by Alex Schwartz

Continuing along with my postseason rankings, it is time to produce my list of the top teams from New York. Since Northstar Basketball focused more on New Jersey and Pennsylvania this season, the rankings of the Empire State teams will not be quite as long. Nonetheless, I felt it was important to rank the top teams from the state, as New York is still one of our main areas of coverage. In addition, in the Big Apple, and surrounding parts of NY as well, there is a lot of hoops talent.

Just as with my Pennsylvania Postseason High School Fantastic 40, there are few teams at the top of this list that garnered national attention and rankings throughout the season. While maybe not as deep as some other states, the squads at the top of the Empire State rankings are elite teams that can hang with just about anyone. In addition to the 15 teams ranked, there are seven that received an honorable mention.

Now, have a look at the 2009-10 New York state rankings. Note that while postseason success is considered, it is not the only factor in the rankings.

New York Postseason High School Fantastic 15
Rank. School, Record
1. Half Hollow Hills West, 24-1
2. Christ the King, 27-5
3. Jamesville-DeWitt, 25-1
4. Nichols School, 24-7
5. Christian Brothers Academy Albany, 23-2
6. Boys & Girls, 27-6
7. Bishop Loughlin, 23-6
8. Rice, 21-6
9. Cardozo, 24-8
10. Wings Academy, 25-6
11. Newburgh Free Academy, 18-3
12. Long Island Lutheran, 20-8
13. Collegiate, 26-4
14. New Rochelle, 17-2
15. Queens HS of Teaching, 22-1

Honorable Mentions (alphabetical order)
Holy Cross, 17-10
Lincoln, 16-8
Newark, 23-2
St. Mary's, 20-8
Thomas Jefferson, 20-10
Transit Tech, 17-10
Wadleigh, 22-7

Note- NYChoops.net, MaxPreps, and http://www.nysbasketball.net/ used as sources for information; photo is of Half Hollow Hills West's Tobias Harris and is from http://www.bignews.biz/