Glendora boys earn lofty position in initial in-season rankings by CIF-SS

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL

There were surprises for some local boys and girls teams in the CIF Southern Section’s first in-season rankings using a new computer system

Glendora boys basketball coach Gordon Hamlow scoffs at his team’s early No. 14 ranking by the CIF-SS and says he will try to ignore it. Keith Birmingham / staff PHOTOGRAPHER

Aislin Tamez has helped LaSalle’s girls basketball team to a 16-2 mark and No. 4 ranking in CIF-SS. Photo by John McCoy

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By Fred Robledo

frobledo@scng.com

Glendora boys basketball coach Gordon Hamlow chuckled when the CIF Southern Section released its first in-season rankings for boys and girls basketball.

For the first time, the CIF-SS is using SB Live’s Colley Royalty Method computer rankings. These rankings will be used to determine playoff divisions at the end of the regular season, just as high school football uses Calpreps’ rankings to determine playoff divisions.

Glendora (16-3) was ranked 14th overall in Colley Royalty’s first rankings, one spot ahead of No. 15 Mater Dei and a few spots ahead of No. 21 Damien.

“I saw that and just laughed,” Hamlow said. “I sent (the rankings) to a buddy and said look who’s ranked behind us (Mater Dei). I think they beat us by about 30 points during the summer.”

Glendora had a good run during the holiday tournament season, winning three tournament titles, punctuated with its 70-62 victory over Utah’s Skyridge in the championship game of the Bronze Division in The Classic at Damien.

Glendora has won 14 straight after losing three consecutive games in late November.

But a No. 14 ranking would place the Tartans in the Division 1 playoffs, which is a big jump from the Division 2AA playoffs the Tartans were in a year ago when they lost to Temecula Valley, 61-54, in the first round.

“I think right now the rankings are just entertainment value,” Hamlow said. “We won’t be (ranked) that high for long. Mater Dei will go play in their league, Damien will go play in their league and we will play in ours and we will see if it makes more sense in a month from now.”

Hamlow said the best thing to do with rankings is just ignore them and play.

“My thought is, if we have a great season, win a lot of games and are in Division 1, it’s great. It means we had a great season,” Hamlow said. “I’m not going to look at it like we have to tank some games to get in this or that division. You can’t think that way.”

La Mirada (14-3), which reached the semifinals of the prestigious Platinum Division in Damien’s tournament, was No. 5 in the first rankings, which would put the Matadores in the Open Division playoffs.

It will be interesting to see how much strength of schedule is factored into the rankings. As of Friday morning, San Gabriel Academy had a 4-7 record and was ranked 154th, but it has played one of the toughest schedules around, with losses to top teams like Sierra Canyon, Harvard-Westlake and Notre Dame. SGA beat Arcadia during the Damien tournament and lost a close decision, 57-54, to Pasadena.

SGA seems to be a good example of a team much better than its record, but it appears its record, more than its strength of schedule, was a big factor in its initial ranking.

LA SALLE GIRLS NO. 4 IN FIRST RANKINGS

One of the biggest shockers with the first girls basketball rankings of the season was La Salle ranked at No. 4 overall, which would put the Lancers in the Open Division of the playoffs.

La Salle (16-2) was hammered by No. 2-ranked Sierra Canyon 67-34 in the championship game of the Glendora tournament, but did have a solid 54-44 win over Flintridge Prep in the semifinals.

La Salle lost to San Dimas in the first round of the Division 1 playoffs last season and had a 23-6 overall record. La Salle struggled against tough competition in the Del Rey League, finishing third with a 3-5 record behind heavyweights Bishop Montgomery and Long Beach St. Anthony.

“I have a math degree and I knew the formula (Colley Royalty) was using before they came out with the first set of rankings, and I still didn’t know what to expect,” La Salle coach Scott Wiard said. “It’s a very convuleted formula. We are having a pretty good season and I knew we would be ranked high, but we will see how it goes as the season continues. We have a pretty tough league and we’re either going to prove we deserve it (ranking) or we don’t.”

Flintridge Prep (11-1) was also given a lofty ranking at No. 9, one spot from being an Open Division entrant. Given the Wolves’ remaining regular-season schedule, they could go undefeated the rest of the way. And that could be a valuable test case for the Colley Royalty Method, to see how it blends record with strength of schedule when league play is finished.