SoCalHoops High School News

Where's Waldo II:  The Division II
Playoff Pool List Of Schools--(Jan. 26, 1999)

Last week, just trying to make a point about how large the Southern Section really is, we posted the list of schools playing in the Southern Section's Division I, which includes schools with populations over 1,500.  The division is further divided into D-IAA and D-IA;  the "AA" designation is for schools at the upper end of the enrollment population, while the "A" designation is for schools closer to the lower level of enrollment for the division, i.e., 1500 in the case of Division I.

Trying to know where a particular school is going to be in the playoffs (assuming that they have the league record to get there, and then are fortunate enough to get a high enough seeding to pull easy enough games (or less difficult ones) to insure their advancement, is not an easy task.  First there are the elusive league records. Some of the local newspapers do a pretty good job of compiling some of the league standings, but usually it's only for the D-I, D-II and D-III teams; rarely do the papers follow the D-IV and D-V league standings.  To get into the playoffs, you generally have to finish first, second, or in some cases third, and then in some of the least populous divisions (III and IV) it's even possible to finish fourth in league and still make the playoffs.  Then there's a little thing called the SCIBCA (Southern California Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association) --prounounced "skibka"-- poll,  which is supposedly based on league records in the various divisions, and which is used, "in part" Dean Crowley of the CIF Southern Section told us, to establish the pairings for playoffs in a division. 

But how do you know where a particular team will be playing in the playoffs, assuming they've got a good enough record to get in? Well, for that, you'll need to rely on the Southern Section's own Divisional listing.  We managed to get a copy of the list, and after posting the Division I-AA and I-A lists, we received several requests (including more than a few from coaches in the Northern, North Coast, and Sac-Joaquin Sections, who   might get the chance to play the SoCal guys in the State Tournament) for us to publish the rest of the lists.  So here's Division II for starters.

And as you see, D-IIAA has some great schools, almost as many as Division I.  There are 48 schools in Division II-AA and 46 in Division II-A.   The enrollment runs from 1125 through 1499 students in grades 10-12.  Division II-AA has the upper end of the bracket, from 1300 to 1499, while Division II-A has from 1125 to 1299.

Top teams we'd expect to see in the playoffs in Division II-AA are Brea Olinda (Kyle Dodd, Jarrett Skrivfars); Anaheim Canyon (Neal Hammad, Roger Hogan, Ryan Romberg); Compton (Tito Maddox, Terry Hosendove, Ellis Myles); Newport Harbor, which has done pretty well this year; Redondo Union (Andrew Zahn); Cathedral City (Gerald DeVance and a bunch of other great players); Pasadena; Moorpark (Todd Tomlinson & Sean Corkery), and certainly Compton Dominguez (Tyson Chandler, et. al) as the favorite.

In Division IIA, we'd expect to see Santa Margarita (the defending State Champs) Ocean View (the defending SS D-IIA champs), Dos Pueblos, La Puente, Muir, Ocean View, and certainly the leading contender this year, Inglewood in the playoffs.

Here's the list for D-II

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