Chipotle Nationals closed out the 2025-26 season and it’s now time to publish our final FAB 50 National Team Rankings powered by Ballislife.com. CIA Bella Vista of Arizona won both the Nike EYBL Scholastic Tournament and Chipotle Nationals to cap off a memorable season in which it finished ranked No. 1 in the country. The results of the 10-team Chipotle Nationals causes some movement within the Top 20 in the final rankings edition of 2025-26.
By Ronnie Flores
RELATED: Final East Top 20 | Final Southeast Top 20 | Final Midwest Top 20 | Final Southwest Top 20 | Final West Top 20
CIA Bella Vista Reigns Supreme
The theme coming in to 2026 Chipotle Nationals was parity, as nearly every team in the field felt it had a good shot to win the event championship and take a shot at the FAB 50 National title. In 2025 with Columbus (Miami, Fla.) and in 2024 with Montverde Academy (Fla.) the event felt more like a coronation for those two teams.
That parity hit right away, as FAB 50 No. 1 Prolific Prep (Southwest Ranches, Fla.), the preseason No. 1 team in the FAB 50 National Team Rankings powered by Ballislife.com, fell in the quarterfinals to No. 7 Montverde Academy on a dramatic run-out dunk by Derek Daniels after a missed 3-pointer by The Crew with just under 10 seconds remaining. That result meant there would be a new No. 1 and that was significant because this edition would be the final rankings and crown the national champion for the 2025-26 season.
As the event unfolded the theme turned to domination, as No. 2 CIA Bella Vista (Phoenix, Ariz.) went on to capture the event title to follow up on their championship win at the EYBL Scholastic Tournament, March 15 in Augusta, Ga. First year coach D.J. Wright led a program that defeated No. 3 Paul VI (Chantilly, Va.) in the quarterfinals, 79-67, blew past Dynamic Prep (Dallas) in the semifinals, 81-62, and took down No. 7 Montverde Academy (Fla.) in Saturday’s title game, 69-65.
Miles Sadler led the way once again with 23 points 9 assists 4 rebounds and 2 steals legendary close to his HS career #chipotlenationals pic.twitter.com/HWTYEBImIk
— League Ready (@LeagueRDY) April 4, 2026
West Virginia-bound point guard Miles Sadler led the way by averaging 23.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 7.3 apg, and 2.7 spg in the three wins and showed why he’s a special high school player as the key that drives the Bears’ engine. Wright has a deep and balanced club, also getting big contributions from junior big man Paul Osaruyi, junior shooting guard Lyris Robinson and 7-foot-1 senior center Amadou Seini. All four made key contributions in both tournament victories.
CIA Bella Vista came into Chipotle Nationals with a loss to Prolific Prep, and was No. 2 behind The Crew in last week’s FAB 50. Naturally by winning this event, combined with its overall season performance, CIA Bella Vista moves to No. 1 to claim the 2025-26 FAB 50 National Title. It was a remarkable season for a program with a first-year head coach that merged with Canyon International Academy in 2024-25 and was preseason FAB 50 ranked for the first time ever this season. The Bears finished No. 6 in last year’s FAB 50, started No. 3 this season and have now reached the mountain top of high school hoops.
“First just so thankful to God…we are blessed to have such a good group of kids that are so welcoming and motivated to win,” Wright told Ballislife. “To see the grind all pay off for the guys has been an amazing feeling and to hold the two trophies as the last team standing and No. 1 in the country is something no one will be able to take away from us! WE DID IT!
“The program and basketball space was build on family, brotherhood, and unity! We are all grateful but not satisfied. We are going to get back to the drawing boards to continue to build our culture the right way!”
Photo: CIA Bella Vista
International Impact On FAB 50
CIA Bella Vista not only made history by finishing as the No. 1 team in the FAB 50 National Team Rankings powered by Ballislife.com, it became the first program ever in Arizona to finish No. 1. CIA Bella Vista is also the fourth EYBL Scholastic program to claim a FAB 50 national title, joining Montverde Academy (seven times), Link Academy (Branson, Mo.) in 2023, and Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.), which like MVA has captured the FAB 50 title seven times.
Never has the game been impacted more by players who grew up outside the United States. We’ve seen that for many years in the NBA. In college basketball, it seems as if every successful teams relies on international imports on its frontline and the international influence is definitely present on EYBL Scholastic teams that influence the FAB 50 rankings.
CIA Bella Vista is led by Sadler, who will receive All-American acclaim and is one of the best point guards in the country, hails from Toronto, Canada. In all, CIA Bella Vista had players on its roster from six different countries. Just as it’s harder to win an athletic scholarship for the average 17-year old American senior in high school, the competition for state association teams to finish high in the FAB 50 is tougher than ever because of the international influence. The stakes have been raised across the board, but there is still the ability for teams that compete for a traditional state title to compete with academy-type programs.
Paul VI gave CIA Bella Vista all it could handle in the quarterfinals, and drops two spots from No. 3 to No. 5 in the final rankings. It was a terrific season for the Panthers, who stay behind preseason No. 1 Prolific Pep because of a double overtime loss. Prolific Prep falls from No. 1 to No. 4.
AZ Compass Prep moves up a spot to No. 3 in the final edition of the FAB 50 after defeating No. 8 Spire Academy (Geneva, Ohio) in the quarterfinals, 69-52, and losing to Montverde Academy in the semifinals in double OT, 68-67. That naturally moves up Montverde Academy five spots from No. 7 to No. 2 in the final rankings. Coach Steve Turner did a terrific job in his first year with the program after a successful stint with Gonzaga (Washington, D.C.). After an 0-3 start to the season, Turner turned MVA’s season around and two of the losses came against CIA Bella Vista, with the first coming in the quarterfinals of the EYBL Scholastic Tournament.
