It’s a dirty job, but somebody has to pick the chosen 25
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Still recovering from compiling a new Times’ top 25. Eyes bleary. Hands shaking. More than a little concerned what might happen the next time I’m in Long Beach in the vicinity of Poly High.
Who’s new: Long Beach Millikan, Bishop Montgomery, Edison, JSerra, Colony.
Who’s out: Windward, Vista Murrieta, Esperanza, Brentwood, Saugus.
So what happened?
Long Beach Poly (9-2): The Jackrabbits were No. 1 without a doubt and then were beaten Monday night by Moore League rival Millikan, 51-46. So now Poly’s No. 6. It should make the rematch interesting.
Long Beach Millikan (11-2): The Rams move from unranked to No. 5. It’s a huge jump. They lost by four points early in the season to Redondo and Chatsworth, but have beaten Esperanza and Ayala. And Poly.
Mater Dei (16-1): No. 8 might be kind of high, but a key element is consistency, and under new Coach Kevin Kiernan, you can bank on good defense: The Monarchs are allowing only 35 points a game. That’s nine points a quarter. Only once have they allowed more than 46 points. That’s less than 12 points a quarter. That’s enough to win most nights. And they have.
Marlborough (8-7): Nikki Speed was hurt early on, thus the poor record. But the Mustangs at full strength defeated Brea, 46-43. Could they be higher than No. 15? Yeah, if you base everything off one quality victory. But at this stage of the season, there’s still some accountability for losing. And there are other teams out there with a quality victory.
Edison (11-3): The Chargers were easily in the top 15 after winning the Orange County Championships, but a follow-up loss to Marina, 53-51, spoiled any major gain from being unranked in the preseason. Still, No. 19 Edison gets credit for consecutive victories over now No. 9 Santa Margarita, No. 21 Foothill and No. 20 Mira Costa.
JSerra (13-5): Maybe the biggest surprise of the new teams, the No. 24 Lions -- who have played six top 25 opponents -- beat Esperanza and Magnolia, which more than made up for a season-opening loss to Huntington Beach. They probably shouldn’t get too comfortable, though.
Norco (12-4): With quality victories and close quality losses, the previously unranked Cougars were in, until they were beaten Monday night by Colony, 56-52. So now Colony (12-2) is in at No. 25. The Titans’ only losses were to No. 10 Ayala and No. 8 Mater Dei. No shame in that.
Ventura (14-1): Honestly, I thought the Cougars would be in, but their best victories were over bubble-teams, Santa Monica, South Torrance and Saugus, which opened the season at No. 25. With Norco, Vista Murrieta, Cajon and Marlborough looming in the future, there’s plenty of time (and opportunity) for Ventura to pierce the bubble.
-- Martin Henderson