SoCalHoops High School News

CIF SS Playoffs: Wild Card Games &
Some Really Half-Hearted Analysis--(Feb. 16, 1999)

We've only seen about half the teams who are playing in tomorrow night's various wild-card games, but based upon what we do know, we think there are some clear favorites and some clear underdogs. Looking closely at the Wild Card selections and seedings, especially examining which teams pulled the home court advantage, reveals to us just how flawed the reliance upon league finish is as the sole criteria for determining playoff berths.

It may be one factor to consider, but generally, where you have teams competing in "mixed-division" leagues, just how much does it really mean, anyway, especially considering that most of the leagues below Division I are "mixed" division leagues, where you find D-III, DIV and DIV teams often competing in the same league. Isn't it sort of unfair to most of the lower-division teams who are required to compete in regular season against higher-division teams, and who rarely find themselves atop the league standings, but who are generally more competitive than say a V-AA team which competes in a league with mostly V-A non-competitive schools?  

What the net result seems to be,  looking at the playoff pairings, is that you're finding much weaker lower division brackets overall the lower you get into the divisions, because the most competitive teams (who play "up" in league with higher division teams) are getting eliminated, while the weak-league but high-finishing teams are getting the playoff spots. In other words, at least for the lower mixed-division leagues, the current CIF playoff selection system really rewards mediocrity and punishes a team which has to compete against larger schools, finishes with a winning or close to winning record, but which doesn't get the playoff bid because of their higher division league competition takes all the available playoff spots.  

A prime example is Bell-Jeff, which this year was a "decent" team, not a great one (remember there's no way they were going to replace Ruben Douglas, although Mike Yildiz is getting there) which had a pretty bad record against their league competition (which is mostly IV-AA or IV-A) but which would be extremely competitive in their own division (V-AA).   Not surprisingly, as the higher division teams improve, the smaller enrollment schools will continue to have a more difficult time competing in the same league for a limited number of playoff slots.  Another example, again from D-V-AA, is a  team like Cate, which finished 4th in the not-overly competitive Condor League with a record of  4-9 (they didn't come close to even playing 20 games); they are a losing record team from a relatively weak league, but yet they made the playoffs simply because they finished in an "automatic" position in their league (which consists of mostly even lower division teams). Yet Bell-Jeff, or Montclair Prep, or even Buckley which finished 15-8, 9-5 and tied for second (but lost a coin flip) don't even get "at-large" berths.  Sure the CIF says "that's the system,"  but in our opinion, it's really flawed and doesn't make any sense.

But more importantly, does anyone really care about the lower divisions?  Who really cares about teams besides the Mater Deis, or the Artesia's, or the Glendoras?   If it's not about Long Beach Poly, or Simi Valley, who really gives a darn? Well, the answer is that most people really love to watch these super teams, but there is much more overall interest for the local small school teams, those in Divisions III, IV and V, the ones where the majority of players in SoCal attend school and play out their high school careers, the vast majority without a thought of the possibility of playing "at the next level."  If the CIF really wants to benefit the "majority" of players, it's not the super-schools that it needs to be concerned with. . . those schools will, as always, take care of themselves, and will continue to do just fine. It's the other divisions that need overhauling. 

Clearly, nothing is perfect, but using league standings as the single threshold cutoff makes about as much sense as simply letting everyone into the playoffs as occurred a few years ago before "regionalization."  We also understand the reason for backing away from "regionalization", but it looks like the approach taken was done not to benefit the most teams, but simply to make the seeding committees job "easier".   We think there's a middle ground, and the time for reform by the CIF should be sooner rather than later. Merge the non-competitive or overly-easy divisions (how about merging III-A and III-AA; in the latter division only 6 teams qualified for an 8 team pool, while III-AA, only has a 16 team bracket.  Why not merge them and have one more competitive bracket?).  

