Top 20 NorCal teams
- Thread starter ClayK
- Start date
1. Pinewood
2. Mitty
3. Salesian
4. McClatchy
5. Antelope
6. St. Joes
7. Cardinal Newman
8. SHCP
9. Heritage
10. SMS
11. Sac High
12. Clet
13. BOD
14.Bear Creek
15. Whitney
16. ESCP
17. Bradshaw Christian
18. Miramonte
19. Valley Christian
20. Christian brothers
2. Mitty
3. Salesian
4. McClatchy
5. Antelope
6. St. Joes
7. Cardinal Newman
8. SHCP
9. Heritage
10. SMS
11. Sac High
12. Clet
13. BOD
14.Bear Creek
15. Whitney
16. ESCP
17. Bradshaw Christian
18. Miramonte
19. Valley Christian
20. Christian brothers
1. Mitty
2. Pinewood
3. Salesian
4. St Mary’s Stockton
5. Antelope
6. SJND
7. Bear Creek
8. BOD
9. Carondelet
10. Miramonte
11. McClatchy
12. Sac High
13. Cardinal Newman
14. Heritage
15. Bradshaw Christian
16. Sacred Heart Cathedral
17. Folsom
18. Eastside College Prep
19. Whitney
20. Christian Brothers
2. Pinewood
3. Salesian
4. St Mary’s Stockton
5. Antelope
6. SJND
7. Bear Creek
8. BOD
9. Carondelet
10. Miramonte
11. McClatchy
12. Sac High
13. Cardinal Newman
14. Heritage
15. Bradshaw Christian
16. Sacred Heart Cathedral
17. Folsom
18. Eastside College Prep
19. Whitney
20. Christian Brothers
Although I'd like to see 4 WCAL teams in the NorCal Top 20, I think you're being overly optimistic for St. Francis. And I do like their new coach, but they've got a ways to go yet.
I agree with that. Also LBJ missing Miramonte from his top 20, they have to be on there, even though losing Steele is a big deal.
I see what you are saying but they did beat Bear Creek and Saint Joes last year when it mattered and are returning a lot of good players. Maybe they aren't top 20 but they should be damn close.
I think SF will end up being a top 20 team. Whether or not they will get to prove it will be the question. Haven't seen their schedule this year but last year it seemed pretty soft in the preseason. They have a shot at 2nd place in league (presumably between them and SHC)
Pinewood might be number 1 in 2018 (like they ended last year).. but once 2019 hits and transfers are eligible, Mitty is a clearcut number 1 in my mind.
Interesting that everyone has ESCP on their lists (even if its towards the bottom). They lose their 2 best player (I believe) to graduation and transfer. Do they have some talent coming in? Am I forgetting someone still left there? Or is this based on history and assuming Donovan will have another squad ready to go??
Pinewood might be number 1 in 2018 (like they ended last year).. but once 2019 hits and transfers are eligible, Mitty is a clearcut number 1 in my mind.
Interesting that everyone has ESCP on their lists (even if its towards the bottom). They lose their 2 best player (I believe) to graduation and transfer. Do they have some talent coming in? Am I forgetting someone still left there? Or is this based on history and assuming Donovan will have another squad ready to go??
Can
I agree totally about Mitty. I wouldn't put Pinewood ahead of them, losing Claros too big for them to replace. You are probably right about ESCP, forgot about the transfer. But losing Tahaafe will change their dynamic of their team, she does everything.
1. Mitty
2. Pinewood
3. Salesian
4. C-Let
5. SJND
6. BOD
7. Sacred Heart Cathedral
8. Cardinal Newman
9. Miramonte
10. SMS
11. St. Francis
12. St. Ignatius
13. Heritage
14. Eastside College Prep
15. Valley Christian
16. McClatchy
17. Bear Creek
18. Sac High
19. Bradshaw Christian
20. San Leandro
Let's talk about it
2. Pinewood
3. Salesian
4. C-Let
5. SJND
6. BOD
7. Sacred Heart Cathedral
8. Cardinal Newman
9. Miramonte
10. SMS
11. St. Francis
12. St. Ignatius
13. Heritage
14. Eastside College Prep
15. Valley Christian
16. McClatchy
17. Bear Creek
18. Sac High
19. Bradshaw Christian
20. San Leandro
Let's talk about it
Good list. While I don't think San leandro is top 20 they were pretty young last year and have some decent bigs. Maybe you are on to something but i don't think they deserve a top 20 spot yet. Otherwise we pretty much have all of the same squads1. Mitty
2. Pinewood
3. Salesian
4. C-Let
5. SJND
6. BOD
7. Sacred Heart Cathedral
8. Cardinal Newman
9. Miramonte
10. SMS
11. St. Francis
12. St. Ignatius
13. Heritage
14. Eastside College Prep
15. Valley Christian
16. McClatchy
17. Bear Creek
18. Sac High
19. Bradshaw Christian
20. San Leandro
Let's talk about it
1. Mitty
2. Bishop O'Dowd
3. Salesian
4. Pinewood
5. Carondelet
6. Bear Creek
7. McClatchy
8. Sacred Heart
9. St. Francis
10. St. Mary's Stockton
11. Miramonte
12. Heritage
13. Cardinal Newman
14. Sac High
15. Antelope
16. SJND
17. Folsom
18. Bradshaw Christian
19. Whitney
20. Piedmont
Bubble: Consumes Oaks, Montgomery
2. Bishop O'Dowd
3. Salesian
4. Pinewood
5. Carondelet
6. Bear Creek
7. McClatchy
8. Sacred Heart
9. St. Francis
10. St. Mary's Stockton
11. Miramonte
12. Heritage
13. Cardinal Newman
14. Sac High
15. Antelope
16. SJND
17. Folsom
18. Bradshaw Christian
19. Whitney
20. Piedmont
Bubble: Consumes Oaks, Montgomery
I guess I'll have to pay more attention to St Francis this year, go catch some of their games. They seem to be getting a lot of love, maybe they're going to better than I expected.