We considered moving up CIF open champ Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.) and it would have been interesting to see how the rankings shook out had Montverde Academy defeated CIA Bella Vista in the Chipotle Nationals final. Sierra Canyon, however, lost its only contest to WCAC member Bishop McNamara (Forestville, Md.), a team that lost three times to Paul VI by sizable margins and finished in eighth place in the WCAC standings after opening up No 14 in the preseason FAB 50. That meant Sierra Canyon held at No. 6.
Paul VI’s showing against a national schedule also was a swoon for FSHAA Class 3A state champ Calvary Christian Academy (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), which split with Paul VI and only lost that one game. That team does move up three spots in the final rankings to No. 7, but can’t be many higher because Paul VI’s leading player, Arkansas-bound Jordan Smith Jr., did not play in the loss to Calvary Christian Academy.
Link Academy (Branson, Mo.) is able to move up six spots in the final rankings from No. 16 to No. 10 after defeating previous No. 5 Wasatch Academy (Mt. Pleasant, Utah) in one of the two “play-in” games at Chipotle Nationals, 69-59. Wasatch Academy now has to finish behind Link Academy because it lost to that team twice. Spire Academy defeated No. 16 Archbishop Stepinac (White Plains, N.Y.) in the other play-in contest, 87-76.
We’ll go over any other movement in the final rankings are a result of us reviewing the entire season log for each team that we’ll explain in our Final, Expanded FAB 50 Rankings with detail on each team in comparison and contrast to its preseason position.
RELATED: Final East Top 20 | Final Southeast Top 20 | Final Midwest Top 20 | Final Southwest Top 20 | Final West Top 20
Updated FAB 50 National Team Rankings Powered by Ballislife.com
(16th and final poll of 2025-26 regular season; Through games played on Saturday, April 4; *Indicates forfeit wins, forfeit losses not included; **Indicates forfeits and defaults not included)
No. Prev. High School (City)Record
12CIA Bella Vista (Phoenix, Ariz.)26-4
27Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.)23-7
34AZ Compass Prep (Chandler, Ariz.)25-3**
41Prolific Prep (Southwest Ranches, Fla.) 38-4
53Paul VI (Chantilly, Va.)33-3
66Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.)30-1
710Calvary Christian Academy (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.)24-1
88Spire Academy (Geneva, Ohio)29-5
911Principia (St. Louis, Mo.)29-2
1016Link Academy (Branson, Mo.)24-5
115 Wasatch Academy (Mt. Pleasant, Utah)25-7
1212Wisconsin Lutheran (Milwaukee, Wis.)30-0
139La Lumiere (La Porte, Ind.)22-5
1413Oak Cliff Faith Family (Dallas, Texas)27-11
1514Brewster Academy (Wolfeboro, N.H.)30-6
1615Archbishop Stepinac (White Plains, N.Y.)26-5
1717Bartlett (Bartlett, Tenn.)33-4**
1818 Greensboro Day (Greensboro, N.C.) 36-2
1919Sunnyslope (Phoenix, Ariz.)28-2
2020Wheeler (Marietta, Ga.)28-5**
2121Rainier Beach (Seattle, Wash.)29-1
2222North Crowley (Ft. Worth, Texas)35-3
2323Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood, Calif.)27-7
2424IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.)21-8
2525St. Joseph (Santa Maria, Calif.)31-3
2626Columbus (Miami, Fla.) 26-6
2727Southeastern Prep Academy (Orlando, Fla.) 42-9
2828Richland (Richland, Wash.)28-0
2929Forsyth Country Day (Lewisville, N.C.)29-3
3030Ridgeview (Columbia, S.C.)27-3
3131St. Frances Academy (Baltimore, Md.)36-7
3232Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (Baltimore, Md.)30-11
3333St. John’s (Washington, D.C.)27-8
3434Heritage (Frisco, Texas) 34-2
3535Marist (Chicago, Ill.)33-5
3636Dream City Christian (Glendale, Ariz.) 18-10
3737Little Elm (Little Elm, Texas)37-2
3838Benet Academy (Lisle, Ill.)36-2
3939Sunrise Christian Academy (Bel Aire, Kan.)16-11
4040Mt. Vernon (Fortville, Ind.)28-3
4141Salesian (Richmond, Calif.)29-4
4242East St. Louis (East St. Louis, Ill.)33-4
4343Rockford (Rockford, Mich.)25-3
4444Olympus (Salt Lake City, Utah25-2
4545St. Thomas Aquinas (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.)28-4
4646Bergen Catholic (Oradell, N.J.)29-3
4747East Lansing (East Lansing, Mich.)27-2
4848Bearden (Knoxville, Tenn.)37-2
4949Crown Point (Crown Point, Ind.) 25-2
5050Petersburg (Petersburg, Va.)22-4
Dropped Out: None.
Editor’s Note: No bubble clubs are included in the final FAB 50, as the final 2025-26 Top 20 Regional Rankings include all the teams considered for the bubble.
Note: The FAB 50 powered by Ballislife.com is a continuation of the National Sports News Service ratings that began in 1952. These were the first national high school rankings and the late Art Johlfs of Minnesota compiled them. They were compiled for many years by the late Barry Sollenberger of Phoenix, who merged them into the FAB 50 26 years ago.
Ronnie Flores is the national Grassroots editor of Ballislife.com. He can be reached at ronnie@ballislife.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @RonMFlores
The post Final 2025-26 FAB 50: CIA Bella Vista Reaches Mountain Top appeared first on Ballislife.com.
