Xcellent 25 high school boys basketball rankings

Postseason play is underway or begins in the coming days for 20 of the 25 teams featured in this week's Xcellent 25 presented by the Army National Guard.

MaxPreps will track state tournament brackets across the country here.

No. 8 Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) will be the first ranked team to get a crack at winning a state title. The Gaels face Douglas (Minden) on Thursday at the Lawlor Events Center in Reno. The Nevada Class 4A state championship game is scheduled for the following night.

Of the teams in serious national championship contention, No. 2 Marcus (Flower Mound, Texas), No. 3 Milton (Ga.) and No. 4 Simeon (Chicago) have all reached the win-or-go-home stage of their respective seasons.



Read on for a complete look at this week's rankings.

Xcellent 25 High School Basketball Rankings presented by the Army National Guard

1. (No. 1 last week) St. Anthony (Jersey City, N.J.) (23-0)
The Friars beat Long Island Lutheran (Brookville, N.Y.) on Saturday 48-39, but the big story to emerge from that game was a DNPCD (did not play coach's decision) for star senior Kyle Anderson – a leading candidate for MaxPreps National Player of the Year honors. Not a lot of details have emerged as to why Anderson didn't play, but the situation bears watching closely as St. Anthony takes on NYC powerhouse Lincoln (Brooklyn) on Tuesday.

2. (2) Marcus (Flower Mound, Texas) (31-2)
The Marauders open play in Texas' brutal, 128-team Class 5A state bracket Tuesday against Northwest (Justin).

3. (3) Milton (Ga.) (23-4)
The Eagles begin Class AAAAA state tournament play Saturday against Walton (Marietta). Milton scored 197 points in a pair of regional tournament wins over Alpharetta and Centennial (Roswell) last week.

4. (4) Simeon (Chicago) (26-1)
The Wolverines had a busy weekend, beating Curie 53-49 on Friday to win the Chicago Public League title and De La Salle (Chicago) on Saturday at the City-Suburban Showdown.



5. (5) Chester (Pa.) (23-0)
The Clippers had no problem in the opening round of District 1 Class AAAA play, dominating Downingtown West 65-27. Chester continues its postseason quest Tuesday against Methacton (Norristown).

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6. (7) Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) (25-2)
The Monarchs coasted through the first round of Southern Section Division I-AA play with a 79-34 win over Chaparral (Temecula). A 20-win Palmdale squad awaits on Tuesday.

7. (8) Ridgeway (Memphis, Tenn.) (28-1)
Ridgeway vs. No. 15 Southwind III is set for Tuesday in the final of the District 15-AAA tournament. The Roadrunners knocked off Wooddale (Memphis) and Kirby (Memphis) to reach the championship game.

8. (9) Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) (26-4)
The Gaels will head to Reno next weekend for the state tournament after bombing Palo Verde (Las Vegas) 102-83 in the Sunset Regional championship game. Shabazz Muhammad piled up 28 points and eight rebounds in the victory.

9. (19) Paul VI (Fairfax, Va.) (26-2)
The Panthers beat DeMatha on its home court on senior night to cap an undefeated run through Washington Catholic Athletic League play. According to a press release distributed Sunday night, it is believed to be the first time a team other than DeMatha has run the table in the WCAC in the last 50 years.

10. (10) Prestonwood Christian (Plano, Texas) (26-4)
The Lions got 23 points from Kansas-bound big man Zach Peters in an 88-53 win over Houston Christian in the area round of the TAPPS 5A state tournament. Central Catholic (San Antonio) is up next in the regional on Friday.



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11. (11) Wichita Heights (Wichita, Kan.) (18-0)
With two regular-season games remaining, the Falcons have already wrapped up their fourth-straight league title and can now look ahead to notching a fourth-straight state title.

12. (13) Columbia (Decatur, Ga.) (26-1)
The Eagles open Class AAA state tournament play Saturday against Shaw (Columbus). Columbia is bidding for its fifth state title since 2006 and third in a row.

13. (14) Proviso East (Maywood, Ill.) (24-0)
The Pirates were impressive in a 73-66 win over Warren (Gurnee) on Saturday night at the City-Suburban Showdown, getting 17 points and four assists from Saint Louis-bound point guard Keith Carter.

14. (6) Grace Prep (Arlington, Texas) (24-4)
Kimball (Dallas) stunned the Lions in a tune-up for the TAPPS 4A state tournament on Saturday night. It's the second upset loss in a little over two weeks for Grace Prep.

15. (15) Southwind (Memphis, Tenn.) (27-3)
The Jaguars rolled past Collierville and Overton (Memphis) to set up the rematch with Ridgeway that should have Memphis buzzing.

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16. (16) Dunbar (Dayton, Ohio) (20-0)
After beating Meadowdale (Dayton ) by 24 back on Jan. 13, the Wolverines got a good push from the same club last week in a 72-66 victory. Dunbar begins sectional play Saturday against Monroe.



17. (18) Long Beach Poly (Calif.) (24-1)
Roschon Prince tallied 21 points and nine rebounds as the Jackrabbits hammered King (Riverside) 73-35 in the opening round of the CIF Southern Section Division I-AA playoffs. Next up is Knight (Palmdale) on Tuesday.

18. (20) Blanche Ely (Pompano Beach, Fla.) (26-2)
The Tigers breezed through the first round of the Class 7A state tournament, getting 22 points, eight steals and seven rebounds from senior forward Clide Geffrard in a 75-42 win over McArthur (Hollywood). Blanche Ely faces St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale) in the regional semifinals Tuesday.

19. (22) DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.) (25-4)
Three of the Stags' four losses have come to ranked teams and the other came against a now-unranked Gonzaga (Washington, D.C.) squad that was ranked No. 2 in the country at one point. DeMatha could get another crack at Paul VI in the WCAC tournament.

20. (21) Sexton (Lansing, Mich.) (15-1)
The Big Reds have a tough stretch ahead with games against Eastern (Lansing) and Norrix (Kalamazoo) – teams with a combined record of 28-7.

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21. (23) Scotlandville (Baton Rouge, La.) (31-2)
The Hornets take on St. Paul (Covington) on Tuesday in opening-round action of the Class 5A state playoffs.

22. (25) Hamilton Southeastern (Fishers, Ind.) (19-2)
The Royals helped produce one of the wilder box scores in the country last week as both Gary Harris (39 points, 6 rebounds, 6 steals, 6 assists) and Zak Irvin (37 points, 10 rebounds) posted monster stat lines in a 107-98 win over Pike (Indianapolis). The teams combined for 72 third-quarter points.



23. (12) Olympic (Charlotte, N.C.) (25-1)
Harding (Charlotte) needed overtime to finally hand Olympic its first loss of the season. The Trojans beat Harding twice during the regular season and saw a 52-game winning streak against ME-GA 7 3A/4A Conference opponents snapped.

24. (NR) Westbury Christian (Houston) (26-3)
The Wildcats beat Grace Community (Tyler) 93-46 on Friday to advance to the second round of the TAPPS Class 4A state tournament.

25. (NR) Neumann-Goretti (Philadelphia) (20-3)
Since losing to South Shore (Brooklyn, N.Y.) on Jan. 29, the Saints are 6-0 and winning by an average margin of 26.5 points per game. They play Roman Catholic in the semifinals of the Philadelphia Catholic League tournament on Wednesday.

Dropped out: No. 17 last week Pershing (Detroit); No. 24 St. Augustine (New Orleans)