Updated Top 30 and excess of profound hoops insight

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LAGUNA NIGUEL – The BurlisonOnBasketball Top 30 SoCal teams pecking order has been updated and was impacted by the results of this past week.

The most notable of those results came during the Hoop Hall West and Tournament of Champions competition in and around Mesa, AZ, from Thursday to Saturday.

Thirteen of the Top 30 clubs played in one of those events, and four of those – No.’s 3 Harvard-Westlake, 7 Redondo Union, 24 Rancho Cucamonga and (newcomer) 28 Oak Hills captured the championships of their respective eight-team brackets.

But only four of those teams were positioned to play another Top 30 team and just two of those did – Oak Hills knocking off St. Anthony, 51-48, in the TOC’s Pioneer bracket finale.

No.’s 1 Roosevelt, 2. St. John Bosco and 4 Notre Dame played in the same six-team grouping in the Hoop Hall West but in a “showcase” format (with Sandra O’Connor of Phoenix, Coronado of Nevada and Layton Christian Academy of Utah).

No head-up meetings were played among the three that could have influenced the Top 30 as well as the computer system that will be used to create the CIF Southern Section playoff divisions and seedings for the first time in February.

But this week’s league competition – notably, in the Mission and Trinity showdowns on Wednesday and Friday – will impact both of those “rating” entities.

*Wednesday, No. 2 St. John Bosco plays host to No. 10 Santa Margarita in a Trinity clash while Notre Dame visits Encino for a Mission game with No. 13 Crespi.

*The second “Mission-Trinity Showcase” is set for Friday in Inglewood’s Intuit Dome Arena, with a seven-game schedule that pits “Missions vs. Missions” and “Trinities vs. Trinities” as opposed to a “challenge, league-vs.-league” format.

The day’s games that could have significant on the outcome of those leagues’ championship races as well as the look of the CIF SS Open and Division I playoff fields are:

*No. 5 JSerra vs. No. 10 Santa Margarita (3:30); St. John Bosco vs. No. 20 Mater Dei (6:30) and Notre Dame vs. No. 9 Sierra Canyon (8 p.m.).

To purchase tickets for the event, click on: https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0900615508027115

 

*For a bit more insight into how I see the teams in the Top 30, relative to  how things might shake out when the computer spits out its ratings after the final regular season result of Feb. 7, consider the ratings in the context of “tiers”.

Tier I is made up of (alphabetical): Harvard-Westlake, Roosevelt and St. John Bosco. These three, IMO, have near-equal opportunity to win the CIF SS and State Open Division titles.

Tier II: JSerra, La Mirada, Notre Dame and Redondo. Each of these could win two Open Section playoff games and/or win the Section and State D-I titles.

Tier III: Heritage Christian, Mira Costa, Santa Margarita and Sierra Canyon. Each of these should be no worse than one of the top four seeds in the D-I section bracket.

The “certainty” I feel that each of the Tier I teams will be in the Open field (be it eight teams, as it should remain, or any expanded version) ?: 99.99.

Tier II ?: 85.00

That one or more in Tier III will be in the Open ?: 100.00.

That no non-Top III Tiers will be in the  Open ?: 100.00.

 

Top Players I watched in Previous Week

(all at the Hoop Hall West and Nike TOC events in Arizona)

(limited to no more than one player from a team)

Most Outstanding Player: Nikolas Khamenia/Harvard-Westlake/Sr. (Bracket MOP)

Photo, with Khamenia and Alec Blair of De La Salle, courtesy Greg Stein Media).

