New FAB 50 National Rankings

Four new teams crack this week’s GrassrootsHoops.net FAB 50, including No. 44 Wayne (Huber Heights, Ohio). Teams in the Buckeye State are still going as are the state playoffs in California, New York, Michigan and New Jersey. FAB 50 No. 23 Wing’s Academy (Bronx, N.Y.) is playing in the New York Federation tourney this weekend and, win or lose, will participate at Dick’s Nationals set for April 2-4.

By Ronnie Flores
Contributing: Mark Tennis

RELATED: How Teams Get Ranked In The FAB 50 | All-Time FAB 50 No. 1 Teams | Dick’s Nationals Field Set | Dick’s Nationals Team & Individual Records

As the 2014-2015 comes to a close, the timing of losses becomes just as important as whom you lose to, especially if a team’s resume doesn’t include a win over a current Grassroots Hoops FAB 50-ranked team.

Such was the case for St. Vincent-St. Mary (Akron, Ohio), which was riding along unbeaten as the nation’s No. 4 ranked team until the Irish were defeated by unranked Cleveland Central Catholic, 41-36, in a Ohio Division II regional final on Saturday evening. St. Vincent-St. Mary drops all the way out of this week’s FAB 50, and while that may seem harsh, the Irish don’t own a victory over a team currently ranked.

The team it defeated to get in the mythical national title conversation, Villa Angela-St. Joseph (Cleveland, Ohio), is still going on in the Ohio state playoffs, as is the Cleveland Central Catholic team SV-SM lost to. The results of the remaining games in the Ohio state playoffs will determine if the Irish have a chance to return to the FAB 50 next week or in the final FAB 50 rankings set for publication on Monday, April 6.

One team that wasn’t as affected by a stunning playoff loss was previous No. 27 Simeon (Chicago, Ill.). The Wolverines suffered a 64-50 loss in what essentially was a road game to Normal Community (Normal, Ill.) in the Class 4A Normal Supersectional. In some regards it would make sense for Simeon to drop out of the FAB 50, since the Wolverines dropped pretty far in local rankings. From a national perspective, however, it becomes clear a team that played a national schedule as the long-time Chicago Public League power did still deserves to be ranked this week.

Simeon defeated Texas state champion and FAB 50 No. 38 Lancaster (Lancaster, Texas) and defeated Nevada state champion and FAB No. 39 Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.) by 30 points (75-45). Coach Robert Smith’s club also avenged a loss to previous No. 45 St. Rita (Chicago, Ill). Normal Community’s win helped that program crack the FAB 50 this week at No. 46. No. 22 Stevenson (Lincolnshire, Ill.) defeated Normal Community in the Class 4A state title game, 57-40, and the fact Simeon handed the state champs one of its three losses only strengthens Simeon’s argument.

State Champions Still To Be Decided

A local flavor to rankings, which tend to reward teams still alive over those that perhaps lost to a tougher foe or in a tougher division, has also been noticed this season in Ohio and California. Those two states, along with Michigan and New York, will finish their seasons this upcoming weekend and then the season will conclude in New York April 2-4 at Dick’s Nationals.

On Monday night at 8 p.m. ET, FAB 50 No. 45 Pope John XXIII (Sparta, N.J.) will take on top seed Roselle Catholic (Roselle, N.J.) in the New Jersey Tournament of Champions finale at Sun National Bank Center in Trenton. Pope John XXIII downed Newark Tech (Newark, N.J.) 78-59 in its TOC semifinal contest behind a double-double from Syracuse recruit Moustapha Diagne. In its semifinal, Roselle Catholic crushed Paulsboro (Paulsboro, N.J.) 103-34 and moves up to No. 25 in this week’s FAB 50.

In California, we’ve seen local rankings reward teams that did not play in the CIF NorCal or SoCal Open Division regional tournament. The season has closed for teams such as No. 21 Bishop Montgomery (Torrance, Calif.), No. 27 Fairfax (Los Angeles, Calif.) and No. 28 Etiwanda (Etiwanda, Calif.), but the two highest-ranked teams in the state will battle it out for the CIF State Open Division championship — No. 4 Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland, Calif.) and No. 16 Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), the four-time defending CIF state champions.

One team that will participate at Dick’s Nationals is still alive in the New York Federation Tournament — PSAL champion and No. 23 Wing’s Academy (Bronx, N.Y.). It plays bubble club and NYSPHSAA champ Shenendehowa (Clifton Park, N.Y.) in one semifinal, while No. 33 Christ the King (Middle Village, N.Y.), the CHSAA champ, plays NYSAIS champ Long Island Lutheran in the other March 27 at SEFCU Arena.

