National Sports News Service

New FAB 50 National Rankings

January 13, 2014 by Ronnie Flores Leave a Comment

Over the past decade, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday has turned into a huge ratings bonanza as many of the nation’s top teams play in showcase games over the three-day weekend. Most of the attention is focused on the Hoophall Classic in Springfield, Mass. For some teams, such as No. 1 Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.) and No. 10 Paul VI (Fairfax, Va.), there is business to attend to beforehand at the Bass Pro Tournament of Champions in Springfield, Mo. Next week’s rankings won’t be published until Tuesday after all the results from MLK Monday are accounted for.

By Ronnie Flores & Mark Tennis
Contributing: Doug Huff

The Pangos Dream Classic began in 1995 as a vehicle to showcase Southern California’s top basketball teams and as a tribute to the late Dr.

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Updated FAB 50 National Rankings

January 6, 2014 by Ronnie Flores Leave a Comment

Defending FAB 50 champion Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.) remains in the top spot after staying unbeaten against tough opponents at the Culligan City of Palms Classic, the Wild Wing Café High School Hoops Classic and Cancer Research Classic. The Eagles have some tough upcoming games as well. With a mixed bag of results so far, we reward teams that have played a national schedule. Unbeaten teams that haven’t played as many games or stayed local over the holidays will move up slower.

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FAB 50 Rankings: Diggin’ Deeper

December 3, 2013 by Ronnie Flores Leave a Comment

Last week an article by Newsweek.com explored the world of high school basketball team rankings and particularly what Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.) is and why it’s ranked in various national polls. We take a deeper look at the program and what makes a team eligible for the Student Sports FAB 50.

Last week Newsweek.com published an article titled “Findlay Prep: A Top High School Basketball Team, With No School,” an expose into national high school basketball rankings and how national rankings compilers, including Student Sports, find it justifiable to include Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.), a basketball academy-type program whose roster all attend the Henderson International School in Henderson, Nev.

From our vantage point, the purpose of the article was to examine the fairness of Findlay Prep in national rankings alongside other public and parochial high schools across the United States and, for those that perhaps don’t closely follow the national high school basketball scene, to realize the innocence of high school basketball and the dream for a neighborhood team to win a state title and earn a national high school ranking is essentially dead.

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Preseason FAB 50: (1-15)

November 4, 2013 by Ronnie Flores Leave a Comment

We conclude our preseason Student Sports FAB 50 national team rankings release with an in-depth look at the top 15 teams. We began with teams No. 31-50 on Friday, continued with teams No. 16-30 and now have published an in-depth look at the nation’s 50 best teams. Montverde Academy of Florida is the preseason No. 1 team for the second consecutive season.

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Final, Expanded 2012-13 FAB 50 Rankings

May 24, 2013 by Ronnie Flores 2 Comments

All 50 teams are written up with explanations for why they were placed in these positions. These are the official National Sports News Service FAB 50 Team Rankings on GrassrootsHoops.net, which date back to the 1952 season. Montverde Academy of Florida is the 2012-13 mythical national champion.

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Final 2012-13 FAB 50 Rankings

April 8, 2013 by Ronnie Flores Leave a Comment

After winning the NHSI title to erase the memory of losing in the 2012 championship game in heart-breaking fashion, Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.) finishes as the No. 1 ranked team in the 2012-13 FAB 50 Team Rankings on GrassrootsHoops.net. Montverde Academy is this year’s mythical national champion after overcoming close back-to-back losses in January that dropped the Eagles to No. 3 in the FAB 50. The Eagles are the first Florida program ever to be ranked No. 1 nationally and should field another strong team next season.

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