Here they are, the final 2008-09 season Pacific high school basketball ratings. Before voices are raised in protest over one team being rated over another with a better win-loss record, keep in mind, these are post-Far East tournament ratings and reflect the teams' tournament performance as well as their season performance. Sort of like how a final exam is worth, say, 40 to 50 percent of your final grade. Stated another way, it's not always about how many games a team wins, but when they win them.

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere we go:

Boys
1. St. Mary's International, Japan (19-14). Peaked at the absolute right time, beating Seoul American and Yokota back to back for the Titans' third Class AA crown.

Catching up with a couple of DODDS alums from Kanto Plain-area schools who've gone on to shine in their respective collegiate sports:

-- Elliko Heimbach, Yokota Class of 2004, earned two individual and two team gold medals in the  Western Athletic Conference swim championships at San Antonio. Heimbach swims for Hawaii, which was fifth after three days in the team competition with 340 points; first-place Nevada had 442. The Rainbow Wahine captured the 800 freestyle relay in 7:18.76 with Heimbach swimming the lead leg and won the 200 freestyle relay in 1:32.91 with Heimbach as anchor. Heimbach won the 50 free in 23.16, edging Northern Arizona's aptly named Rachel Foe by .06 seconds, and also won the 100 butterfly, her signature event, in 53.29.

It's only been done once before, one school capturing all three of its Far East High School Girls Class A Tournaments in one school year.

Osan American's girls have a chance this spring to repeat the feats of the 2001-2002 class. With volleyball and basketball titles in hand, the soccer season beckons and the chance at a rare trifecta looms.

Read about it in this week's Home Team page. 

Musings and mutterings as Ornauer hits the post-Far East decompression chamber for a few hours:

-- Where do St. Mary's International's shockers over Seoul American in Friday's semifinal and Yokota in Saturday's championship rate among the top upsets in Far East High School Basketball history? The question was posed to me Saturday, and was answered most eloquently by one of Yokota High's three venerable "Wise Men," John Thek: "Without checking the program, do you think before Friday that anybody knew the names of any of St. Mary's players?"

Boys Class AA final: St. Mary's International 35, Yokota 33.

Girls Class AA final: Faith Academy 50, Seoul American 47.

Musings and mutterings as the Class A tournaments go in the history book and the Class AA championship games beckon:

-- Not surprising: Every time -- four times, to be exact -- that Osan American's girls have placed third in the Korean-American Interscholastic Activities Conference tournament, they've won the Far East Class A Tournament. The latest happened Friday, when Jasmine Pressley and the COUGARS edged Robert D. Edgren 41-37.

-- Surprising: Edgren's rise to the Class A championship game after going 3-18 last season.

It's all about timing. Never mind what you did during the regular season, or even the first couple of days of the Far East High School Basketball Tournaments. It's what you do during the three-day Class A and four-day Class AA playoffs. That's all that matters.

Read about teams 'peaking at the right time' here and get Day 4 full-field results here.

Pool play done. Playoffs begin. Now, the real conversation starts all across Japan about who are considered the "it" teams in the Far East High School Basketball Tournaments.

And there's no shortage of opinions about who merits an elite spot in that conversation: Yokota, ASIJ, Seoul American and Kadena in Boys Class AA; Faith, Kadena and Seoul in Girls Class AA; and St. Paul and Morrison in both Class A tournaments are all getting shoutouts from coaches everywhere.

Read about it here and get Day 3 full-field results here.

Why have some teams that rely on strong post play been forced to shoot from outside this week?

Perhaps it's the game-changing big people on Far East High School Basketball Tournament team rosters. Folks such as Kadena's Jasmine Taylor (15 blocked shots vs. Yokota), Daegu American's Drew Snowden (four blockeds vs. Hokkaido International) or Nile C. Kinnick's Shannon Jackson (19 points, 19 rebounds vs. CAJ). And future stars, such as Zama American's Mike Jorgenson.

Read their story here and get Day 2's full-field results here.