Wing’s Academy could very well lose a game before opening Dick’s Nationals with FAB 50 No. 2 and top seed Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.).

The other games at Dick’s Nationals are: FAB 50 No. 5 Wheeler (Marietta, Ga.) vs. Huntington-St. Joseph (Huntington, W. Va.); No. 7 Ely (Ely (Pompano Beach, Fla.) vs. No. 13 Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.) and FAB 50 No. 1 and number two seed Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.) vs. No. 8 Greensboro Day (Greensboro, N.C.).

For a breakdown of the Dick’s Nationals field, CLICK HERE.

Updated Grassroots Hoops FAB 50
Boys Basketball National Team Rankings
(14th poll of the 2014-15 regular season; Through games played on Sunday, March 22; Previous ranking in listed in second column under “Prev.”; *Indicates season complete; **Indicates forfeit wins, forfeit losses not included; ***Indicates season complete & forfeit wins, forfeit losses not included)

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Dropped Out: Previous No. 4 St. Vincent-St. Mary (Akron, Ohio), No. 16 Chaminade (St. Louis, Mo.), No. 45 St. Rita (Chicago, Ill.), No. 47 Franklin (Franklin, Ohio).

Bubble Teams: Andress (El Paso, Texas) 33-2*; Atascocita (Humble, Texas) 35-2*; Cathedral (Los Angeles, Calif.) 22-8*; Central (Beaumont, Texas) 30-4*; Chaminade (St. Louis, Mo.) 26-4*; Chino Hills (Chino Hills, Calif.) 24-7**; Clear Lake (Houston Texas) 35-3*; Colonial Forge (Stafford, Va.) 26-2*; Creighton Prep (Omaha, Neb.) 27-2*; Damien (La Verne, Calif.) 28-5; Dunbar (Dayton, Ohio) 22-5; East Kentwood (Kentwood, Mich.) 21-1*; Franklin (Franklin, Ohio) 26-2*; Garner Magnet (Garner, N.C.) 28-1*; Germantown (Germantown, Wis.) 27-1*; Iowa City West (Iowa City, Iowa) 25-1*; Lake Forest (Lake Forest, Ill.) 28-3*; Lorain (Lorain, Ohio) 25-1*; Lutheran (Orange, Calif.) 24-6*; Montrose Christian (Rockville, Md.) 24-4*; North Little Rock (North Little Rock, Ark.) 25-5*; North Scott (Eldridge, Iowa) 24-3*; Oldsmar Christian (Oldsmar, Fla.) 32-6***; Overland (Aurora, Colo.) 23-5*; Owensboro (Owensboro, Ky.) 31-4*; Ozen (Beaumont, Texas) 33-4*; Parkview (Little Rock, Ark.) 22-2*; Prestonwood Christian Academy (Plano, Texas) 32-5*; Rainier Beach (Seattle, Wash.) 25-4*; Sagemont (Weston, Fla.) 29-4*; Seton Hall Prep (West Orange, N.J.) 25-2*; Shenendehowa (Clifton Park, N.Y.) 25-0; Southport (Indianapolis, Ind.) 23-3*; Stevens Point (Stevens Point, Wis.) 27-1*; St. Benedict’s (Newark, N.J.) 31-6*; St. Edward (Lakewood, Ohio) 21-5; St. Francis (Alpharetta, Ga.) 29-3*; St. John’s (Washington, D.C.) 27-9*; St. Joseph (Westchester, Ill.) 30-6 *; St. Rita (Chicago, Ill.) 26-4*; St. Vincent-St. Mary (Akron, Ohio) 26-1*; Thomas Jefferson (Brooklyn, N.Y.) 26-4*; Westerville South (Westerville, Ohio) 26-1; Westfield (Chantilly, Va.) 27-2*; West Linn (West Linn, Ore.) 24-5*; Word of God Academy (Raleigh, N.C.) 29-3*.

Note: The Grassroots Hoops FAB 50 is a continuation of the National Sports News Service ratings that began in 1952. These were the first national high school rankings and they were compiled by the late Art Johlfs of Minnesota. They were compiled for many years by the late Barry Sollenberger of Phoenix, who merged them into the FAB 50 15 years ago.

Ronnie Flores is the Publisher and Editor of GrassrootsHoops.net. He can be reached at ronlocc1977@yahoo.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @RonMFlores