
Emmanuel Mudiay earned MVP honors in the weekend's biggest game as Prime Prep knocked off Quality Education Academy at the Marshall County Hoopfest.
Photo by Randy Sartin/CBS MaxPreps
Xcellent 25 National Basketball Rankings presented by the Army National Guard
1. (No. 1 last week) Montverde Academy (Fla.), 6-0After comfortable wins over Lakewood (St. Petersburg) and Deerfield Beach, the Eagles are off until Dec. 19 when they open play at the City of Palms Classic. Junior
Ben Simmons – a 6-foot-8 native of Australia – has drawn rave reviews.
2. (2) Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.), 13-0We are still a couple of weeks away from getting a good gauge on these Pilots. Findlay has upcoming showdowns against No. 4 Prime Prep (Dallas) and Montrose Christian (Rockville, Md.) at the Tarkanian Classic before Christmas.
3. (3) Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), 4-0The Monarchs dominated the Diablo Inferno tournament in Mission Viejo last week as star senior
Stanley Johnson averaged more than 30 points per game and earned MVP honors. But Mater Dei also took a hit as senior forward Mario Soto elected to leave the program in pursuit of a bigger role. Next up is perennial Texas power Yates (Houston) at the Hoophall West Classic in Phoenix.
4. (5) Prime Prep (Dallas), 7-0Thanks to a big outing from game MVP
Emmanuel Mudiay (17 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists), Prime passed an important test Saturday at the Marshall County Hoopfest by beating then-No. 15 Quality Education Academy (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 67-50.
5. (7) Paul VI (Fairfax, Va.), 3-0The Panthers opened the season in dominant fashion last week, beating Takoma Academy (Takoma Park, Md.) 97-59, Our Lady of Good Counsel (Olney, Md.) 95-38 and Bishop Ireton (Alexandria, Va.) 57-43. Sophomore transfer
Curtis Jones led a balanced scoring attack in the first two outings. If there are doubts about Paul VI appearing this high, remember that much of this cast helped notch wins over Montverde Academy and Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) a year ago.