Five Outcomes Causes a Shake Up in the CCCMBCA Poll

Photo by: Aria Afshar, Las Positas College

Five events is all it took to shake up the CCCMBCA Poll this week.

One, Las Positas' upset of previous #1 San Francisco City. Two, Santiago Canyon's upset of previous #2 Fullerton. Three, Irvine Valley's upset of #8 Santiago Canyon and shocking rout of #24 Riverside. Four, #19 Ohlone beating #13 Chabot and then losing to #20 Canada. Five, unranked Shasta beating the two favorites in the race for the Golden Valley Conference — previously #10 Feather River and #22 Redwoods.

When shaken together you get a oh my! The top of the poll reminded us of the electric slide dance (you young'uns can look it up). Some colleges dropped not like a feather (pun to Feather River who dropped 20 slots), but like a rock thrown into Lake Shasta.

Keep in mind, while the Winning Percentage Index ranks a college's body of work for the year, and NCRPI measures a college's non-conference schedule strength, the CCCMBCA poll is a measurement of the colleges' efforts the last two weeks. And for some, it was a great week, while others "non ci posso credere!" which translates more literally to "oh, I can't believe it."

Obviously, with San Francisco City losing (at home by the way) and #2 Fullerton falling, it opened the door for Las Positas to become the state's new top ranked team. At 16-0, Las Positas is now the state's lone unbeaten team. There have been just five California community college men's basketball programs to go undefeated and win the state championship.

Unfortunately, for Las Positas the Coast-North has six of its eight colleges (Las Positas, San Francisco, Skyline, Ohlone, Chabot, Ohlone) still ranked in the CCCMBCA poll. In fact, the Hawks will see three ranked teams — #18 Chabot, #21 Canada and #22 Ohlone — in its next three contests.

Meanwhile, San Francisco City falls to No. 2 this week. San Francisco City travels to #17 Skyline, which fell this week after a bad loss to Foothill on January 3 (within the last two week window of the poll). The Rams will close out the week with a home game against #22 Ohlone, which fell three slots in this week's poll.

Mt. San Antonio, winners of nine straight becomes the south's highest ranked team, at #3. Obviously, Fullerton's loss began a cascade of movement in the top 10. The Hornets getting stung actually allowed Mt. San Antonio, West Valley, Citrus, Sequoias, and Modesto all to slide up one spot.

East Los Angeles, winners of a state-best 11-game wins streak, climbed three slots to #8 as did #9 San Diego City, winners of six straight. Each benefitted from Santiago Canyon's shocking loss to Irvine Valley. Despite Santiago Canyon's impressive win over Fullerton, the Hawks fell after its seven-point loss to Irvine Valley which was a .500 team going into the game. When the dust settled Santiago Canyon was #10, down two from two weeks ago and Fullerton made its nest at #11, down nine slots. Santiago Canyon's loss to Irvine Valley (#29 this week) really cost both programs. It really cost Riverside, which fell out of the top 30.

The biggest tumbler this week was Feather River which dropped perhaps a state record 20 spots. The Golden Eagles remain a contender for the conference title but have struggled of late, going 6-4 in their last 10 games, including a loss to unranked Shasta which has moved into contention for the conference title and the state poll at #25. Redwoods which were expected to contend with the Feather River for the Golden Valley Conference title also fell this week after losing to Shasta. Currently, Feather River and Redwoods are part of a four-way tie for second place.

Santa Rosa was state's biggest positive mover as the Cubs jumped 11 spots thanks to an eight-game win streak. Santa Rosa appears to have the best chance at keeping Modesto from winning the Big Eight Conference title. The first showdown between Modesto and Santa Rosa takes place Friday in Santa Rosa where the Cubs are 5-0. West LA and Cypress jumped 10 spots.

Here is a complete look at this week's poll, with a new feature of why you are where you are...