Basketball star Jeremy Tyler's decision to turn pro after his junior year at San Diego High was the most talked about story in the state during the 2008-09 school year. Other stories among our top 15 include Sacramento Grant's historic win over Long Beach Poly in the CIF Open Division state football bowl game and one of the most stunning upsets any team in any sport in state history has ever pulled off.

By Mark Tennis & Ronnie Flores
Contributing: Paul Muyskens

1. Jeremy Tyler Leaves High School For Pros

This one is a no-brainer at the top of our list and might be the biggest story of the school year nationally, too. In a move orchestrated by summer basketball pioneer Sonny Vaccaro, San Diego High's Jeremy Tyler, a 6-foot-11 junior who previously committed to Louisville, decided to skip his senior season of high school to play professionally in Europe for two years before entering the 2011 NBA Draft.

One year earlier, Vaccaro aided EA SPORTS National Player of the Year Brandon Jennings in skipping college to play professional ball overseas, but Tyler's decision was different and drew stronger reactions since he actually has not yet finished high school.

Recently, Las Vegas High baseball sensation Bryce Harper decided to skip his final two years of high school so there is no telling where this trend is headed. While many in the local basketball community opposed Tyler's move, it was pretty obvious he was not going to finish his prep career at San Diego High, regardless. What happened with the Cavers and the players that were supposed to be playing alongside Tyler is another story.

2. Grant Wins First CIF Open Division Bowl Game

One of the biggest stories of the 2007-2008 school year came when the CIF Federated Council approved the expansion of the CIF State Championship Bowl Games from three to five games for the 2008 season. It wasn't much of a surprise, but two events that transpired from that decision were eye-openers, that's for sure.

The first came when Sac-Joaquin Section Div. II champion Grant of Sacramento was selected to play in the Open Division bowl game, which was created to pit the best team in Northern California versus the best from SoCal regardless of enrollment. Grant's selection proved the CIF Bowl Games were not just created for an annual match up of De La Salle of Concord versus the best Southern California has to offer.

Second, Grant showed the prep football world that quality football in Northern California does exist outside the Spartans' legendary program, as they upset a Long Beach Poly team that was looking to become the first program to win a CIF state championship in the early era (1915-1927) and the modern CIF bowl game era.

With its 25-20 victory, Grant was the first victorious NorCal team in the expanded bowl game setup. And to say that Grant's win boosted the prestige of the entire Sacramento community would be an understatement. It is arguably the biggest win any team in the city's history has ever had.(Read full post)

It's all over for Mater Dei after loss to Fairfax on home court. This week's rankings are through games played on Tuesday night in the first round of the NorCal and SoCal regional playoffs.

By Steve Brand & Mark Tennis

It's easy to pick the biggest story on the first full night of the regional boys basketball playoffs, which were played at home sites on Tuesday throughout Northern and Southern California.

That would be the ouster of Mater Dei of Santa Ana on its home floor by Fairfax of Los Angeles, 79-64, in the Division I Southern California playoffs. It was just one week ago when the Monarchs were 30-0 and were the consensus No. 1 team not only in the state but in the nation.

After losing the previous Saturday to M.L. King of Riverside in the  CIF Southern Section Div. I-AA final, 71-57, Mater Dei's loss to Fairfax wasn't that surprising, but the margin of the two defeats certainly qualifies as a shock. As has been stated, Mater Dei has missed the services of injured forward Andy Brown, but the Monarchs still had four big-time Division I recruits on the floor in 6-10 twins David and Travis Wear (North Carolina) and juniors Tyler Lamb (UCLA commit) and Gary Franklin (USC commit).

As has been the case often late in the season and late in the playoffs, however, a lack of depth hurt the Monarchs. Plus, all of their acclaim tends to fire up opposing players to raise their game to levels they've never reached before.

For Fairfax, that player was guard Jordan Weathers. He connected on 7-of-11 from beyond the 3-point line and went off for 23 points against Mater Dei. Junior Dante McFrazier also had a breakthrough night with 19 points, while USC-bound Solomon Hill had 19 as well. Surprisingly, Fairfax's most well-known player, 6-10 Renardo Sidney, didn't have a good game and only added 10 points.

David Wear did the best of the big four for Mater Dei. He had 21 points and 13 rebounds, but the other three, especially Franklin, struggled with their shots all night long.

Fairfax advanced to Thursday night's Division I South semifinals against league rival Westchester, which won its game on Tuesday, 65-52, over San Diego Section champ El Camino of Oceanside. The other D1 South semi matches King against Taft of Woodland Hills.

Taft won possibly the best game of the night with a come-from-behind 54-52 win over Dominguez of Compton. The Dons came out smoking in the matchup of state overall top 10-ranked teams with a 15-0 run to start the game. It took the Toreadors until the end of the third quarter to catch up, then with 2:39 left they got a huge 3-pointer from Justin Hawkins for a 51-48 lead. Terran Carter led Taft with 16 points and 13 rebounds while Keala King starred for the Dons with 17 points.