Here's a thought:  Simply use overall records against division opponents as the prime consideration.  If a team has got   better than a .500 record against opponents in it's own division, they should be in the playoffs.   For seeding purposes,  (not selection for a playoff spot) why not use league records and records against non-division opponents, head to head and strength of schedule as factors in determining overall order within the bracket?   Take 32 teams, or 48, or whatever number makes sense in a given division to permit the teams with winning records a large enough and competitive enough pool to make the playoffs meaningful.  It's the way the City Section (on a much smaller scale, with only 32 teams in the section) does it, and it works.  And it would work for the CIF too, if they'd give it a try. 

In any event, enough of the soap opera.  Here's what we think you're likely to be seeing tomorrow night if you venture out to any of these games.

Division I-AA

Palmdale ((11-13, 4-5) v. Leuzinger (14-12, 7-7)--Palmdale features Ericc Brown, a good shooter, and should also have Vaughn Nelson (6'-1" Jr. G), but we're not exactly sure because news out of the high desert area this year has been pretty hard to come by. Palmdale did finish third in the extremely competitive Golden League, while Leuzinger (12-11, 6-7) also finished third in the equally tough Ocean League. Leuzinger features Ron Perodin, Ken Green and Kelton McCampbell, and sophomore guard Brandon Connor. This should be a running and gunning game, and if we could be anywhere on Friday for a big school game, we'd make the drive to Palmdale to see which team gets the right to play Artesia on Friday night at Artesia. In other words, no matter who wins, all cynicism aside, it really is going to be two-and-out since neither of these teams has the stuff to beat Artesia.   

Division I-A

Royal (9-16, 3-9) v. Loyola (15-12, 4-8)--Loyola finished fifth in Mission League (at least that's what we believe they finished; we could be wrong), and they did manage in the last week to spoil Harvard-Westlake's finish, beating them by one point with 20 seconds to play.  The Cubs do feature David Salvatore, a good shooter, and Ryan Mollins (6'-5" Sr. SG/SF) who has been known to light it up every now and then, and Jared Althaus is a steady player. We know only very little about Loyola, having seen them only once this year, and we know even less about Royal, a team which ended up one place away from last in Marmonte League.  They feature last year's Simi Valley starting point guard Brandon Foster, who transferred over the summer. The winner gets Mater Dei on Friday, and neither team will have much chance against the Monarchs, who are seeded No. 2 in the division and nationally ranked at No. 15 by USA Today.

IV-AA

Oak Park (10-13, 4-4, 3rd in Tri-Valley League) v. Salesian (13-13 overall, 4th in Santa Fe League )-- Oak Park featueres Dave Smith (6'-2" Sr. G/F), Dan Schneider (5'-11" Sr. PG/G), Jerry Murphy (6'-2" So. G/F), Richie Johnson (6'-0" Jr. G), Zack Smith (6'-7" Jr. C),  Eric Carver (6'-4" Sr. F), and Kelly Ross (5'-10 Sr.G) who was a member of the Los Angeles Maccabi 15-16 team which competed in Detroit this past summer. Salesian does (or should) have Kevin White-Evans (6'-2" Sr. G), and a guy by the name of Avila whom we haven't seen play, but who has racked up some good numbers over the course of the year. We can't tell you who's likely to win this one, because we really haven't seen either of these teams play this year. The winner gets Laguna Beach on Friday night.

St. Paul (14-12, 5-4) v. Bishop Union (10-13 overall)-- St. Paul, which finished third in Del Rey League, features junior guard Michael Holloway and Alex Villegas, both of whom have been pretty steady performers most of the season, averaging something like 14 points each, and in the last SCIBCA Poll, St. Paul was ranked No. 5 in the Division.  So what, you ask are they doing playing a wild card game?  We don't know.  And we know even less about Bishop Union, except that they finished fourth in the High Desert League, a league which features a couple of V-AA teams like Desert which coincidentally finished ahead of BU in the league standings.  The winner of this one gets Beaumont on Friday; Beaumont finished No. 1 in DeAnza League play this season.

