Winners in 69 of its last 70 outings, Montverde Academy takes top spot in first regular season rankings.
Video: Montverde Academy back on topEagles begin 2015-16 season where they finished off in 2014-15 – No. 1.With preseason favorite
Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) losing
Harry Giles to injury and then losing on the court to
22ft Academy (Greenville, S.C.), upstart
Advanced Prep International (Dallas) was set to take over the top spot and usher in the first regular season rankings.
But all heck broke loose in high school basketball over the weekend. Not only did Advanced Prep fall to completely-off-the-radar
SATCH HomeSchool (Conroe, Texas), Bulldogs head coach Ray Forsett resigned after the game.
Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.),
Oldsmar Christian (Fla.),
High Point Christian Academy (N.C.),
J.O. Johnson (Huntsville, Ala.) and
Quality Education Academy (Winston-Salem, N.C.) were also pegged as teams to be featured in our first set of rankings, but all of them joined Advanced Prep in defeat during the Thanksgiving holiday.
No worries. Indiana's No. 1 team
Southport (Indianapolis) looked to be a great candidate to step right in for one of those teams. Nope. The Cardinals lost Saturday night at home to
Merrillville.
It's early and all of this weekend's losers will have an opportunity to earn their way back in – 23 of the final Top 25 in 2014-15 finished with at least one loss.
Keep in mind, much of the country still hasn't hit the court yet for game action and we stayed away from defaulting teams that haven't played into the rankings.
Without further adieu, let's roll out the first regular season rankings.
MaxPreps Top 25 National Boys Basketball Rankings, presented by the Army National Guard
La Lumiere junior Brian Bowen was the MVP of the Coventry Health Tournament of Champions over the weekend.
Photo by Patrick Gorski
The Eagles haven't been overwhelming thus far, but the bottom line is they have won 69 of their last 70 games dating back to 2013. Until somebody knocks Montverde off, Kevin Boyle's boys get the top spot.
2. La Lumiere (LaPorte, Ind.), 8-0MVP
Brian Bowen helped the Lakers go 3-0 over the weekend at the Coventry Health Tournament of Champions in Washington, Ill. La Lumiere notched quality
victories over St. Louis Christian, Spain Park (Hoover, Ala.) and Arlington Country Day (Fla.).
3. Chaminade (St. Louis), 0-0Season opener Dec. 1 vs. McCluer North (Florissant).
4. Garfield (Seattle), 0-0Season opener Dec. 4 vs. Nathan Hale (Seattle).
5. Chino Hills (Calif.), 0-0Season opener Nov. 30 vs. San Bernardino.
6. Atascocita (Humble, Texas), 8-0Key wins early on include Class 5A No. 1 Lancaster in the final of the McDonald's Invitational and a blowout over recent Kentucky commit De'Aaron Fox and Cypress Lakes (Katy, Texas).
7. Huntington St. Joseph Prep (W.Va.), 7-0After a win Sunday night against Tennessee Prep Academy (Memphis, Tenn.), the Fighting Irish have a big one Tuesday against Mountain Mission (Grundy, Va.).
8. Roman Catholic (Philadelphia), 0-0Season opener Dec. 5 vs. Parkland (Allentown).
9. DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.), 0-0Season opener Dec. 3 vs. Our Lady of Good Counsel (Olney).
10. Roselle Catholic (N.J.), 0-0Season opener Dec. 20 vs. East Side (Newark).
11. St. Anthony (Jersey City, N.J.), 0-0Season opener Dec. 8 vs. Corona del Sol (Tempe, Ariz.) at Hoophall West.
12. Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), 0-0Season opener Dec. 4 vs. Marian Catholic (Chicago Heights, Ill.) at the Chicago Elite Classic.
13. Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.), 6-0The Pilots are averaging an absurd 127 points per game in six wins this season.
14. Neumann-Goretti (Philadelphia), 0-0Season opener Dec. 5 vs. Dover (Del.).
15. Greenforest (Decatur, Ga.), 5-0Loaded with size and talent, the Eagles are coming off an impressive showing at the Hoopsgiving Classic in Atlanta. Greenforest dominated state championship contenders Pebblebrook (Mableton) 87-59 and Norcross 78-46.
16. Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.), 6-1Regrouping after losing
Harry Giles for the season, the Warriors fell to 22ft Academy (Greenville, S.C.) back on Nov. 14. Oak Hill gets a bit of a pass for that setback but it puts extra importance on this weekend's showdown with No. 3 Chaminade at the Marshall County Hoopfest in Kentucky.
17. The Patrick School (Elizabeth, N.J.), 0-0Season opener Dec. 19 at the City of Palms Classic.
18. Apple Valley (Minn.), 2-0Gary Trent Jr. averaged 43.5 points and 10 rebounds per game in Apple Valley's first two games – including a 96-79 win over Minnetonka on Saturday.
19. Greensboro Day (N.C.), 8-0The Bengals are off to a hot start after going 33-3 in 2014-15 and finishing the season ranked No. 11 nationally. Greensboro Day will have its hands full Tuesday against Providence Day (Charlotte), which swept preseason ranked Word of God Christian Academy (Raleigh) and High Point Christian Academy over the weekend.
20. Norland (Miami), 3-0Despite winning four Class 6A titles in a row in Florida, Norland hasn't been able to break into the Top 25. That changed this week thanks to a 53-49 win over Oldsmar Christian at the Breast Cancer Awarness Classic in Orlando.
21. Moreau Catholic (Hayward, Calif.), 1-0The talent at Moreau Catholic hasn't been a question for the past couple seasons. But the Mariners struggled against opponents outside of Northern California in 2014-15, tempering expectations coming into this season.
Oscar Frayer and company changed that in an instant Saturday night with a 60-59 win over Sierra Canyon – which was tabbed as the nation's No. 1 team by Jamie DeMoney of PrepNation.
22. Stevens Point (Wis.), 1-0The Panthers went unbeaten en route to Wisconsin's Division 1 state title a year ago. Early returns suggest Stevens Point will be tough to beat once again after a 108-71 win over East Troy (Wis.) on Saturday night to open the 2015-16 campaign. Wisconsin-Green Bay pledge
Trevor Anderson led the way with 32 points.
23. Bentonville (Ark.), 1-0Malik Monk went for 46 points Saturday night as the Tigers picked up an impressive win over defending Oklahoma 6A champ Mustang, which went 28-0 last season.
24. Westlake (Atlanta), 4-0"Watch out for Westlake" was a common refrain among high school basketball insiders in the Deep South over the offseason. With impressive early wins over East Jackson (Commerce, Ga.), IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.) and Pace Academy (Atlanta) featuring top-ranked junior Wendell Carter, the Lions look legit.
25. Miller Grove (Lithonia, Ga.), 3-0Welcome to the revenge tour for the Wolverines, who failed to win a state title in Georgia for the first time in six seasons in 2014-15. Head coach Sharman White's squad beat previously unbeaten Columbus (Miss.) over the weekend at the Lighthouse Thanksgiving Classic.
