No. 1 ... by a Whistle

The mythical national high-school championship was settled back in December, during a thrilling duel between the top two teams - and prospects - in the country.

You really can ask only two things of any official: Run the floor and know the rules. After that, it's pretty much all opinion, and we know what opinions are worth.

But because a trio of Arizona officials - supposedly some of the best in the state -- did not know the rule book, the girls' national high school basketball championship will always remain somewhat in doubt.

A brief recap: With the scored tied in overtime between No. 1 Christ the King (then and now) and No. 1 Collins Hill (then and now), Maya Moore was called for a technical foul, her fifth, for striking the ball with a closed fist. Unfortunately, striking the ball with a closed fist is only a violation, and thus Moore should not have fouled out of the game. Christ the King went on to win, but had any of the three officials known the rules, the outcome might have been different.

It might not have been different - but because the Arizona officials were unprepared to work a game of this caliber, or any caliber for that matter, we'll never know.

As for the rest of the rankings, as usual, they are the best we can do given the wildly varying situations in each state, and the lack of head-to-head competition once we get out of the top 10 or so. And as usual, we can only guarantee that these 25 teams are all very good teams; we cannot guarantee that there aren't five, or ten, or 15 teams better than they are that , for whatever reason, didn't make our final list.

FULL COURT PRESS NATIONAL TOP 25 '06

Final Rankings for High Schools

1. Christ the King (Middle Village, N.Y.), 30-0: Two unbeaten seasons in a row, this one after losing a horde of seniors to D1 schools, should make it clear exactly which school is the best in the country. Bob Mackey, assistant Jill Cook and everyone at Christ the King deserves credit for the unbelievable level of excellence the Royals have maintained over the years.

2. Collins Hill (Suwanee, Ga.), 31-1: Maya Moore will be back, as will most of the Eagles, and they will have something to prove. Aside from that very controversial loss, Collins Hill sailed through a tough preseason and the state of Georgia without a blemish.

3. Troy (Fullerton, Calif.), 33-1: The Warriors have lost two games in two years, both to Christ the King at the Nike TOC in Phoenix. Their senior-laden lineup featured the Neabors twins and feisty point guard Sara Yee, and played to its potential almost every time out. A great two-year run that but for Christ the King could have included a national title.

4. Murry Bergtraum (Manhattan, N.Y.), 27-2: Bergtraum didn't quite play the schedule of Collins Hill and Troy, and so drops to fourth, even though both losses were to Christ the King. Does it tell you how good Christ the King was that the only defeats suffered by the next three teams in the rankings came at the hands of the Royals?

5. Southridge (Beaverton, Ore.), 27-2: Two losses, to Collins Hill and Troy at the Nike TOC, are nothing to be ashamed of, especially after coming off an unbeaten 2004-05 season. The Skyhawks then won another Oregon state title, and proved themselves one of the best teams in the country.

6. Bishop Amat (La Puente, Calif.), 35-1: Another team with a tremendous two-year effort, Bishop Amat has lost just once in that span, to Troy. Of course, the Lancers don't travel so it's hard to say how they might stack up against Bergtraum and Southridge, but there's no doubt this is a very, very good team.

7. Shabazz (Newark, N.J.), 33-0: The Bulldogs don't travel either, but they won another Jersey title and are loaded with college-level talent. It's too bad, though, that they don't get out more.

8. Incarnate Word (St. Louis, Mo.), 31-1: Now it starts to get tricky: Incarnate Word had just one loss, early in the year, to Hope of Chicago. Hope was good but didn't go that far in the Illinois playoffs - so how can Incarnate Word go here instead of, say, Bolingbrook? A more ambitious schedule is the answer, though we're getting to the point where it's very difficult to tease out a truly justifiable order.

9. Bolingbrook (Ill.), 31-2: A really good team with just two losses, both to good teams. Not only that, Bolingbrook started four juniors and a sophomore, and will have a chance to do even better next year. Hopefully, they'll get some nationally ranked teams on the schedule one way or another.

10. Fenwick (Oak Park, Ill.) 32-2: The Friars are always good, and they had another fine season before losing in the Illinois playoffs. Why are they here? They beat Lexington Catholic head-to-head, so they can't be ranked behind Lexington -- and Lexington was very good.