Murphy (13-13) v. Valley Christian Cerritos (17-8) - Daniel Murphy , which finished 3rd in Santa Fe League this season, behind No. 1 La Salle which also plays in this division has several players who can score, including some guys we haven't seen, but who have been putting up big numbers: Jackson, Walker, and Dawson--we don't know their first names, but then we haven't had a chance to see them.   Valley Christian is a team we saw earlier this season, and they are very good, featuring senior forward Erick Streelman, who is averaging more than 20 points per game;   Jason Rudell, and  Brian Kuyper have also been steady scoring threats. Cerritos Valley Christian has been consistently ranked this year in the SCIBCA poll among the top 10 in the division, and with good reason. Notwithstanding Murphy's homecourt advantage, we think VCC should be considered the favorite going in. The winner gets to play Friday against Carpinteria, which finished No. 1 in Tri-Valley League.

V-AA

Masada (6-10) v. Cate (4-9, 3-4)-- We certainly don't mean to insult any of the players on either team, but how, we just have to ask, do teams with records like these get into the playoffs??? And how does the CIF justify not having a couple of extra wild-card games for teams like Rialto (20-6) or  Buckley (15-8, 9-5 in league), and many, many others who were eliminated not by records, but by the technical rules of "league finish".  Based on that rule, there are at least three teams that will never make playoffs in the Moore League.  So who's going to win this one?  Again, no offense to either Masada or Cate, but does it really much matter? The winner is going to get Pasadena Poly on Friday night, the No. 1 seed in the Division. We hate to sound cynical, but neither of these teams has a prayer against Poly.  

Woodcrest Christian (11-9, 5-3) v. Desert (15-6, 7-4)--Woodcrest finished third in the reasonably competitive Christian League, which also has League Champ Mesa Grande, and second place Western Christian in the playoffs, and they'll be taking on Division V's 8th ranked team according to the 2/9 SCIBCA poll. We really haven't seen either of these teams, but Woodcrest has to have some advantage playing at home.  The winner gets Mesa Grande (gee, thought the CIF was trying to get away from "regionalization". . . who thought that possibly scheduling two Christian League opponents would be a good thing?) on Friday night.

Campbell Hall (17-8, 6-3 ) v. St. Margarets (12-8, 8-3)-- Who says the Valley only doesn't get respect in the City Section.  Here's a team, Campbell Hall,  that finished third in league, a league which has Crossroads and Pacific Hills, both previous CIF and State Champs, they have a record that rivals the No. 2 seeded team in the division, and yet they still get stuck with a "wild card game?"  Heck, this should be a seeded team, at least the 5th or 6th seed in the division.Campbell Hall features Hassan Bassiri (6'-0" Jr. G) who is averaging 13 ppg. Jesse Foster (6'-7" Jr. G/F) who is averaging 14 ppg, and McDonald's All-American nominee Josh Levy (6'-4" Sr. G/F), a transfer from Chaminade who is averaging 14.1 ppg.  We'll be the first to tell you that we don't have a clue who's on St. Margaret's,  so we have no idea whether this will be a game or a blowout for one team or the other.  Campbell Hall only lost this season to Cleveland (56-70) at the Beverly Hills Tourney, Calvary Chapel Downey (61-53), Crespi (61-48), Quartz Hills (61-48) and Pacific Hills and Crossroads twice in league; the games against Pacific Hills weren't that close, 86-71 in the first meeting and 68-53,  and Crossroads just blew them away in the first league meeting 71-44, but Campbell Hall is a pretty good team. St. Margarets has two shooters, a kid named Sternberg  and another guy named Huff who've been posting decent scores all year. The winner gets Whitewater on Friday at Whitewater, which finished first in the Freedom League.