The wildest games of the night were in the south in Division II as two teams scored more than 100 points while one of the games went into overtime. The overtime battle involved top-seed Thousand Oaks as the Lancers survived Reseda with a 92-89 triumph. The two 100-point nights were from Leuzinger of Lawndale, which defeated Garces of Bakersfield, 108-74, and Eisenhower of Rialto, which beat University of Los Angeles, 102-72.

Championship games in Northern California for Division I, Division II and Division III will be played on Saturday at Arco Arena in Sacramento. The Division IV and Division V finals in the north are slated for Folsom High School.

In the south, Pauley Pavilion on the campus of UCLA will be the site of the Division I, Division II and Division III finals, while Cal State Fullerton will be where the Division IV and Division V championships will be decided.

(Rankings based on results through Tuesday, March 3; they will not match the overall top 20 rankings posted on Monday; previous ranking in parentheses; *indicates season complete.)

Division 1
1.   (3)   Westchester (Los Angeles) 32-2
2.   (5)   M.L. King (Riverside) 29-2
3.   (4)   McClymonds (Oakland) 27-1
4.   (6)   Taft (Woodland Hills) 27-4
5.   (9)   Fairfax (Los Angeles) 27-4
6.   (1)   Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 31-2*
7.   (2)   De La Salle (Concord) 26-2*
8.   (7)   Dominguez (Compton) 26-7*
9 .  (13)  Monte Vista (Danville) 27-3
10.  (10) Folsom  31-1
11.  (nr) Newark Memorial (Newark) 27-5
12. (12) El Camino (Oceanside) 31-4*
13. (8)   Etiwanda (Rancho Cucamonga) 25-6*
14. (11) San Leandro 24-4*
15. (14) Tesoro (Las Flores) 28-5*
Bubble: Berkeley 25-4*, Castro Valley 23-5*, Centennial (Corona) 24-4*, Colony (Ontario) 22-7*, Edison (Fresno) 24-7*, Franklin (Elk Grove) 24-9*, Los Alamitos 27-2*,  Murrieta Valley (Murrieta) 25-2*, Poly (Long Beach) 23-6*, Rodriguez (Fairfield) 25-4*, Rancho Verde (Moreno Valley) 24-6*, Ventura 26-6*.

Division II
1.   (1)  Rocklin  31-2
2.   (3)  Eisenhower (Rialto) 29-3
3.   (4)  St. Francis (Mountain View) 29-2
4.   (5)  Thousand Oaks  30-2
5.   (2)  Leuzinger (Inglewood) 26-6
6.   (6)  Loyola (Los Angeles) 25-6
7.   (nr) Fairfield  25-7
8.   (nr) Reseda  24-8*
9.   (8) Hoover (San Diego) 28-8*
10. (nr) Hayward  21-8
Bubble: Bella Vista (Fair Oaks) 25-5*, Chico 21-7*, Garces (Bakersfield) 22-8*, Glendora 22-8*, Gunn (Palo Alto) 23-6*, La Mirada 27-4*, Liberty (Bakersfield) 26-5*, Marina (Huntington Beach) 21-7*, Oceanside 26-5*.

Division III
1.   (1)   Sacramento  25-6
2.   (2)   Sacred Heart Cathedral (SF) 25-4
3.   (3)   Harvard-Westlake (N. Hollywood)     27-6
4.   (4)   Ocean View (Huntington Beach) 25-7
5.   (nr)  Canyon (Anaheim) 26-6
6.   (nr)  Gahr (Cerritos) 19-15
7.   (nr)  Analy (Sebastopol) 27-6
8.   (nr)  Diamond Ranch (Pomona) 24-5*
9.   (nr)  Santa Margarita (Rancho SM) 22-8*
10. (nr)  Enterprise (Redding) 21-9
Bubble: Bishop O'Dowd (Oakland) 20-8*, Burlingame 26-5*, Campbell Hall (N. Hollywood) 19-9*, Del Oro (Loomis) 22-8*, Golden Valley (Santa Clarita) 27-4*, Miramonte (Orinda) 24-6*, Ridgeview (Bakersfield) 20-9*, Sonora (La Habra) 27-4*, University City (San Diego) 23-6*.

Division IV
1.   (1)  Salesian (Richmond) 28-4
2.   (2)  Bishop Montgomery (Torrance) 26-4
3.   (3)  St. Mary's (Berkeley) 27-5
4.   (6)  Modesto Christian  23-8
5.   (7)  Price (Los Angeles) 27-6
6.   (nr) Bakersfield Christian 23-7
7.   (nr) Morningside (Inglewood) 24-9
8.   (4)  Bishop's (La Jolla) 25-5*
9.   (9)  Serra  (Gardena) 22-8*
10. (5)  Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) 29-2*
Bubble: Chaminade (West Hills) 20-12*, Christian Brothers (Sacramento) 21-7*, Crespi (Encino) 21-8*, LACES (Los Angeles) 16-18*, Lutheran (Orange) 26-6*, Menlo School (Atherton) 23-4*, San Juan (Fair Oaks) 25-4*, Sutter 23-5.

