By Chace Bryson & Clay Kallam
Since SportStars doesn’t count the Central Section as NorCal, Campolindo’s California Interscholastic Div. II championship was the region’s only state title for boys this year.
But the impressive win over Colony-Ontario was never going provide a great shakeup to the final boys basketball rankings. The Cougars finish at No. 8, right behind the Weston Ranch-Stockton team which beat them by 13 earlier in the year.
The other Top 10 boys teams to compete at the Golden 1 Center on CIF Championship Weekend were No. 5 James Logan and No. 1 Sheldon. Logan nearly erased a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit before eventually falling to Chino Hills 69-63. Sheldon battled admirably but couldn’t meet the firepower of Cal-Hi Sports State Team Of The Year, Sierra Canyon-Chatsworth.
By winning the NorCal Open Division bracket, Sheldon had already secured the final No. 1 for the second straight season. As for Logan, if the Colts had completed their comeback and won a Div. I crown, that may have moved them ahead of No. 4 De La Salle. But with no state title, they couldn’t end up ahead of the team they lost to in the North Coast Section final.
On the girls side of things, the final two rounds of the postseason naturally upset the rankings a little, but most teams had been eliminated already so there wasn’t much of a reason to move them around.
At the top, there was no significant change, as even though Pinewood lost to national No. 12 Sierra Canyon in the Open Division finals, Doc Scheppler’s shooters were still the best in Northern California. Bishop O’Dowd moved up a notch past Carondelet thanks to the win over Bear Creek in the NorCal Division I finals, but otherwise the boat didn’t rock.
Overall, though, it was a good year in Northern California, with lots of quality teams playing each other and settling the rankings on the court — hopefully there will be more of the same next year, as it appears there will be lots of turnover at the top due to graduation and, of course, the many transfers and incoming freshmen we don’t know about yet.
To view the final Top 20 for both boys and girls, including six honorable mentions for each, visit https://sportstarsmag.com/category/basketball.
FINAL NORCAL BOYS TOP 10
- Sheldon-Sacramento (24-11*)
- Modesto Christian (27-8)
- Salesian-Richmond (31-1)
- De La Salle-Concord (29-4)
- James Logan-Union City (27-7)
- Branson-Ross (31-3)
- Weston Ranch-Stockton (31-2)
- Campolindo-Moraga (27-7)
- Dublin (25-6)
- Archbishop Mitty-San Jose (18-9)
* Includes four forfeit losses (ineligible player)
FINAL NORCAL GIRLS TOP 10
- Pinewood-Los Altos Hills (27-4)
- Salesian-Richmond (25-9)
- Archbishop Mitty-San Jose (25-3)
- Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland (24-10)
- Carondelet-Concord (26-5)
- St. Mary’s-Stockton (22-9)
- Bear Creek-Stockton (30-5)
- St. Joseph Notre Dame-Alameda (22-8)
- Miramonte-Orinda (28-4)
- Antelope (31-4)
PHOTO CREDIT (Campolindo): David Gershon
PHOTO CREDIT (Carondelet): Dennis Lee
