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Boys’ basketball: Final MaxPreps national rankings

Los Angeles Times staff writer Ben Bolch
By Ben Bolch
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You have to wonder if the folks at MaxPreps were paying attention to Southern California basketball when it comes to their final ‘Xcellent’ top 25 national rankings. State Division I champion Westchester, Southern Section Division I-AA runner-up Mater Dei and Southern California regional semifinalist Fairfax were all included, and all were solid selections.

But, uh, what about King and Taft? King defeated Mater Dei in the Division I-AA championship game and reached the Southern California regional championship, where it lost to Westchester. Taft routed Fairfax in a City Section semifinal and advanced just as deep as the Lions in the Southern California regionals. So we’re not so sure we agree here.

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Here’s the final national top 25, with local teams in bold:

1. Henderson (Nev.) Findlay Prep 33-0

2. Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill Academy 40-1

3. Westchester 35-2

4. Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick 30-3

5. Rockville (Md.) Montrose Christian 21-3

6. Minnetonka (Minn.) Hopkins 31-0

7. Bloomington (Ind.) South 26-0

8. Mater Dei 31-2

9. Columbus (Ohio) Northland 27-1

10. Mobile (Ala.) LeFlore 29-3

11. Detroit Pershing 26-1

12. Seattle Franklin 28-1

13. Newark (N.J.) St. Benedict’s 24-3

14. South Atlanta 29-3

15. Houston Yates 34-1

16. Manhattan (N.Y.) Rice 26-3

17. Covington (Ky.) Holmes 36-2

18. Miami Coral Reef 27-4

19. Ames (Iowa) 26-0

20. Fairfax 27-5

21. Baltimore Lake Clifton 28-0

22. Fayetteville (Ark.) 30-0

23. Hyattsville (Md.) DeMatha 31-4

24. Huntsville (Ala.) Butler 34-3

25. Oklahoma City Putnam City 25-4.

--Ben Bolch

Varsity Times Insider
Ben Bolch

Ben Bolch has been a Los Angeles Times staff writer since 1999. He is serving his second stint as the UCLA beat writer, which seems fitting since he has covered almost every sports beat except hockey and horse racing. Bolch is also the author of the recently released book “100 Things UCLA Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.” He previously covered UCLA basketball from 2010-11 before going on to cover the NBA and the Clippers for five years. He happily traded in gobs of hotel points and airline miles to return to cover UCLA basketball and football in the summer of 2016. Bolch was once selected by NBA TV’s “The Starters” as the “Worst of the Week” after questioning their celebrity journalism-style questions at an NBA All-Star game and considers it one of his finer moments.

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