Villanova Prep ( 5-14, 2-3) v. AGBU (15-4 overall, 3rd in Valley League)--Again, we have to ask, how did these guys manage to get playoff berths at all? This one is the best argument for simply using overall records against league opponents rather than league standings to determine playoff berths. At least we've got to ask "why" about Villanova Prep, a team which finished third in an incredibly weak Condor League, with a losing overall record, having lost 14, that's right, fourteen games.  We also don't know a great deal about AGBU, because the only time we saw them was at the beginning of the season, as Buckley beat them in the season opener 64-33, and unless they got a whole lot better during the year (their league competition, with the exception of Milken, is incredibly weak, and is mostly V-A), we wouldn't expect much from them tomorrow night.   Likewise, how does a team with a 5-14 record get the home court ???  What was the seeding committee thinking?  It's not going to matter, because the winner gets Yeshiva on Friday, which finished in a tie for 1st place in Liberty League with Providence (which plays in Division IV-A).

Windward (16-7, 9-5) v. Boron (10-10, 7-4)--Windward finished in a three-way tie for second with Buckley and Holy Martyrs.  They had a chance to finish in first but unbelievably lost their final game by two points to Oakwood, a team which with the win on Friday has won only 2 games in four years.   Windward is a good team, and has some great outside shooters, including Brandon Cane (5'-11" Jr. G) who is averaging 11 ppg, Peter Leeb (5'-10" Jr. G) who is averaging 9.7 ppg, John Page (5'-11" Sr. G) who shot 11.7 ppg this season, and Daniel Bright (5'-11" Sr. F) who finished with an 11.2 ppg average. No one really spectacular, but good solid shooters nontheless. Windward likes to run a spread offense and sets a double high screen at the left side of the key for their shooters, so if Boron can shut them down and force them into a running game they should have a good chance. Boron has a couple of players we've seen who can really light it up, including Ryan Liebengood (6'-4" Sr. F) who is averaging 15.6 ppg, and 9.4 rbg, and Richard Sheasley (6'-4" Sr. G) who is averaging 18.7 ppg and 9.5 rbg.   The winner will play CSDR on Friday night; CSDR finished in 1st in the Arrowhead league.  

Sherman Indian (6-11) v. Desert Christian Lancaster (14-6, 10-3)-- How can the seeding committee expect credibility when they schedule a game like this? A team which finishes 6-11 overall, third in Arrowhead League gets the home court over a team which finished 14-6 overall and 10-3 in league? We don't care how easy the Desert Mountain league is (it's not like the league is filled with VA teams; every team but one is in the VAA division), there's no way a team with a 14-6 and 10-3 record doesn't get to play at home. We don't really have any idea who on Sherman Indian can really shoot, but we know that Desert Christian has Thomas Vizcarra and Matt Battrud, both of whom are capable of exploding for 15-30 points a game.  The winner gets Calvary Chapel Downey on Friday.

Flintridge Prep (6-16, 2-5)  v. Holy Martyrs (16-7, 9-5)-- Again, another reason why league standings should not determine playoff berths.  A team with a 2-5 league record, which has lost to just about everyone they played this year gets home court advantage?  Well, if you've ever seen the Holy Martyrs' excuse for a "gym" we actually understand why the seeding committee would choose to hold the game elsewhere, in fact anywhere else, even at the home court of a 2-5 team. We do have to also question the league standings for Prep League, because on February 5, Flintridge reported it's own standings as 2-14 overall and 1-4 in league.  They must have had one heck of final week to win 4 more games overall and yet only pick up one more league victory. Another team that was beaten early and often by other D-V teams, including Buckley and Milken, which both held Flintridge to just 3 points in one quarter.   Flintridge is not without players though, and Devin Brown, a young point guard has had an entire season to get used to varsity play, and he's gotten a bit better.  Holy Martyrs has mostly seniors and some decent shooters, but no one nearly as good as they had last year. HM finished in a three-way tie for second in Liberty League, and features Schant Choulakian (6'-1" Sr. C) who averaged 10 ppg and 8 boards, Ara Akaragian (6'-0" Sr. F) and Chris Barsamian (5'-8" Sr. G) who also averaged 10 ppg this season.  The winner gets Santa Clara on Friday night at Santa Clara.

Well, enough rambling and ranting. If you want to see some high school action, there are some games. We'll probably head over to Campbell Hall.   See you there.

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