Division V
1.   (1)   Windward (Los Angeles) 26-6
2.   (2)   Foothills Christian (El Cajon)  27-5
3.   (4)   Central Valley Christian (Visalia) 28-4
4.   (6)   Pacific Hills (Los Angeles) 27-6
5.   (9)   St. Joseph's (Alameda)  24-8
6.   (3)   Maranatha Christian (San Diego) 25-5*
7.   (5)   Branson (Ross) 29-4
8.   (7)   Head-Royce (Oakland) 27-3*
9.   (8)   Lutheran (La Verne) 24-7*
10. (nr) Eastside Prep (Palo Alto) 20-8
Bubble: Bradshaw Christian (Sacramento) 24-7*, Brethren Christian (Huntington Beach) 23-6*, Mission Prep (San Luis Obispo) 21-12*, Redding Christian 25-5, View Park Prep (Los Angeles) 16-20*.

Corrections or comments? Email mark@studentsports.com and be sure to leave a comment so others can check out what you have to say.

By Steve Brand, Special to CalHiSports.com

Coming into the season, San Diego High School expected to showcase to the country that its team was one of the nation's best. But without its head coach nor three expected transfers in the lineup, the Cavers were routed by ESPN RISE FAB 50 ranked Fairax of Los Angeles on Friday night before a national television audience despite a strong effort from top junior Jeremy Tyler.

SAN DIEGO – Nothing could have been more apropos than the numbers on the back of Fairfax High's Renardo Sidney and San Diego's Jeremy Tyler.

	Scott Kurtz
	Renardo Sidney got a little more help from his friends in showcase game against Jeremy Tyler.

No. 1.

The 6-foot-10 Sidney is the No. 5 ranked player in the ESPNU 100 and serious EA SPORTS Mr. Basketball USA candidate while the 6-foot-11 Tyler could be the nation's best junior.

When they squared off Friday night in Jenny Craig Pavilion at the University of San Diego, their battle was certainly closer than the game's outcome as Fairfax (15-3), ranked No. 7 in the state, buried San Diego, 86-47, before a national ESPN2 audience.

Sidney, easily 25 pounds heavier than Tyler, scored a game-high 28 points and pulled down 12 rebounds. The San Diego High standout countered with 27 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots before fouling out with 3:02 to play.

That's a far cry from a year ago when Sidney schooled Tyler early in the season in Florida, outscoring him 33-0, the only time in his high school career Tyler has been shut out.

"I thought about that, it's been on my mind since last year” said Tyler, who scored his first bucket 1:40 into the game, ending the drought. "I know I could have played better tonight, I could have been stronger.”

They were like the center ring of a circus, slamming over each other or anyone else who got in their way. The difference was Fairfax's other players, golden side rings as it were, not to mention what has become a season of chaos for San Diego High.

When this game was scheduled, coach Kenny Roy expected to have three quality transfers suited up for the game with a half-season of experience.

But the closest 6-foot-5 Terrence Boyd (Oak Hill Academy two years ago), 7-foot Zechariah Smith (McLoud, Oklahoma) and 6-foot-1 LaBradford Franklin, a high-scoring guard from Temecula, came to playing was having their names in the scorebook.

The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) San Diego Section has declared all three ineligible and although the battle is still on at the state level for Boyd and Smith, Franklin's appeal was denied this week.

Meanwhile, Roy himself has been placed on administrative leave by the San Diego Unified School District.

"That's really been on my mind,” said Tyler. "I've tried not to allow it to affect my play, but it's hard. I want to think it's OK what has happened, but it's not.”

As a result, Tyler collected 27 and the rest of the team scored 20-combined. Conversely, Fairfax supported Sidney with double-figure scoring from all-state candidate Soloman Hill (15 points, 10 rebounds), Kendrick Thomas (12 points) and Lance Bailey (11 points).

All the numbers favored Harvey Kitani's Lions, who used a 12-0 run to turn a 7-6 lead into a 21-10 first quarter bulge that just grew and grew until at it reached 84-40 before the host Cavers saved some face at the end.

Fairfax outboarded San Diego, 33-15, and forced 28 turnovers while committing just 16.

"Our half- and three-quarter court press have been effective for us,” said Kitani. "We knew they had the big man in the middle and he was forced to carry them and to his credit, he did that.”

It was easy to just focus on the two big men, one who has not yet decided where he will go to school next year and the other who has committed early to Louisville.

There wasn't much else to watch.