Foothills Christian, a weekly, unanimous No. 1 in the San Diego Union-Tribune  poll, went “national” this week when it landed as No. 17 in the USA Today rankings.
The thrill-a-minute Knights achieved the honor with another roller-coaster performance against Connecticut’s Waterbury Sacred Heart, which was 17th in USA Today the previous week.
The Knights defeated the Hearts, 82-80, in the Hoophall Classic in Springfield, Massachusetts, but not before they gave up a 19-point lead in the fourth quarter.
Foothills needed a couple free throws in the closing seconds to put the game away. Â They led, 69-50, at the end of three quarters, according to the Max Preps line score. Â T.J. Leaf had 30 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 Â assists for the Knights.
LEAF AND WALTON, CONT.
A friend chided me this week when he thought I was writing last week that Leaf was a better player than Bill Walton at a similar stage in their careers.
The 6 foot, 10-inch Leaf is a power forward with an outside shooting touch. Â The 6-11 Walton was an old school center who scored at will and guarded the area around the basket the way a lioness protects her cubs.
And Walton could score whenever he chose.
To show the regard Walton had with college scouts during his senior year at Helix was what they were saying after  the Covina Tournament, then the preeminent high schools hoops event in California.
UCLA assistant coach Denny Crum, who witnessed Walton’s scoring 50 points and taking down 34 rebounds in a 110-68 victory over Pasadena, reported to Bruins coach John Wooden.
NO ONE BETTER
Crum: Â “The greatest high school player I ever saw.”
An intrigued but skeptical Wooden: Â “Better than Lewis (Alcindor)?”
Crum: Â “Yes.”
Wooden, taken aback, looked around: Â “Step into my office. Keep your voice down.”
The legendary coach wanted to make sure that he had heard Crum correctly and that no else was privy to this startling statement.
Walton would go on to UCLA, win two national championships and also lead the Portland Trail Blazers to an NBA title.
U-T BOYS’ POLL
Cathedral, augmented by 6-11 Morse transfer Brandon McCoy, jumped to second after a 56-53 win over St. Augustine before almost 2,500 persons at Point Loma Nazarene.
First-place votes in parenthesis. Won-loss records through Monday.
| Rank | Team | Record | Points | Last Week |
| 1 | Foothills Christian (11) | 11-3 | 110 | 1 |
| 2 | Cathedral | 10-4 | 82 | 6 |
| 3 | Torrey Pines | 12-4* | 72 | 3 |
| 4 | St. Augustine | 13-4 | 72 | 2 |
| 5 | La Jolla Country Day | 18-0 | 66 | 4 |
| 6 | El Camino | 12-4 | 61 | 5 |
| 7 | Army-Navy | 13-5 | 55 | 7 |
| 8 | Kearny | 17-2 | 34 | 8 |
| 9 | Poway | 17-2 | 23 | 9 |
| 10 | San Marcos | 11-5 | 10 | 10 |
*Forfeited 57-37 victory Dec. 5 over Horizon.
Points awarded on basis of 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1.
Others receiving votes, including record: Mission Bay (13-4, 7), Grossmont (16-3, 5).
Eleven media representatives vote, including John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune; Steve Brand (San Diego Hall of Champions), Terry Monahan, Jim Lindgren, Union-Tribune correspondents; Bill Dickens, Adam Paul, EastCountySports.com; Rick Willis, KUSI-TV; Rick Smith, partletonsports.com; Bodie DeSilva, sandiegopreps.com; Lisa Lane, San Diego Preps Insider; Aaron Burgin, fulltimehoops.com.
