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SoCalHoops High School News

CIF Central Section Playoffs:
League Structures & Playoff Seedings--(Feb. 25, 1999)

For some time now we've been promising to update our coverage of Central Section of CIF and the teams playing there.  Why?  Well for one thing, the Central Section is not located in Northern California, despite the fact that everyone really believes anything north of the Tehachapis is NorCal.   Nope, the Central Section, geography notwithstanding, is really located in Southern California.  Really.  The teams in the Central Section compete in the Southern California Regionals of the State Championship Tournament, and should one or more of them win in any of the five divisions (I, II, III, IV and V), that team or teams will be the representatives from Southern California on March 19 & 20 at ARCO Arena for the State Championship games.

Here's a list of the league placements for the 1998-99 year for teams in the Central Section of CIF:

CIF Central Section
Sequoia Division
North League

Chowchilla
Coalinga
Dos Palos
Kerman
Mendota
Washington Union

Central League

Dinuba
Kingsburg
San Joaquin Memorial
Selma
Sierra
Yosemite

South League

Arvin
Shafter
Taft
Tehachapi
Wasco

East League

Corcoran
Lindsay
Parlier
Orosi
McFarland
Woodlake

CIF Central Section
Sierra Division
West League

Caruthers
Firebaugh
Fowler
Immanuel
Riverdale
Tranquility

East League

Central Valley Christian
Farmersville
Fresno Christian
Laton
Strathmore
Valley

Central League

Alpaugh
Chestnut
Bakersfield Christian
Fresno Adventist
Kings Christian
Northwest Heritage

Coast League

Avenal
Coast Union
Mission Prep
Templeton
Kings Christian*

*Football only

CIF Central Section
Yosemite Division
TRAC League

Buchanan
Central
Clovis
Clovis West
Madera
Sanger

North League

Bullard
Edison
Fresno
Hoover
McLane
Roosevelt

West League

Golden West
Hanford
Lemoore
Mt. Whitney
Redwood
Reedley

South East League

Bakersfield
East
Foothill
Highland
Ridgeview

South West League

Centennial
North
South
Stockdale
West

East League

Delano
Exeter
Monache
Porterville
Tulare Union
Tulare Western

We don't pretend to know a lot about most of these teams, but we've seen some of them several times this year either in Las Vegas at the Reebok Holiday Classic (actually that was last year, in December 1998, so don't get picky), and  at the Best of the West Tournament.  Several of these teams also traveled to other venues and we're generally pretty familiar with teams like Clovis West, Clovis, Edison, Fresno Washington Union and Bakersfield High.

Just like the leagues in Southern Section and San Diego Section, when it comes time for playoffs, league action ends and teams drop into their appropriate Divisions according to their "CBED" (California Board of Education) enrollment figures.  We assume the cutoffs are the same as they are for Southern Section.  But unlike Southern Section, the playoffs are just for overall divisions (i.e, I, II, III, IV and V), and given the relatively small number of schools, there's no need to further subdivide them into "AA" or "A".

So who are the hot teams this year?  Well, we're not exactly sure of the overall league standings (the nice folks at the Central Section office were going to send them but we haven't received them yet), but here are the seedings of the teams in the various brackets for playoffs:

Division I Division II Division III Division IV Division V
1. Clovis West
2. Bakersfield
3. Ridgeview
4. West
5. Central
6. South
7. Hanford
8. Redwood
9. Centennial
10. Clovis
11. Hoover
12. Monache
13. Roosevelt
14. Buchanan
15. Delano
16. Golden West

"OutBracket"
i.e., wild cards:

Stockdale
Golden West
Delano
McLane

1. Edison
2. East
3. Highland
4. Tulare Western
5. Sanger
6. Tulare
7.  Winner "B"
8.  Winner "A"

Outbracket

"A"

Foothill
Reedley

"B"

North
Lemoore

1. Washington Union
2. Yosemite
3. Exeter
4. Dinuba
5. Shafter
6. Sierra

Both Washington &
Yosemite received
1st Round Byes

1. Chowchilla
2. Garces
3. Corcoran
4. Riverdale
5. Orosi
6. Kerman
7. Kingsburg
8. Firebaugh
9. Lindsey
10. McFarland
11. Templeton
12. Taft
13. SJM
14. Caruthers

Chowchilla & Garces
received 1st Round
Byes

1. Coast Union
2. Immanuel
3. CVC
4. Fresno Christian
5. Strathmore
6. Laton
7. Mission Prep
8. Kings Christian

Interestingly, Central Section seems to have the same problem that occurred in the Southern Section with Division III, i.e., there aren't a lot of schools who play in that division for playoff purposes, and only 6 teams (just like III-A here) qualified for the playoffs.  Oh well. We'll be posting up the brackets for these playoff brackets shortly.  In the meantime, one of our readers has posted up most (if not all) of the first round results in Central Section. from the first round games played yesterday in Divisions I, IV and the various "Outbracket" games.  Most second round or quarterfinal games in every division will be played tomorrow night, as we all lurch towards the State Playoffs.

The Swish Award
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