LAGUNA NIGUEL – With a near mind-numbing quantity of club tournaments, regional and national camps, and spring, summer and falls leagues behind us, the start of the “real” high school boys basketball season rapidly approaches.
And, before Monday’s tip-off to the 2024-25 season is upon us, let’s look at the teams I anticipate being those with the best chances of significant regular-season and playoff success.
I capped the list of those at 70 (those I’ve seen in the spring, summer or fall, plus others that I have a reasonably good “feel” for).
And the first of those that I will unveil are 20 “honorable mentions”, listed in alphabetical order.
The next 50 will be done in the order of how I project them.
Obviously, there are plenty of other teams that can be very good this season, but I haven’t had a chance to see them or their personnel (in camps and club tournaments, etc.).
Among the honorable mention selections that follow:
*Coach Nick Racklin’s Huntington Beach Marina program returns several key players from a squad that knocked off Long Beach Poly in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship game (53-49), notably senior guards Barak Simon and Dylan Gomez.
Another Orange County-based programs that made a deep CIF Southern Section tourney run, Cypress, also has the bulk of its 2023-24 roster back.
*Santa Barbara (6-foot-5 Luke Zuffelato) and Knight of Palmdale (6-2 point-guard Da’Vian Brooks/pictured) are led by two of the most underrated – by “media” and college recruiters – seniors in California.
*Millikan of Long Beach won only six games last season.
But the Rams have a new coach (Stephon Price, whose Firebaugh team won the CIF SS 5-A title last spring), a key returnee in junior guard Jeremiah Hunt and gifted transfers in Tariq Bridges (St. Pius X/St. Matthias), JoJo Wicker (St. Anthony) and Is’mail Abdul-Rahman (Fairfax).
The Rams should win at least three times as many games as they did in 2023-24.
*Coach Arturo Jones’ Leuzinger team has the deepest and most talented roster (led by seniors Malachi Knight and Joshua Garland; sophomore Tylan Kinsey, and Lynwood transfers Darrell Bagsby and Aiden McIntyre) since Reggie Morris Jr.’s last season as the program’s head coach in 2009-10.
The Olympians were 21-8 last season with two of those victories coming against eventual L.A. City Open Division champion King/Drew.
SoCal Preseason Top 70
Honorable Mention (20)
Brentwood (16-13/CIF SS D-1 first round).
Culver City (19-9/CIF SS D-2AA quarterfinals).
Cypress (23-7/CIF SS D-2A quarterfinals).
Gahr (18-9/CIF SS D-3A first round).
Great Oak (19-12/CIF SS D-2AA quarterfinals).
King/Drew (21-12/L.A. City Open champion; Regional D-II semifinals).
Knight (23-6/CIF SS D-2A second round).
Leuzinger (21-8/CIF SS D-3AA second round).
Loyola (16-14/CIF SS D-2AA second round).
Marina (26-8/CIF SS D-2A champion).
Mayfair (11-15/CIF SS D-2AA first round).
Millikan (6-18).
Orange Lutheran (10-16).
Palos Verdes (15-14/CIF SS D-2A first round).
Sage Hill (16-15/CIF SS D-3AA quarterfinals).
Santa Barbara (24-9/CIF SS D-3A semifinals).
St. Francis (20-11/CIF SS D-1 second round).
St. Paul (9-19).
St. Monica (18-11/CIF SS D-3A first round).
Vista Murrieta (24-5/CIF SS D-2AA first round).
Next Up: No.’s 31-50.
Leave a Reply