It was a relatively quiet week among the top ranked teams in the latest FAB 50 National Team Rankings powered by Ballislife.com, but that could change with many big games set for MLK weekend. There will be many high-profile matchups at the National Guard Hoophall Classic presented by Spalding in Springfield, Mass., through MLK Monday. One team drops from the top 10 and there are three newcomers led by No. 44 Patrick School (Hackettstown, N.J.).
By Ronnie Flores
After a busy holiday season of high-powered matchups, the first week of January was mostly light work for the teams in the FAB 50 National Team Rankings powered by Ballislife.com. There was little movement and we update these rankings with the thoughts of those affected and devastated by the wildfires in Southern California that ravaged through the communities of Pacific Palisades and Altadena.
The wildfires did affect scheduled games among FAB 50 ranked teams in SoCal, as previous No. 4 St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.) has its Wednesday contest with Santa Margarita (Rancho SM, Calif.) postponed due to air quality issues. On Friday, the Trinity Leagues and Mission Leagues, traditionally two of the best in California that currently have three of its teams FAB 50 ranked, were scheduled to play at the Intuit Dome, home of the L.A. Clippers, in Inglewood, but the event was postponed until Feb. 1.
Two of the event’s marquee games were played on Friday at home sites and that caused two Trinity League teams to drop in the rankings this week, including one of the three teams that dropped out of the nation’s longest running weekly poll. Santa Margarita played then No. 44 JSerra (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) at home and used a big third quarter to propel itself to a 70-49 victory. Junior guard Kaiden Bailey had 11 points in the third period and nailed a 40-foot buzzer beater to close the quarter and give the Eagles a 50-33 lead after leading 33-25 at halftime. He finished with three 3-pointers and 25 points, while Long Beach St.-bound forward Dallas Washington added three 3-pointers and 17 points for Santa Margarita, which lost earlier in the season to No. 43 De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) by four points (61-57).
