Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.) earns billing as the preseason No. 1 ranked team in the Grassroots Hoops Top 50. It’s the third time a Kevin Boyle-coached team has earned this distinction. Nevada’s Findlay Prep and Chicago public league power Simeon round out the top three.
In last year’s National High School Invitational title game, Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.) made a remarkable fourth quarter comeback and went on to defeat snake-bit Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.) in overtime.
Having to go into overtime and a lone loss to La Lumiere (La Porte, Ind.) cost Findlay Prep its second mythical national title, but that game and tournament did give us a sneak peak into this season.
With its returnees, including dynamic 6-foot-1 guard Kasey Hill, and with the addition of 6-foot-10 Dakari Johnson, who sat out the 2011-12 season after earning national freshman of the year honors in 2010-11 at St. Patrick (Elizabeth, N.J.), it was clear coach Kevin Boyle’s club at Montverde Academy had a great chance to begin the 2012-13 season as the nation’s top-ranked club.
Montverde Academy did indeed earn the No. 1 spot in this year’s GrassrootsHoops.net Preseason FAB 50 Team Rankings, edging out No. 2 Findlay Prep.
For Boyle, in his second season at Montverde Academy after 23 seasons at St. Patrick, this is the third time one of his teams opens the season as the nation’s preseason No. 1 team. In 2008-09 a St. Patrick team led by Dexter Strickland (North Carolina), Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (Charlotte Bobcats) and Kyrie Irving (Cleveland Cavaliers) finished with a 30-3 record and No. 4 ranking. Boyle’s 2002-03 team finished No. 9 nationally with a 27-4 mark.
Findlay Prep is entering a new era of sorts as previous head coach Michael Peck moved on to the NDBL ranks in the off-season. The team, however, has its usual load of quality players and the transition should be smooth to Todd Simon, Peck’s associate head coach and the man in line to take over should he ever move on.
Findlay Prep is No. 2 in front of last year’s preseason No. 1 Simeon, which suffered its only loss to the Pilots at last year’s Hoophall Classic. This season No. 3 Simeon, led by last year’s National Junior of the Year Jabari Parker, will get another crack at a preseason No. 1 when they battle the Eagles Saturday, January 5 at the 2013 Cancer Research Classic in Wheeling, W.Va.
GRASSROOTS HOOPS PRESEASON TOP 50 TEAM RANKINGS
By Ronnie Flores
Contributing: Doug Huff & Mark Tennis
Note: As we continue to build our network and put resources into GrassrootsHoops.net, we obviously would like to get these preseason rankings out a bit earlier. We also like to explain our ratings with in-depth write ups as to why we rank teams in the preseason and we’ll definitely do so for the final rankings. The same criteria and disciplines used for many years with Huff’s work on the National Prep Poll and Huff and Tennis’ work on the FAB 50 is used here. The preseason rankings are based on feedback from coaches, quality of returning players, relative strength of teams in a respective state/region, and historical performance against national-caliber opponents. On-court results, not the amount of potential college recruits or reputation, is used in the rankings leading up to the final version in early April.
(Boys Basketball Preseason Poll of 2012-13 season; Final 2011-12 ranking in parentheses)
[contentblock id=fab-50-2012-13]
| No. | Prev. | High School | City | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | Montverde Academy | (Montverde, Fla.) | 23-4 |
| 2 | 2 | Findlay Prep | (Henderson, Nev.) | 32-1 |
| 3 | 6 | Simeon | (Chicago, Ill.) | 33-1 |
| 4 | 4 | Chester | (Chester, Pa.) | 32-0 |
| 5 | 1 | Oak Hill Academy | (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) | 44-0 |
