Welcome to the last week of the regular season, which in girls basketball is going to decide very little in the respective Kern County league races: Stockdale and Garces have clinched the two big leagues (and really, we knew that was coming a month or more ago) and Arvin has control over the SSL race with its overtime win at Bakersfield Christian on Friday. The Bears have a one-game lead and two games to go with a season sweep of BCHS in tow also.

It's the same way in most of the rest of the section. Aside from a very large boys showdown Tuesday (Liberty at Garces, which we'll get to in the boys rankings), this week means little in league races. Rankings and seedings, on the other hand, are up for grabs all over the place. By this time next week, we'll know playoff seedings. I'll do one more set of rankings next Monday, then let the playoff results speak for themselves after that.

Boys rankings are coming in a post to follow. If you're a soccer fan, we'll have coverage of the playoffs, which start tomorrow for girls and Wednesday for boys, throughout the fortnight, and if you're a wrestling fan, here's a link to the seeds for the Yosemite and Sierra/Sequoia Division tournaments to be held this coming weekend at Lemoore and Mendota respectively. I don't believe full brackets are out yet, but I'll post a link when they are.

On to the rankings:

GIRLS
1. Hanford (20-4, 10-0 WYL, Division II, last week: 1) — I don't think it will be a problem for the Bullpups in the D-II section playoffs anyway, but they haven't exactly been tested within their league: Every other team has lost at least once to someone other than Hanford.
LAST WEEK: W 72-41 vs. Hanford West
THIS WEEK: Wednesday at Visalia-Mt. Whitney, Thursday at Lemoore

2. Clovis West (19-5, 8-0 TRAC, Division I, last week: 2) — Strange as it sounds, the TRAC is not a test for the Golden Eagles. They won't have any sort of trouble until at least the section final against Stockdale (assuming no big upsets) and probably not until the state's D-I gauntlet.
LAST WEEK: W 77-34 vs. Clovis-Buchanan, W 74-33 at Clovis East
THIS WEEK: Tuesday at Madera, Friday vs. No. 13 Clovis

3. Stockdale (21-4, 10-0 SWYL, Division I, last week: 3) — One of the people around Bakersfield I talked to about the new league system starting in fall 2010 was Stockdale co-coach Charles Stewart, who said it's sometimes hard to find good opponents before the league season and to stay sharp during it.
LAST WEEK: W 83-47 at Ridgeview, W 82-48 vs. Centennial
THIS WEEK: Wednesday vs. West, Friday at South

4. Fresno-Edison (23-2, 8-0 CMAC, Division I, last week: 4) — That the Tigers had to escape against mediocre Bullard early in the week did not bode well for the Thursday showdown with Sanger. But Edison pulled that one out too, and it now owns at least a share of the CMAC title.
LAST WEEK: W 43-41 at Fresno-Bullard, W 46-41 vs. No. 7 Sanger
THIS WEEK: Tuesday at Fresno-Hoover, Thursday at Reedley

5. Fresno-Roosevelt (22-2, 8-0 NYL, Division III, last week: 5) — One more win, and the Roughriders will have an outright North Yosemite League title — and they shouldn't have too much trouble in the D-III playoffs either, at least until the final. Would you believe Roosevelt hasn't given up 50 in a game since beating Clovis 70-60 on Dec. 18?
LAST WEEK: W 69-30 at Madera South, W 59-40 at Fresno-McLane
THIS WEEK: Tuesday vs. Fresno, Thursday at Fresno-Sunnyside

6. Garces (25-1, 10-0 SEYL, Division II, last week: 6) — Eight points from East in the second quarter Thursday was the best an opponent fared against Garces last week. The Rams can fill it up from outside, too.
LAST WEEK: W 64-11 at Foothill, W 70-21 vs. East
THIS WEEK: Tuesday at Liberty, Thursday at Highland

