Loyola of Los Angeles and Arlington Country Day of Jacksonville fall from the top 10 after on-court losses last week. Arlington Country Day’s loss was later ruled a forfeit victory while Loyola loses final game of the regular season before jumping into the loaded CIF Southern Section Open Division playoffs this week. Top-ranked Curie of Chicago could meet No. 8 Whitney Young on Friday for Chicago Public League title if both win Wednesday semifinal contests.
By Ronnie Flores & Mark Tennis
Contributing: Doug Huff
We pride ourselves in compiling the Student Sports FAB 50 based on results, but once in a while the results can be a bit murky.
Last week, Arlington Country Day of Jacksonville was ranked ahead of crosstown Providence, primarily for its big January 29 victory over Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.). There comes a time in the season when every head-to-head result can’t come into play for every single team and we felt that ACD had done enough to overcome its early 93-74 loss to Providence.
This week, Arlington Country Day is involved in another rankings dilemma that occurs every so often — what to do when a team is awarded a victory via forfeit when it lost the game on the scoreboard? On February 11, the Apaches lost to Potter’s House Christian (Jacksonville, Fla.) 80-74. The next day, Sunshine Independent Athletic Association Commissioner David H. Horne, Jr. sent out a letter stating that Potter’s House Christian had to forfeit three games, including the victory over Arlington Country Day. Per SIAA rules outlined in the letter, Potter House Christian’s Eric Cobb, a transfer from Arlington Country Day, was not eligible to play this season as a result of transferring from one SIAA school to another after December 1.
For rankings compilers, an on-court result is not simply wiped out because of a forfeit, unless a player is not supposed to be competing in high school basketball because of age restrictions or a similar matter that would make him ineligible to compete for other FAB 50-eligible programs. In cases regarding transfer rules or state association eligibility issues, the forfeit is noted on a team’s record and the team is ranked accordingly based on its entire resume.
In Arlington Country Day’s case, it now is ranked behind the Providence team it lost to. ACD has done enough to stay in the top 25 of the FAB 50, however, because of an earlier on-court victory over Potter’s House Christian, the Oak Hill Academy win and a previous victory over No. 48 Sunrise Christian Academy (Bel Aire, Kan.).
Loyola Looks To Stay Alive
The second team that dropped from the top 10 is Loyola of Los Angeles. The Cubs lost their last regular season game in the tough Mission League to Alemany (Mission Hills, Calif.), an unranked team. The Cubs enjoyed a fine regular season, but lost Arizona-bound point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright to academic misconduct on February 7.
Another rankings dilemma that comes up once in a while is what to do when a key player misses time because of injury or suspension. In these situations, the team is ranked based on its resume so far, not on speculation of how good the team will be with or without that particular player. In the case of Jackson-Cartwright, he is not returning to the team and did not play in the loss to Alemany. Loyola falls 23 spots in this week’s FAB 50, but is still given ratings credit for its earlier victory over No. 37 Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.).
Loyola, Sierra Canyon, No. 4 Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), No. 22 Etiwanda (Etiwanda, Calif.), No. 23 Centennial (Corona, Calif.) and No. 44 Redondo Union (Redondo Beach, Calif.) are all part of the 16-team CIF Southern Section Open Division playoffs that begin this Friday.
Loyola was awarded the No. 3 seed in that bracket and opens with St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.), a dangerous nine-loss team that opened the season ranked No. 15 in the FAB 50 and got an early-season win over FAB 50 No. 8 Whitney Young. Loyola wasn’t penalized for not having Jackson-Cartwright, it was given the No. 3 seed because of the Alemany loss whereas if it had won that game in all likelihood would have been the No. 2 seed behind Mater Dei.
Windy City Winners
Speaking of Whitney Young, if the Dolphins win their Chicago Public League semifinal contest against Orr on Wednesday, they could potentially meet top-ranked Curie for the city title on Friday. Curie’s Josh and Joseph Stamps combined for 28 points to lead the nation’s No. 1 ranked team to a 71-64 victory over regionally-ranked Simeon (Chicago) on Sunday night. Curie faces Hyde Park (Chicago) in its semifinal contest.
Updated Student Sports FAB 50
Boys Basketball National Team Rankings
(Eighth poll of the -14 regular season; Through games played on Sunday, February 16; Previous ranking in parentheses)
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Dropped Out: Previous No. 41 Chaminade (St. Louis, Mo.); No. 49 Lone Peak (Highland, Utah); No. 50 O’Connell (Arlington, Va.).
Bubble Teams: Allentown Central Catholic (Allentown, Pa.) 24-0; Blue Valley Northwest (Overland Park, Kan.) 13-2; Benson (Omaha, Neb.) 19-2; Cape Henry Collegiate (Virginia Beach, Va.) 20-0; Capital Christian (Sacramento, Calif.) 23-3; Chaminade (St. Louis, Mo.) 19-2; Chino Hills (Chino Hills, Calif.) 23-4; De Soto (De Soto, Texas) 26-3; East Side (Newark, N.J.) 17-1; Eastside (Paterson, N.J.) 17-1; Fossil Ridge (Fort Collins, Colo.) 21-0; Garfield (Seattle, Wash.) 22-1; Greensboro Day (Greensboro, N.C.) 27-4;Jackson (Mill Creek, Wash.) 21-1; Johnson (St. Paul, Minn.) 23-2; Jonesboro (Jonesboro, Ark.) 21-3; King (Milwaukee, Wis.) 19-1; Lanphier (Springfield, Ill.) 23-0; Marian Catholic (Chicago Heights, Ill.) 21-2; New Castle (New Castle, Pa.) 23-0; North Little Rock (North Little Rock, Ark.) 19-2; North Shore (Galena Park, Texas) 28-3; O’Connell (Arlington, Va.) 16-9; Patrick School (Elizabeth, N.J.) 16-5; Pleasant Grove (Pleasant Grove, Utah) 18-2; Potomac (Dumfries, Va.) 22-0; Siegel (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) 26-0; Simeon (Chicago, Ill.) 18-5; St. Edward (Lakewood, Ohio) 18-2; St. Joseph (Metuchen, N.J.) 20-2; Washington (Charles Town, W. Va.) 15-0; Wesleyan Christian Academy (High Point, N.C.) 21-9; Westchester (Los Angeles, Calif.) 25-5; West Linn (West Linn, Ore.) 17-4; Zanesville (Zanesville, Ohio) 22-0.
Note: The STUDENT SPORTS 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 14 years ago.