RIVERSIDE - Any preseason poll is, well, a roll of the dice. But thanks to the fall showcases we have an idea who will be the top teams entering the 2022-23 season.

Must admit, it is nice to see some new faces like No. 9 Cabrillo, No. 12 Cosumnes River, No. 13 Porterville, No. 17 West Hills-Lemoore and No. 19 Mendocino in the north and No 8. Los Angeles Trade Tech and No 19. Pasadena City in the south making the preseason poll. 

The Coast-North is shaping up to be the state's best conference race with No. 1 San Francisco, the state's defending champions, No. 4 Chabot, No. 10 Las Positas, a Final Eight participant last season, No. 14 Foothill, and No. 16 San Mateo all opening the season ranked in the north. The Coast-South with No. 3 West Valley, No. 7 San Jose city and No. 9 Cabrillo will also be a race to watch. The Bay Valley also appears to be a three-team race with No. 6 Contra Costa, No. 8 Yuba and No. 19 Mendocino. The Big Eight title appears to be a possible battle between No. 5. Santa Rosa, No. 12 Cosumnes River and No. 18. San Joaquin Delta. The Central Valley scored five programs in the preseason poll with No. 2 Sequoias, No. 11 Columbia, No. 13 Porterville, No. 15 Fresno City and No. 17 West Hills-Lemoore.

In the south, we had experts mention four different teams for the top spot. But in the end, Fullerton edged out San Bernardino Valley, Citrus and Santiago Canyon for the top spot. But it was very, very close among the coaches at the showcase.

The Orange Empire Conference — again — looks to be loaded with four teams in the top 16, led by No. 1 Fullerton and No. 4 Santiago Canyon. No. 11 Riverside and No. 17 Saddleback. The Inland Empire Athletic Conference has three teams in the top 15, led by No. 2 San Bernardino Valley. First-year Mt. San Jacinto head coach and former College of the Desert coach Trent Skinner has Mt. San Jacinto at No. 12 with Copper Mountain landing at No. 16. The Western State-South has three ranked teams in No. 13. Antelope Valley, No. 15 Santa Monica and No 19. Canyons. The Wester State-North appears to be headed toward the typical battle of Allan Hancock (No. 10) and Ventura (No. 13).

The East Los Angeles Conference, I mean the South Coast-North appears it will no longer be the battle of one or two, but three teams in 2022-23. Los Angeles Trade Tech under first-year head coach Marcus Bryant has his squad ranked No. 8. Can't remember the last time a LA Trade Tech team was ranked in a men's basketball poll, let alone ranked in the top 10. No. 7 East Los Angeles will also have to fight off No. 19 Pasadena City, who is under the leadership of Ryan Frazer who took MiraCosta to the state finals last year, and a Mt. San Antonio team which finished just outside the south's top 20. Meanwhile, the South Coast-South figures to be a 9.59-mile battle between No. 5 Cerritos and No. 9 Long Beach City, two programs that tied with LA Southwest last season for the conference title. No. 6 San Diego City appears to be the early favorite for the Pacific Coast Conference title. The Knights are one of just two teams from the conference ranked, the other being MiraCosta at No. 18. MiraCosta is led by first-year coach Rob Robinson, a former assistant for East Los Angeles.

The season begins November 1 with 12 games, including No. 15 Santa Monica at No. 5 Cerritos and No. 1 Fullerton at No. 8 Los Angeles Trade Tech. Let's get the ball rolling!

(Robert Schmidt, CCCMBCA)