 

Next 20

Seniors

*Kenyon Aguino/Albuquerque Volcano Vista

*Andrew Bhesania/Anthem (AZ) Boulder Creek (Sonoran MOP)

*Alec Blair/Concord De La Salle

*Ryan Burbach/Phoenix Brophy Prep

*Derek Dixon/Washington (DC) Gonzaga College Prep

*Alan Gballou/Layton Christian Academy (UT)

*Julien Gomez/La Mirada

*Elzie Harrington/St. John Bosco

*Koa Peat/Gilbert (AZ) Perry

*Cole Scherer/Highlands Rancho (CO) Valor Christian

*Michael Simcoe/Phoenix O’Connor

*Jalen St. Clair/Henderson (NV) Coronado

*Myles Walker/Roosevelt

Juniors

*Kaiden Bailey/Santa Margarita

*S.J. Madison/Redondo Union (Saguaro MOP)

*Mason Magee/Chandler (AZ) Basha

*John Mattingly/Phoenix Central (Coyote MOP)

*Tyran Stokes/Notre Dame

Sophomores

  *Christopher Hunt, Jr./Duncanville (TX)

Freshmen

*Jakyi Miles/Mesa (AZ)

 

SoCal Top 30

(Records thru games of Jan. 2-4, 2025)

School/Record/Last Week

1. Roosevelt/18-1/1

Next Up: Tuesday, vs. San Diego Francis Parker, 6 p.m.

2. Saint John Bosco/17-1/1

Next Up: Wednesday, vs. No. 10 Santa Margarita, 7 p.m.

3. Harvard-Westlake/18-1/4

Next Up: Wednesday, vs. Chaminade, 7 p.m.

4. Sherman Oaks Notre Dame/15-2/3

Next Up: Wednesday, at No. 13 Crespi, 7 p.m.

5. JSerra/15-3/6

Next Up: Wednesday, at Orange Lutheran, 7 p.m.

6. La Mirada/15-4/5

Next Up: Wednesday, at Lynwood, 7 p.m.

7. Redondo Union/16-2/7

Next Up: Tuesday, at Wiseburn-Da Vinci, 7 p.m.

8. Heritage Christian/15-2/9

Next Up: Tuesday, vs. Valley Christian, 7 p.m.

9. Sierra Canyon/13-3/10

Next Up: Wednesday, vs. Alemany, 7 p.m.

10. Santa Margarita/14-3/8

Next Up: Wednesday, at No. 2 St. John Bosco, 7 p.m.

11. Mira Costa/17-0/12

Next Up: Tuesday, at Palos Verdes, 7 p.m.

12. Windward/13-4/13

Next Up: Tuesday, vs. Campbell Hall, 7 p.m.

13. Crespi/15-4/14

Next Up: Wednesday, vs. No. 4 Notre Dame, 7 p.m.

14. Saint Pius X/Saint Matthias Academy/10-6/11

Next Up: Friday, vs. St. Paul, 7 p.m.

15. Anaheim Canyon/13-4/15

Next Up: Tuesday, at Cypress, 7 p.m.

16. Inglewood/15-4/18

Next Up: Monday, vs. Santa Monica, 7 p.m.

17. Rolling Hills Prep/14-6/17

Next Up: Wednesday, at Giffen Academy, 4 p.m.

18. Rancho Verde/14-3/19

Next Up: Tuesday, vs. No. 30 Riverside Poly, 6:30 p.m.

19. Los Alamitos/10-6/20

Next Up: Wednesday, at Corona del Mar, 7 p.m.

20. Mater Dei/12-4/23

Next Up: Wednesday, at Servite, 7 p.m.

21. La Habra/17-4/24

Next Up: Tuesday, vs. Crean Lutheran, 7 p.m.

22. Culver City/15-2/25

Next Up: Monday, at Hawthorne, 6:30 p.m.

23. Etiwanda/12-7/26

Next Up: Wednesday, at No. 26 Damien, 6:30 p.m.

24. Rancho Cucamonga/15-6/27

Next Up: Wednesday, vs. Upland, 6:30 p.m.

25. Brentwood School/18-2/UR

Next Up: Friday, at Crossroads, 7 p.m.

26. Damien/13-6/28

Next Up: Wednesday, vs. No. 23 Etiwanda, 6:30 p.m.

27. Saint Bernard/12-5/16

Next Up: Monday, at St. Paul, 7 p.m.

28. Oak Hills/13-4/UR

Next Up: Tuesday, at Apple Valley, 6 p.m.

29. Saint Anthony/8-5/22

Next Up: Monday, at Bishop Montgomery, 7 p.m.

30. Riverside Poly/10-7/30

Next Up: Tuesday, at No. 18 Rancho Verde, 6:30 p.m.