Jordan Ratinho of De La Salle could not have been a better player to have on the court for first-year Coach AJ Kuhle.

Now, after leading De La Salle to a sixth CIF Northern California Regional title and an 11th CIF North Coast Section championship, the University of San Francisco-bound Kuhle has been named the Prep2Prep NCS Player of the Year.

“Jordan did everything we asked of him to make our team successful,” said Kuhle, who took over this season for legendary De La Salle Coach Franck Allocco, and played for Allocco on the Spartans 2000 state championship team. “Scoring, passing, rebounding, shoot the 3-pointer, play tough defense, he would get the job done.

Ratinho was the offensive leader of the Open Division state runners-up with per game averages of 18.7 points on 69 3-pointers, 52-percent on his field goals and 82-percent from the free-throw line, but as long 6-5 wing type player gave him the ability to guard taller players or quick point guards as well. He also hit the glass at a 4.8 rebounds per game pace.

His biggest assignment came in the state title game where he was matched up against McDonald’s All-American Lonzo Ball of Chino Hills. Ball and his mates on a team that was ranked No. 1 in the nation by every major rankings service, would eventually take over in a 70-50 victory, but Ratinho gave him fits in the first half and the Spartans actually led 30-28 at halftime of a game where Chino Hills got as good a test against any non-nationally ranked team as it did all season.

With Ratinho hounding him, Ball was only 1-of-7 shooting overall in the first half and 1-of-3 from 3-point range. He continued to defend him well throughout the second half but when the dam broke in the late going, Ball got some easy dunks and finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.

No one was mentioning Ratinho for any national honors but he outscored ball with 16 points, plus he had eight rebounds and three assists.

“He’s a winner,” Kuhle continued by text from a Sr. Kairos retreat that Ratinho is also attending. “I loved watching him play all year long. His practices were especially great because of how competitive he was every day. He makes others better.”

Ratinho was a four-year starter at De La Salle with the first three under Allocco before he left last season to become an associate head coach at USF where Ratinho has committed.

The Livermore native was also a star soccer player prior to high school and before he started to grow taller, continuing from his 6-2 height when he entered De La Salle

Besides the Prep2Prep honor, Ratinho was named the NorCalPreps/Rivals Northern California Player of the Year and the San Francisco Chronicle Metro Player of the Year as well.

In a year of significant accomplishments for St. Joseph Notre Dame-Alameda Coach Don Lippi, Prep2Prep is going to join the groundswell by naming him the North Coast Section Boys Basketball Coach of the Year.

With an exciting 55-50 victory over St. Bernard-Playa Del Rey in the CIF Division V state title game, his 2015-2016 team won the school’s sixth CIF state championship and his fourth since re-taking the Pilots helm in 2004.

The previous state championships for Lippi were in Division IV in 2004 and in Division V in 2011 and 2014. Lippi’s teams were also runner’s up three times, including a heartbreaking 47-46 loss to Horizon-San Diego in 2013 on a last second banked in 3-pointer. Still, that means he has seven Northern California titles in his current 13-year stint at St. Joseph Notre Dame.

The state title game victory also gave the 68-year old Lippi another milestone and that was his 800th career coaching win. Lippi is now the ninth coach in state history to reach 800 career wins. The list includes all-time leader Gary McKnight (Mater Dei-Santa Ana), Mike LeDuc (now at Damien-La Verne), Tom Orlich (Clovis West-Fresno), Mike Phelps (Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland), Lou Cvijanovich (Santa Clara-Oxnard), Ed Azzam (Westchester-Los Angeles), Willie West (Crenshaw-Los Angeles) and Elio “Abe” Abrami (Emery-Emeryville). Of note is none of those coaches or any that won 700 or 600 games won the milestone game in a state championship.

“Just to be in the NCS is an honor with all the great coaches I coach with, but to be honored as the NCS Coach of the Year is quite a special honor and a tremendous accomplishment for our team,” said Lippi, who then added. “What you do at Prep2Prep by getting the kids involved as journalists is really neat. Thank you for honoring me.”

In a way it was a homecoming of sorts for a coach that began his career in 1980 at a St. Joseph that was all boys back then. It didn’t work out and Lippi began a journey that has made him the only coach in California history to win a section championship in four different sections.

In total Lippi has won 11 section titles at four different schools in his 37-year career. After St. Joseph he went to St. Patrick-St. Vincent-Vallejo where he won one CIF Sac-Joaquin Section title. After five years Lippi moved to Skyline-Oakland where from 1987-1990 he snagged two CIF Oakland Section championships. Lippi then crossed the bay to lead St. Ignatius-San Francisco where from 1991-2003 his Wildcats won one CIF Central Coast Section title.

Lippi came back to St. Joseph-Notre Dame in 2004 and in his first year back the team was an NCS champion and a D4 state champion and he was named the Cal-Hi Sports State Coach of the Year which is a rare accomplishment for a small school coach. The other six NCS championships have come in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and this past season.

Next year his Pilots are moving back to Division IV and Lippi has no plans on missing any of the action.

“My son is a grad assistant St. Mary’s so I’m going to watch him grow and learn from Coach Bennett, but other than that there is no change,” Lippi remarked. “I’m happy, I’m in good health, I love what I’m doing, I get along with the kids, and I live across the street from the school. I’m starting to write a book about all the experiences and the people I’ve met, so some day I might retire and write the book, but right now I’m looking forward to D4 next year. I’m not going anywhere.”

Sayeed Pridgett

Damari Milstead

James Akinjo

Jaden McClanahan

Jordan Ratinho

Sayeed Pridgett

Damari Milstead

Calvin Geraci

Oscar Frayer

Jade Smith

Gabe Knight

Spencer LaShells

Joey Calcaterra

Nikhil Peters

Terrell Brown

Eddy Ionescu

Niles Malone

Emeka Udenyi

John Ketchel