| 6 | 3 | St. Anthony | (Jersey City, N.J.) | 32-0 |
| 7 | 14 | Montrose Christian | (Rockville, Md.) | 21-3 |
| 8 | 10 | Prestonwood Christian | (Plano, Texas) | 27-4 |
| 9 | NR | Southwind | (Memphis, Tenn.) | 27-5 |
| 10 | 15 | Proviso East | (Maywood, Ill.) | 32-1 |
| 11 | 40 | Poly | (Long Beach, Calif.) | 29-3 |
| 12 | 42 | Fort Bend Travis | (Richmond, Texas) | 36-4 |
| 13 | 13 | DeMatha Catholic | (Hyattsville, Md.) | 30-5 |
| 14 | 21 | Salesian | (Richmond, Calif.) | 33-2 |
| 15 | 33 | Lone Peak | (Highland, Utah) | 22-3 |
| 16 | 16 | St. Benedict's | (Newark, N.J.) | 35-3 |
| 17 | 47 | Neumann-Goretti | (Philadelphia, Pa.) | 28-3 |
| 18 | NR | Whitney Young | (Chicago, Ill.) | 16-10 |
| 19 | 31 | Omaha Central | (Omaha, Neb.) | 30-0 |
| 20 | 18 | Scotlandville | (Baton Rouge, La.) | 36-2 |
| 21 | 12 | Paul VI | (Fairfax, Va.) | 35-3 |
| 22 | NR | Lake Highland Prep | (Orlando, Fla.) | 28-4 |
| 23 | NR | Tift County | (Tifton, Ga.) | 20-8 |
| 24 | 41 | Rainier Beach | (Seattle, Wash.) | 27-3 |
| 25 | NR | Sheldon | (Sacramento, Calif.) | 29-6 |
| 26 | 46 | Gonzaga | (Washington, D.C.) | 27-7 |
| 27 | NR | DeSoto | (DeSoto, Texas) | 33-6 |
| 28 | 24 | Germantown | (Germantown, Wis.) | 28-0 |
| 29 | 35 | La Lumiere | (La Porte, Ind.) | 25-3 |
| 30 | NR | Callaway | (Jackson, Miss.) | 24-6 |
| 31 | NR | Cathedral | (Indianapolis, Ind.) | 20-4 |
| 32 | 34 | Mitty | (San Jose, Calif.) | 31-3 |
| 33 | 44 | Iowa City West | (Iowa City, Iowa) | 26-0 |
| 34 | NR | Gil St. Bernard's | (Gladstone, N.J.) | 27-4 |
| 35 | NR | Bullitt East | (Mount Washington, Ky.) | 27-5 |
| 36 | NR | Norcross | (Norcross, Ga.) | 16-12 |
| 37 | NR | St. John Bosco | (Bellflower, Calif.) | 25-8 |
| 38 | 38 | Edmond Memorial | (Edmond, Okla.) | 26-2 |
| 39 | 39 | St. Augustine | (New Orleans, La.) | 36-4 |
| 40 | 11 | Bishop Gorman | (Las Vegas, Nev.) | 28-4 |
| 41 | NR | Yates | (Houston, Texas) | 34-6 |
| 42 | NR | Lincoln | (Brooklyn, N.Y.) | 19-10 |
| 43 | 8 | Mater Dei | (Santa Ana, Calif.) | 34-2 |
| 44 | 16 | Ely | (Pompano Beach, Fla.) | 30-2 |
| 45 | NR | Hall | (Little Rock, Ark.) | 27-3 |
| 46 | NR | Christ School | (Arden, N.C.) | 32-5 |
| 47 | NR | Jefferson | (Brooklyn, N.Y.) | 25-7 |
| 48 | NR | Hampton | (Hampton, Va.) | 27-5 |
| 49 | 19 | Columbia | (Decatur, Ga.) | 31-1 |
| 50 | NR | Putnam City | (Oklahoma City, Okla.) | 21-7 |
Bubble: Ballard (Louisville, Ky.) 24-9; Bothell (Bothell, Wash.) 17-12; Christ The King (Middle Village, N.Y.) 19-8; De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) 28-3; Dobson (Mesa, Ariz.) 18-12; Dominican (Whitefish Bay, Wis.) 27-1; Etiwanda (Etiwanda, Calif.) 30-3; Hudson Catholic (Jersey City, N.J.) 25-3; Jesuit (Portland, Ore.) 25-2; John Curtis Christian (River Ridge, La.) 30-3; Lake Oswego (Lake Oswego, Ore.) 22-6; McCluer North (Florissant, Mo.) 28-1; Mount St. Joseph (Baltimore, Md.) 28-8; Orem (Orem, Utah) 24-1; Sexton (Lansing, Mich.) 27-1; St. Joseph (Metuchen, N.J.) 29-2; Sunrise Christian Academy (Bel Aire, Kan.) 25-4; Tulsa Union (Tulsa, Okla.) 29-0; West Charlotte (West Charlotte, N.C.) 27-6; White Station (Memphis, Tenn.) 15-15; Whitmer (Toledo, Ohio) 24-3.
Editor’s Note: The Grassroots Hoops FAB 50 is a continuation of the National Sports News Service ratings that began in 1944. These were the first national high school rankings and they were compiled by the late Art Johlfs of Minnesota. They were compiled for many years by the late Barry Sollenberger of Phoenix, who merged them into the FAB 50 13 years ago. From the 1999-2000 through the 2011-12 season, the FAB 50 was spearheaded by Doug Huff & Mark Tennis, who now serve as consultants for the FAB 50.
Ronnie Flores is the Publisher and Editor of GrassrootsHoops.net. He can be reached at ronlocc1977@yahoo.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @RonMFlores
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