Class 3A Lakeland Santa Fe Catholic remains atop the FHSAA state boys basketball rankings, which were released Tuesday.
Santa Fe Catholic, which earned a rating of 22.742, upped its record to 20-2 Tuesday night with an 82-55 rout of Lake Gibson. The Hawks (pictured in gray) are also coming off two impressive victories over Paxon School and Impact Christian Academy last weekend at the Duel in Duval.
Jacksonville Andrew Jackson (17-3), also a 3A program, ranks No. 2 overall in the state with a 20.824 rating but was upset Tuesday by Jacksonville Parker, 36-35.
The rankings were compiled before Tuesday night’s games were played.
The rest of the top 10 looks like this: 3) West Palm Beach Forest Hill (21-2, 7A); 4) Bartow (19-1, 6A); 5) Fort Lauderdale Dillard (15-5, 6A); 6) Davie University School (14-5, 4A); 7) Tarpon Springs East Lake (19-1, 6A); 8) Pembroke Pines Charter (17-1, 5A); 9) Tampa Catholic (15-5, 4A); 10) Orlando Christian Prep (17-2, 2A).
Of the overall top 10, coach Darryl Burrows’ Dillard Panthers have the toughest strength of schedule at 13.98, followed by University School (13.64) and Tampa Catholic (13.10). Two-time defending state champion U-School and Dillard both made it to the state championship game last March. East Lake has the lowest strength of schedule (7.19).
Looking at it class-by-class, your No. 1-ranked programs are:
7A, Forest Hill
6A, Bartow
5A, Pines Charter
4A, University School
3A, Santa Fe Catholic
2A, Orlando Christian Prep
1A, Wildwood
Oakland Park Northeast heads Nos. 11-20 followed by: 12) Fort Lauderdale Stranahan; 13) South Miami; 14) Palm Beach Gardens Dwyer; 15) Jacksonville Lee; 16) Hollywood Chaminade-Madonna; 17) Miramar; 18) Fort Lauderdale Westminster Academy; 19) Miami Schoolhouse Prep; 20) Jacksonville Impact Christian.
Of the second 10 three-time defending state champion Westminster Academy has the highest SOS at 14.82. Lee has the lowest SOS at 8.46.
Rounding out the top 30 are: 21) Sanford Seminole; 22) Fort Lauderdale Pine Crest; 23) Tallahassee Rickards; 24) Hialeah Gardens Mater Academy; 25) Jacksonville Paxon; 26) Fort Lauderdale Calvary Christian; 27) Coral Gables; 28) Tallahassee Lincoln; 29) Boca St. Andrew’s; 30) St. Pete Lakewood.
District play will be held Feb. 10-14. The state tournament runs March 4-7.
If you have high school or travel basketball news, you can reach Pat Lammer via e-mail at PatALammer@Gmail.com
