Burlison on Basketball

Frank Burlison | High School Basketball | College Basketball

The “real” fall sport gets underway Saturday

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LAGUNA NIGUEL — Barely a few weeks following the wrap of the summer portion of the of the high school basketball “season” that never ends, “fall” competition is upon us not quite 2 ½ months before the start of the “real” season.

The annual Ron Massey Memorial Falls Hoops Classic tips things off in nifty fashion Saturday at McBride High in Long Beach.

The Pangos Elite 8 bracket is made up a field that includes seven programs that are in my post-Summer Southern California ratings, as well as the program (St. Joseph of Santa Maria) that lost to Harvard-Westlake in the California Open Division final in Sacramento last March.

Along with those 12 games will be 24 “showcase” contests that also includes many teams found in my post-Summer Top 80-plus, including St. Pius X/St. Matthias and Rancho Christian (the respective CIF Southern Section 3AA and 2A champions), as well as Lynwood (the CIF SS 5AA runner-up and State Division V champion).

Saturday’s Elite 8 play begins at 4 o’clock, with Mater Dei facing Tounde Yessoufou-led St. Joseph, followed by: St. John Bosco vs. Windward (5:10), St. Bernard vs. Roosevelt (6:20) and Corona Centennial vs. Crean Lutheran (7:30).

Other fall events which will showcase many of the southland’s top teams for 2023-24 include:

*Sept. 23&24: Ryse Up (Redondo High).

*Sept. 30 & Oct. 1: SoCal Fall Prep Classic (Santiago Canyon College).

*Oct. 1, 8, 15, 22&29: Magic Fall League (Westminster High).

*Oct. 7&8: Rolling Hills Prep Fall State Preview (Palos Verdes and North Torrance).

*Oct. 13, 14&15: Border League (Las Vegas-area high schools).

*Oct. 21&22: Take Flight Fall Challenge (Redondo High).

*Oct. 28&29: Halloween Hoopfest (Redondo High).

*Oct. 28: Core Prep Fall Classic (at Heritage Christian High).

Now, on to my team ratings . . .

These are based upon what teams returned (or gained) from last season, and how they looked when I watched them in spring and summer competition — notably, during the Cali Live in Orange County (June 16, 17&18) and Section 7 in Phoenix (June 23, 24&25).

Look for some shakeup of these ratings in November, based upon how the teams look when I see them between now and the end of October.

And, as we’ve come to expect in this generation of high school hoops, many of these teams’ rosters will go undergo inevitable changes between now and Nov. 13 (opening day).

Plus, those new ratings will include a 1-thru-30 pecking order.

For now, I’ve broken down this version of my ratings into “tiers”.

And the easy choices for “Tier 1”, are Harvard-Westlake and St. John Bosco — the only squad to knock off the Coach David Rebibo’s Wolverines in their final 18 games.

The Wolverines lost Jacob Huggins (Princeton) and Brady Dunlap (St. John’s) but return starters in seniors Trent Perry (the best high school point guard in California’s Class of 2024) and Robert Hinton (already committed to Harvard), as well as one of as 6-foot-8, multi-skilled junior Nikolas Khamenia (pictured).

Rebibo has multiple other returnees who were integral components in the 33-2 run, including senior Christian Horry, as well as sophomores Dominique Bento and Amir Jones.

Coach Matt Dunn’s SJB Braves return five of the top six players from the squad that went 26-7 and won the Trinity League outright (the last team to keep Mater Dei out of at least a share of a league title since before most of you reading this were born).

Elzie Harrington was the BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal Sophomore of the Year after leading his team to a sweep of Mater Dei and split with Harvard-Westlake (winning, 62-55, on the road in CIF Southern Section Open pool play and falling, 69-63, at home in a State Southern Open semifinal).

He’s joined as returnees by sophomore Brandon McCoy (at 6-5, the best “basketball athlete” in Southern California), 6-5 senior Jack Turner and 6-7 junior Kade Bonam, and an underrated element in the Braves’ success last season, senior guard Amiri Meadows.

Anyway, I’ll go more in depth in the “official” pre-season ratings I post in November.

On to my very loose “Top 80-plus”. As for other members of the “media” reading this . . . you’re welcome!

 

Post-Summer SoCal High School Rankings

(“tier” listing/alpha order in each tier)

TIER 1

  • Harvard-Westlake             33-2
  • John Bosco             26-7

TIER II

  • Corona Centennial             30-4
  • Mater Dei                         29-7
  • Roosevelt                         23-7

TIER III

  • Damien                         26-5
  • Santa Margarita.         21-9
  • Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 27-10
  • Pius/St. Matthias 30-5
  • Windward                         23-8

TIER IV

  • Crean Lutheran 22-8
  • Heritage Christian 20-12
  • JSerra.                    22-9
  • Saint Bernard                         22-9
  • West Ranch 29-3

TIER V (15)

   Campbell Hall 14-13; Crossroads 22-9; Etiwanda 26-6; Foothill 24-6; La Mirada 25-10; Los Alamitos 23-7; Lynwood 27-11; Mira Costa 28-4; Pacifica Christian 27-10; Rancho Christian 24-11; Redondo 20-10; Riverside Poly 17-11; Sierra Canyon 23-11; St. Paul 19-12 and Village Christian 23-6.

TIER VI (15)

  Birmingham 20-10; Bishop Montgomery 28-5; Bosco Tech 27-7; Canyon 25-7; Crespi 18-12; Fairmont Prep 19-9; Long Beach Poly 13-16; Loyola 16-14; Orange Lutheran 23-12; Palisades 10-16; Rancho Cucamonga 26-6; St. Anthony 14-14; St. Bonaventure 26-10; St. Francis 20-11 and Valencia 27-10.

TIER VII (37)

  Alemany 13-14; Arcadia 19-10; Beverly Hills 18-9; Blair 24-11; Bonita 19-14; Brentwood School 24-6; Buena 31-6; Capistrano Valley 20-8; Corona del Mar 17-12; Crenshaw 23-5; Culver City 19-13; Cypress 16-13; Edison 20-10; Fairfax 19-12; Gardena 13-16; Glendora 21-8; Hillcrest 17-13; Long Beach Jordan 23-13; Long Beach Wilson 21-12; Maranatha 17-13; Mayfair 14-13; Oak Park 18-11; Oakwood 22-10; Oxnard 31-4; Palm Springs 21-8; Pasadena 19-9; Rancho Verde 19-12; Rolling Hills Prep 23-6; San Gabriel Academy 20-15; Sage Hill 15-13; Santa Barbara 17-13; Serra 9-19; South Pasadena 19-10; Thousand Oaks 20-9; Trabuco Hills 16-12; Valley Christian 17-12 and Westchester 20-11.

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