-4/SS D1)
14. West Ranch (5-0/SS 2A)
15. Eastvale Roosevelt (9-1/SS D1)
16. Fairfax (0-0/L.A. City D1)
17. Saint Bernard (4-1/SS D1)
18. Capistrano Valley (9-1/D1)
19. Saint Anthony (7-2/SS D1)
20. *Windward (8-4/SS D1)
21. *Long Beach Poly (6-2/SS 2AA)