HS: Winter FAB 50 rankings, Jan. 16

by Sheldon Shealer

January 16, 2018

In terms of weeks, the winter high school season is the longest, by far, during the school year.

But when mid-January hits, things start to move quite fast. While Texas is entering its third week of regular season play, Florida girls are about to wind up their regular season this week. Soon to follow will be the Florida playoffs, the Hawaii, Arizona, Louisiana and Mississippi state tournaments. In the next few weeks more than half of the winter-playing states will be finished. But the winter will drag on into mid-March for California and early April for Texas before the season officially comes to an end.

CHANGE AT NO. 1: The revolving door on the boys No. 1 ranking spun yet again this week, and it leaves Brophy Prep (Phoenix, Ariz.) back at the top. Actually, the top four teams -- Brophy, Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.), No. 3 McKinney Boyd (McKinney, Texas) and No. 4 Torrey Pines (Calif.) remain firmly in the running for No. 1. All four teams are undefeated and can make compelling cases for No. 1 as long as it stays that way. Brophy gets the edge right now for winning two national showcase events, something none of the other contenders can say this season.

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BIG MOVERS: BOYS: Folsom (Calif.). Folsom moved up nine spots to No. 12 this week, and most of the movement had to do with other teams losing. Those setbacks opened the door for Folsom, which has not lost a match on the field since the 2015-16 season. ... GIRLS: Hendrickson (Pflugerville, Texas). Texas' defending state champion went 3-0 last week to vault from No. 47 to No. 32 this week.

NEWCOMERS: BOYS: No. 10 San Pasqual (Escondido, Calif.), No. 11 Seven Lakes (Katy, Texas), No. 14 San Antonio Reagan (San Antonio, Texas), No. 31 University (Irvine, Calif), No. 36 Paso Robles (Calif.), No. 37 San Luis Obispo (Calif.), No. 46 Overfelt (San Jose, Calif.), No. 47 San Benito (Hollister, Calif.), No. 49 Central Catholic (San Antonio, Texas) and No. 50 Coppell (Texas). ... GIRLS: No. 20 Pleasanton Foothill (Pleasanton, Calif.), No. 36 Dublin (Calif.), No. 40 Iolani (Honolulu, Hawaii), No. 43 Villa Park (Calif.), No. 44 Chino Hills (Calif.), No. 47 Ursuline Academy (Dallas, Texas), No. 48 Houston Memorial (Hedwig Village, Texas) and No. 50 McNeil (Austin, Texas).