High School Boys Basketball Top 15: Week 5

Welcome to the fifth installment of BSR’s weekly top 15 rankings.

Mount St. Joseph’s continues to hold the top spot in the rankings, but after their loss to underachieving Calvert Hall on Friday evening, the Gaels’ perch atop Baltimore has begun to dip.

I know it feels like I say it every week, but now we are really getting into the meat of conference play, where the contenders separate themselves from the pretenders. Several highly-anticipated league contests this week should lead to some major shake-ups in the rankings come next Monday.

As will be the case all season, these rankings reward results, taking into account opponent strength and margin of victory/loss. Teams will not be ranked highly because of the hype or publicity surrounding their teams, but rather the consistency and impressiveness of their play. Rankings will typically be released every Monday.

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See past rankings: Preseason || Week 1 || Week 2 || Week 3 || Week 4

BSR Top 15: Week 5

1. Mount St. Joseph’s, 15-2 (Last Week: #1)
2. Patterson, 7-2 (LW: #3)
3. John Carroll, 16-3 (LW: #2)
4. Dunbar, 9-0 (LW: #4)
5. Milford Mill, 7-1 (LW: #5)
6. Forest Park, 7-1 (LW: #7)
7. Arundel, 8-0 (LW: #8)
8. City, 7-1 (LW: #9)
9. St. Frances, 9-5 (LW: #6)
10. Poly, 8-3 (LW: #12)
11. Edmondson, 6-2 (LW: #10)
12. Glen Burnie, 10-1 (LW: #11)
13. Annapolis, 11-1 (LW: Unranked)
14. Lake Clifton, 8-2 (LW: #13)
15. Edgewood, 6-2 (LW: Unranked)

Patterson came up big this weekend with a nice win over Price (CA) in the Brandon Jennings Invitational in Milwaukee. The win allowed them to jump John Carroll for the second spot this week. The Clippers seem poised to regain their reputation as the top team in Baltimore, and a win this Friday against Dunbar would help quite a bit.

John Carroll is a very solid team and a contender in the MIAA and Baltimore Catholic League. They are in the same boat as Dunbar, as both try to bring down the top dogs in their conference this week. John Carroll takes on Mount St. Joe’s, while Dunbar faces the aforementioned matchup against Patterson. Rounding out the top five, Milford Mill showed its dominance in Baltimore County on Friday night, defeating Lansdowne by an insane score of 102-30.

St. Frances continues their slide down the rankings, and this week’s loss to Glenelg Country was the worst of the season thus far for the Panthers. While all of their five losses have been fairly close, SFA’s team is far too talented to have already dropped five games, and DaQuan Cook and Co. need to right the ship as soon as possible. A win this weekend at the Brandon Jennings Invitational might have been the key first step of that process.

Arundel kept their undefeated record this week by beating previously unbeaten Glen Burnie on Tuesday night in a tight 55-53 Anne Arundel County league contest.

Edgewood and Annapolis are the new additions to this week’s rankings. Annapolis is the team to watch out for as the season goes on; their only loss thus far was a two-point decision against Arundel. Edgewood figures to be the main title contender in the Upper Chesapeake Conference, which consists of Harford and Cecil County schools.

Key Games This Week

• #12 Glen Burnie vs. #13 Annapolis, Tuesday 1/10, 5 p.m.
• #10 Poly vs. Woodlawn, Tuesday 1/10, 5:15 p.m.
• #1 Mount St. Joe’s vs. #3 John Carroll, Tuesday 1/10, 7 p.m.
• #4 Dunbar vs. #2 Patterson, Friday 1/13, 5:15 p.m.
• #14 Lake Clifton vs. Digital Harbor, Friday 1/13, 5:15 pm
• #9 St. Frances vs. Calvert Hall, Friday 1/13, 7 p.m.