It could be worse, I could be cleaning sewers

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Still recovering from pulling together 25 top girls’ basketball teams and putting them in the absolute correct order. Well, that was the plan. Bishop Amat didn’t do me any favors, or maybe it was St. Paul that didn’t do me any favors. Anyway, this week I’ll stay out of Santa Fe Springs while the Swordsmen wonder, ‘Hey, what about us?’

Who’s new: Ventura.

Who’s out: Colony.

So what happened?

Santa Margarita (15-2): The Eagles held serve and moved up a spot to No. 8 after they avenged an earlier loss with a 44-42 victory over Mater Dei, which had been No. 8. If that wasn’t enough, they held off Huntington Beach, 47-45, to end the week. Nothing like cutting it close.

Mater Dei (16-2): Besides Santa Margarita, the only other team to beat the Monarchs was Magnolia. At No. 13, Mater Dei is now behind Magnolia. Seems reasonable.

Ventura (16-1): The Cougars could have been ranked last week -- but weren’t -- because their best victories were over bubble teams. Well, they beat another bubble team, Norco, 53-25. Given that Colony moved into the rankings last week on the strength of a four-point victory over Norco, Ventura’s near-perfect season deserves inclusion. The team that got bumped with Ventura’s inclusion at No 18? Colony.

Bishop Amat (14-4): The Lancers won their first 11 games, but have lost four of their last seven. A 44-27 loss to Magnolia was shocking because of the season-low scoring output. The 44-40 loss to St. Paul was simply shocking. Amat opened the season at No. 24 and was No. 12 before those setbacks. How about splitting the difference, more or less, at No 19?

St. Paul (13-5): The Swordsmen raised awareness with a nice week at the Ayala tournament, even though they lost to Cajon and Perris. Are they top 25-worthy after the upset of Bishop Amat? Have they put enough distance between consecutive losses to Long Beach Wilson, Canyon Springs and Harvard-Westlake early in the season? With Troy and Mater Dei looming in the next couple of weeks, there is time to answer those questions.

Colony (13-2): The Titans are like the innocent bystander that gets whacked over the head by some thug. Didn’t do anything wrong, just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Perched in the No. 25 spot, somebody had to get whacked with Ventura’s inclusion.

-- Martin Henderson

-- Image from www.viewimages.com