I honestly think they may be better without her as she tended to dominate the ball. They are a veteran team with experienced juniors and seniors who arent bad. The ability to get contributions from everybody rather than relying so much on 1 I think will make them better.
I predict Monty will win 22 or 23 games and be the 3 seed in NCS D2 again. MM & BOD have nothing to worry about though MONTY isnt at their levels.
MONTY will likely be 1 of the top seeds in D2 norcals or possibly sneak in to the 15/16 range in D1 (depending on how they fair vs CN in NBL...they will likely play 3 games)
Obviously I have a lot of respect for SHC, as they knocked us out of NorCals ... but they graduated nine seniors, and that's a lot to replace.
I seen them all summer playing together. 2 6ft +, surrounded by shooters they will be something to deal with. I would give them the nod before some of the Sac teams. But hey I had SHC in my top 10 last year and everyone else had them 15-20 and sometimes out, so what do I know. A lot will depend on the schedule some of these teams play also.
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Everyone said the same thing last year because they lost Thomas! At some point credit has to be given to the coaching job at SHC. I got on this board last season and argued for them to stay in the top 20 because of the strength of schedule and everyone argued against me. Sure enough at the end what happened? They lost 9 seniors last year and everyone else lost players too! Mitty, SMS, Pinewood, MM all lost key players! SHC still has their best player coming back and a nice young supporting cast. That along with coaching and their schedule is enough to put them ahead of a lot of teams. You lost your best player/ball handler/person that carried your team and your still ranked up there because of the coaching job you do. I'm not sure what you all are seeing! 3 state championship appearances in the 6 years Russell has been the head coach has to count for something :-|
The WCAL's excellent website has the answers to all of your questions.
Isn't there a WCAL team that no one thought would win a league game last season? That team ended up in 2nd behind only Mitty?
I agree that Pinewood will slip up a bit without Claros as she made that team go. Although don't let down on their 2 young Sophomore PG's coming in this year and they still have plenty of shooters to go around.
Saint Francis is definitely a top 20, just a matter of where. Heck, some of you have St. Joe's of Alameda in the top 5 and those two teams played neck and neck last year. SF didn't lose much from last year and have a couple good players coming in. I believe the only teams of note that they play, other than WCAL, are Pinewood, SSF, and Aragon. Last two are a reach.
Saint Francis is definitely a top 20, just a matter of where. Heck, some of you have St. Joe's of Alameda in the top 5 and those two teams played neck and neck last year. SF didn't lose much from last year and have a couple good players coming in. I believe the only teams of note that they play, other than WCAL, are Pinewood, SSF, and Aragon. Last two are a reach.
Una could end up being better than claros. Shes that talented. And she's only a sophmore. One of my favorite players in Norcal
Missing Saint Mary’s of Stockton and St Francis over McClatchy? Am I missing something?
You are probably right you should make your own list as well
Note: i rarely get to see the Bay Area teams play but do attend a lot of camps with my daughters.
1) Mitty - MaxPreps #1Sue Phillips stud coach
2) St. Mary’s of Stockton - Max Preps #5 in the nation. Lost some firepower to graduation but has reloaded with some nice young talent.
3) Pinewood- #8 in the nation wins over Mitty and SMoS- only lost 1 senior from last years team.
4) Salesian College Prep- Big win over Folsom & Carondolet Last year- graduated 3 seniors.
5)Miramonte
6) Presentation
7) Antelope- Coach Chambers has been able to attract some talented girls thru the JBS AAU program. They are young but can SHOOT the 3. Lack of size could hurt them in the post season
8) McClatchy- Strong seniors- 4 players getting scholarships- size is a plus. Depth could be an issue
9) Carondolet- always in the mix.
10) Sacred Heart- Big time wins last year
12) Folsom - was special last year. Loss of KcKenzie Forbes will hurt. If the BIGS have worked hard to improve they’ll be in the mix.