7. Oakhurst-Yosemite (14-8, 7-0 NSeL, Division II, last week: 8) — The Central Section has been inconsistent with its seeding: Does it want to reward tough scheduling or gaudy records? If it's the former in this case, expect the Badgers, and not Garces, to have the No. 2 seed opposite Hanford in Division II because of its non-league slate.
LAST WEEK: W 73-37 at Madera Ranchos-Liberty, ?? at Fresno-Washington Union
THIS WEEK: Wednesday vs. Chowchilla, Friday vs. Kerman

8. Sanger (20-5, 6-2 CMAC, Division II, last week: 7) — Here's another team that could have a chance at that No. 2 in D-II, which brings with it home games until the finals. But the Apaches might have blown their chance to impress the seeders when it was swept by Edison.
LAST WEEK: W 64-19 at Clovis North, L 46-41 at No. 4 Fresno-Edison
THIS WEEK: Tuesday vs. Reedley, Thursday at Fresno-Bullard

9. Porterville (24-1, 9-1 EYL, Division III, last week: 9) — For all of the Panthers' success this year, the league season will come down to a single game at home against crosstown rival Monache. Porterville won the first meeting 64-60.
LAST WEEK: W 60-59 vs. Tulare Union, W 42-29 at Chavez
THIS WEEK: Tuesday at Porterville-Granite Hills, Thursday vs. No. 10 Porterville-Monache

10. Porterville-Monache (21-5, 9-1 EYL, Division II, last week: 10) — The difference for the Marauders is that after the showdown with the Panthers, they've got to battle through the Division II bracket, instead of Porterville's D-III.
LAST WEEK: W 60-15 vs. Chavez
THIS WEEK: Tuesday vs. Tulare Union, Thursday at No. 9 Porterville

11. Corcoran (22-7, 7-0 ESeL, Division IV, last week: 13) — The girls hoops version of the Panthers is starting to look like the football team — blowing out weak opponents left and right. Corcoran, though, won't have Derek Carr to face in the playoffs.
LAST WEEK: W 63-38 vs. Lindsay, W 89-10 vs. Orosi
THIS WEEK: Wednesday at McFarland, Thursday vs. Woodlake

12. Bakersfield (19-7, 8-2 SEYL, Division I, last week: 14) — For the first time in years, the Drillers won't be SEYl champions. But they won't have to deal with Garces in the Division I playoffs — just Clovis West, Stockdale and Edison, that's all.
LAST WEEK: W 63-12 vs. East, W 55-40 at Liberty
THIS WEEK: Tuesday vs. Highland, Thursday vs. Golden Valley

13. Clovis (19-12, 5-3 TRAC, Division I, last week: 12) — The Cougars blew a halftime lead, came back in the fourth quarter, then lost a tight one in overtime at home against Buchanan. That sort of streaky play isn't going to cut it come playoff time.
LAST WEEK: W 66-56 at Madera, L 67-66 (OT) vs. Clovis-Buchanan
THIS WEEK: Tuesday vs. Fresno-Central, Friday at No. 2 Clovis West

14. Visalia-Redwood (22-8, 7-4 WYL, Division II, last week: 11) — Only five points in two overtimes against El Diamante isn't going to get it done no matter how good your defense is, but what really has to stick in the Rangers' craw is that they blew an eight-point fourth-quarter lead.
LAST WEEK: L 64-60 (2OT) at Visalia-El Diamante, W 60-24 vs. Visalia-Golden West
THIS WEEK: Friday vs. Visalia-Mt. Whitney

15. Fresno Christian (18-5, 6-0 WSeL, Division V, last week: NR) — Welcome to the bracket a team that hasn't played a game closer than 40 points since January. I don't care who you're playing, it takes something to beat everyone by 40.
LAST WEEK: W 81-18 at Tranquillity, W 74-34 at Caruthers
THIS WEEK: Tuesday vs. Fowler, Friday vs. Parlier

Dropped out: No. 15 San Luis Obispo-Mission Prep
Waiting: Kingsburg, North, Mission Prep, Fresno-Sunnyside, Clovis East, Clovis-Buchanan, Fresno-Bullard, Visalia-El Diamante, Tulare Western, Golden Valley, Fresno-San Joaquin Memorial