11. Lexington Catholic (Lexington, Ken.), 35-1: Finally shoving aside Sacred Heart Academy in Kentucky, the Knights fell just short of the top ten with that loss to Fenwick. Last year, Lexington lost only once as well, so the two-year mark is 71-2 -- plus two state titles.

12. Heights (Wichita, Kan.), 24-1: At this level, one loss can be a killer, and the Falcons too came that close to breaking into the top ten. But the starting five returns intact, so maybe next year ...

13. Providence Day (Charlotte, N.C.), 29-1: Just one loss, to Collins Hill, makes a strong impression. Pretty much all any team can do is beat whoever's on the schedule, and Providence Day did that every time -- except when the second best team in the nation was at the other end of the scorer's table.

14. Wayne County (Waynesboro, Miss.), 32-1: One way to erase a loss is to avenge it -- and that's exactly what Wayne County did. Meridian beat the Mississippi champs early in the year, but the second time around, the Eagles proved who was better. But again, it's hard to say just how good they are because they didn't travel.

15. Forest Park (Woodbridge, Va.), 25-5: The Bruins, led by Monica Wright and Ashleigh Braxton, won the Virginia state title, and were one of several outstanding teams in that area. In terms of national rankings, those teams hurt themselves by beating each other, but that doesn't mean that Forest Park isn't as good as a lot of teams with better records.

16. Cardinal O'Hara (Springfield, Pa.), 25-3: O'Hara once again was the best in Philadelphia, and even though Philly and the rest of the state don't communicate much in girls' basketball, the Lions still have the best claim as the best in Pennsylvania as well.

17. Southfield-Lathrup (Lathrup Village, Mich.) 27-1: Someday, the Michigan girls will play in the winter, and we'll be able to see how they stack up against everybody else. This is pretty much guesswork.

18. Lewis & Clark (Spokane, Wash.), 26-4: To quote HoopGurlz guru Glenn Nelson, "Lewis and Clark had the best combination of size, guard play, defense and coaching in the state this season." 'Nuf sed.

19. Ursuline Academy (Wilmington, Del.), 21-5: Ursuline played a tough schedule, and thanks in great part to supersoph Elena DelleDonne, posted some impressive wins along the way -- and claimed another Delaware title.

20. Chief Sealth (Seattle,Wash.), 29-0: Chief Sealth played in a small school bracket, and racked up 29 ho-hum wins against ordinary opposition. In addition, the recruiting scandal surrounding their program doesn't exactly fit with the goals of high school sports.

21. St. Mary's (Phoenix, Ariz.), 26-4: With Dymond Simon healthy again, the Knights rolled to a state title, and two of those losses came in the Nike TOC. Clearly Arizona's best.

22. Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.), 31-1: The Gaels didn't play the kind of schedule some of the other teams did, and their only loss was to a pretty good but not exceptional Northern California school. Maybe next year they'll get out a little more.

23. Notre Dame Academy (Middleburg, Va.) 28-3: Those who claim to know say the Dragons were the best team in the Maryland/D.C./Virginia area, which was loaded this year, but they don't play the local heavyweights in postseason so they drop to here. Lauren Thomas-Johnson, bound for Marquette, was the MVP for the Virginia Independent Schools Division I champions.

24. St. Elizabeth (Wilmington, Del.), 24-2: The only two losses came at the hands of Ursuline, but St. Elizabeth beat the Raiders once as well. Khadijah Rushdan will return next year, and she and DelleDonne will resume their rivalry.

25. Hopkins (Minnetonka, Minn.), 30-2: Consistently one of the best teams in Minnesota, Hopkins avenged an overtime loss to Kennedy of Bloomington in last year's state championship game by thumping Kennedy by 17 this time around.

Clay Kallam is the publisher of Full Court Press (www.Fullcourt.com), an online magazine devoted to women’s basketball. The author of the book “Girls Basketball: Building a Winning Program (Wish Publishing, 2002), Kallam has written about the women’s game for several national publications and is a voter for the McDonald’s All-American team, the Parade All-American team, the All-WNBA team and the Wooden Award. He is the coach of The Bentley School girls’ varsity basketball team and formerly wrote for the Contra Costa Times newspaper chain.