CIF Boys' Polls 2

Well, even though we question what these "polls" really mean, every week, the CIF Southern Section issues it's coaches poll, sort of like the mini-AP coaches' poll. Since a lot of folks have requested this kind of information, we'll keep putting it up, even though we think it really has little value overall. So here are the Boy's Polls, from the CIF Southern Section for the week ending January 22, 1998. Notice that there have been a couple of changes: Most notably, a new No. 1 team in Division III-A, Ocean View, which bumped Compton Centennial down to No. 3, and Chaminade is riding, moving from No. 4 to No. 2, while Harvard-Westlake has dropped from No. 4 to No. 8. And, across the board, there are eight new additions to the rankings, and eight who have dropped out. Not an overwhelming amount of movement considering the numbers of games and teams in the Southern Section. So here's this week's poll:

Division I-AA 1. Artesia 2. Etiwanda 3. Long Beach Poly 4. Bellflower 5. Simi Valley 6. Fontana 7. Century 8. Diamond Bar 9. Eisenhower 10. Ayala Dropped out: Warren, Capistrano Valley	Last Week 1 4 2 5 3 7 9 NR 6 NR	Division I-A 1. Glendora 2. J.W. North 3. Cajon 4. Mater Dei 5. Arlington 6. Valencia 7. Pacific 8. Dana Hills 9. Moreno Valley 10. Righetti Dropped Out: University,	Last Week 1 3 5 2 4 7 6 10 8 NR	Division II-AA 1. Santa Margarita 2. Compton 3. Brea Olinda 4. Inglewood 5. California 6. Tustin 7. Villa Park 8. Katella 9. Loara 10. Gahr Dropped Out: Rancho Verde, Ramona, Canyon	Last Week 1 2 3 5 NR 4 6 9 NR NR
Division II-A 1. Dominguez 2. Redondo Beach 3. Sonora 4. Cathedral City 5. Paso Robles 6. Dos Pueblos 7. Newbury Park 8. Perris 9. Servite 10. Pacifica Dropped Out: Moorpark	Last Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 (tie) 10	Division III-AA 1. Barstow 2. La Canada 3. Lompoc 4. San Luis Obispo 5. Bolsa Grande 6. Riverside Notre Dame 7. Magnolia 8. Pomona 9. Brawley 10. Silver Valley Dropped Out: Gladstone, Mayfair	Last Week 1 2 3 9 4 NR 5 7 6 NR	Division III-A 1. Ocean View 2. Chaminade 3. Compton Centennial 4. Estancia 5. Santa Paula 6. Bishop Montgomery 7. San Dimas 8. Harvard-Westlake 9. San Jacinto 10. Bassett Dropped Out: None	Last Week 3 4 1 5 7 6 9 2 8 10
Division IV-AA 1. Twentynine Palms 2. Fillmore 3. Morro Bay 4. Laguna Beach 5. St. Paul 6. Beaumont 7. Biship Union 8. St. Bernard 9. St. Joseph 10. Duarte Dropped Out: None	Last Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10	Division IV-A 1. Crossroads 2. Bell-Jeff 3. Serra 4. Mojave 5. Sherman Indian 6. Brentwood 7. St. Bonaventure 8. Loma Linda Academy 9. Kern Valley 10. Whittier Christian Dropped Out: None	Last Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10	Division V-AA 1. Montclair Prep 2. Pacific Hills 3. Santa Clara 4. Chadwick 5. Bishop Diego 6. Campbell Hall 7. St. Anthony 8. Yeshiva 9. Woodcrest Christian 10 Pasadena Poly Dropped Out: None	Last Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Division V-A 1. Rolling Hills Prep 2. Laguna Blanca 3. Price 4. Orangewood Academy 5. Rio Hondo Prep 6. Mesrobian 7. Antelope Valley Christian 8. Santa Clarita Christian 9. Light and Life 10. Gateway Christian Dropped Out: None	Last Week 1 3 2 5 4 6 7 8 9 10

Again, now that you've seen it, what does it really mean? We don't think it means a whole lot, especially since some of the Division IA teams have been beaten by Division IIAA teams, and Division IV-A teams are beating up on some Division V-A and V-AA teams. In fact, if you look at the composition of most leagues, you'll see that the Southern Section "divisions" really in most instances make no sense, and they certainly aren't determinative of a school's ability. But it's what we're stuck with, at least for now, and that's why just about everyone (well, at least the top three or four teams in most leagues) make the playoffs come the end of February and beginning of March. But these are still all very fine teams, some of which we've featured, and many of which we will before the season is out. Anyway, they're here at SoCalHoops. Because you asked.