13) Bear Creek - coaches familiar with the program tell me this team ia legit. May have them too low.
14) West Campus- I love Gabby Rones and coach Langford keeps attracting talent. Could be Top 8
15) Sac High- athletic and aggressive. Watch out for Walters
16)cardinal Newman
17) Bishop O’Dowd
18) Whitney
19) East Side College Prep
20) Christian Brothers- Lost their best player to transfer. Could have been a real power.
Looks like #4 SMS is abbreviated for St Marys Stockton. St Francis is from Sacramento. But other Saint Francis is from Mountain View and plays in same league as Mitty, last year in Norcals made nice run and beat Bear Creek and St Joes in D1 playoffs.
Presentation shouldn't be on here. They lost their 3 senior captains last year-#6 way too high.
I would move Miramonte down a little bit-loss of their senior point guard leader on the floor will be impact.
I love Gabby Rones as well, but loss of their 2 senior all everything D1 guards too much to overcome to be ranked this high so early.
I'm confused you included SMS even higher than I did.. ahead of McClatchy just as I had it.
Yea my bad - I thought you didn’t have Saint Mary’s on your board and I thought you had St. Francis of Sacramento over McClatchy which would be a head scratcher.
All good. I'm always willing to talk hoops and respect 90 % of the opinions on here. I like your list!
#1Sue Phillips stud coach???
If you include creating, developing and executing a basketball factory that provides you great talent year after year ....are you a "stud coach"....Clay always says yes...lets see her go to a place with zero to almost no talent...
my thinking is she would drown just like everyone else....
I don't by the act...never have....never won the Open with huge talent advantages...almost no conditioning knowledge...,,,,I call her a stud basketball administrator...
If you include creating, developing and executing a basketball factory that provides you great talent year after year ....are you a "stud coach"....Clay always says yes...lets see her go to a place with zero to almost no talent...
my thinking is she would drown just like everyone else....
I don't by the act...never have....never won the Open with huge talent advantages...almost no conditioning knowledge...,,,,I call her a stud basketball administrator...
AND LET THE SEASON BEGIN!!!
With that posting we are off and running.
Btw, this may be Coach Phillips last chance for open state championship. She was in it two years ago with tremendously balanced and talented roster and was two games away last year with a great team. This could be last chance for a while given it’s Haley Jones last year at Mitty.
Good to see that becool is back beating the same drum ...
It's going to be really interesting this year, as Mitty doesn't have overwhelming talent, as has been the case in the past few seasons. Obviously, Haley Jones is the best player in the state and one of top two or three in the country, so that's a great place to start, but Mitty won't begin the season No. 1 nationally as it did last year. (And by the way, the MaxPreps' rankings haven't come out yet ... the ones referred to above are the computer rankings from last year.)
But it's not just Mitty that's down a bit -- the whole state of California has cycled back. The default choice for best in the state is Windward, but after that, who knows? Pinewood is obviously very good, but lost its PG; Mater Dei lost their young guard; Etiwanda is supposed to be strong but doesn't travel much (though they will be at the WCJ); SMS without DeCosta and the other graduates is a bit of an unknown; Salesian has the best post in the area, but others need to step up; Carondelet has talent but the new coach is cancelling games against higher-level opponents to schedule teams like DeAnza, which is puzzling; O'Dowd should be strong but lost a key senior; Antelope and Sacramento have talent but are unproven.
In short, lots of questions ... from the perspective of today, my sense is that we'll see the top teams beat each other, and no clear No. 1 will emerge until NorCals -- and maybe not even then, as there are a bunch of teams that could have four good games and wind up at Golden1.
It's going to be really interesting this year, as Mitty doesn't have overwhelming talent, as has been the case in the past few seasons. Obviously, Haley Jones is the best player in the state and one of top two or three in the country, so that's a great place to start, but Mitty won't begin the season No. 1 nationally as it did last year. (And by the way, the MaxPreps' rankings haven't come out yet ... the ones referred to above are the computer rankings from last year.)
But it's not just Mitty that's down a bit -- the whole state of California has cycled back. The default choice for best in the state is Windward, but after that, who knows? Pinewood is obviously very good, but lost its PG; Mater Dei lost their young guard; Etiwanda is supposed to be strong but doesn't travel much (though they will be at the WCJ); SMS without DeCosta and the other graduates is a bit of an unknown; Salesian has the best post in the area, but others need to step up; Carondelet has talent but the new coach is cancelling games against higher-level opponents to schedule teams like DeAnza, which is puzzling; O'Dowd should be strong but lost a key senior; Antelope and Sacramento have talent but are unproven.
In short, lots of questions ... from the perspective of today, my sense is that we'll see the top teams beat each other, and no clear No. 1 will emerge until NorCals -- and maybe not even then, as there are a bunch of teams that could have four good games and wind up at Golden1.
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