desert city classic brackets & schedules

We just got the first round matchups and the brackets for this tournament, and to say that it's somewhat complex is an understatement. Unfortunately, the tournament occurs the same weekend as the first rounds of the LA Watts Summer Games, a two week, 128 team single-elimination tournament which will be played over two weekends, so you'll have to make a choice.

But for those in the Inland Empire/Desert areas, there's no better tournament this summer than the Desert City Classic, which was won by Artesia last year, and the year before, by Pacific in 1996, and by Nogales in 1995, the inaugural year. This year there are 40 teams slated to play, including the following:

Central, Ocean View, Palm Desert, Yucca Valley, Rowland, Reno McQueen, 29 Palms, San Bernardino, Big Bear, Desert Christian, Coachella Valley, Riverside Poly, Fullerton, Ayala #2 (probably the Ayala JV), Calexico, Canyon Springs, Ayala #1, Beaumont, Chaminade, Serrano, Anaheim, Temescal Canyon, Yucaipa, Victor Valley, indio, West Valley, Cathedral City, Holtville, West Hills, La Quinta, San Dimas, and Ridgecrest Burroughs.

Others playing will be Sultana, Buena Park, Yuma (Arizona), El Segundo, Pacific, Royal, Perris, Artesia # 1 (which presumably is the guts of the Artesia Varsity), Banning, Rancho Cucamonga, Canyon Country Canyon HS, Bishop Diego, Newbury Park, Silverado, Artesia #2 (which again is probably some JV guys), and Fresno Clovis HS. All in all, some pretty good teams, and a chance to see who is looking good way in advance of the pre-season as teams build for next year's CIF title runs in Divisions I, II and III. There don't appear to be many (if any) D-IV or D-V teams, but then we won't know what divisions the teams will actually fall into until the CBED Enrollments are taken and the divisions are created sometime in or around late December of 1999.

Apparently, there will be two first round brackets of 32 teams each (Brackets Nos. 1 & 2) and each bracket will, obviously, have 16 games; and then depending upon whether a team wins or loses, teams advance to either the Championship bracket or the Consolation bracket. At least that's what it looks like from what we've been sent. We have no idea how many games are actually guaranteed to each team because we really can't figure the bracketing out (yeah, ok, we're sorta slow in that regard) but it looks like each team gets quite at least 4 games guaranteed, whether they win or lose.

The Desert City Tournament takes place at four different locations (Palm Desert HS, Desert Christian HS, College of the Desert, and Cathedral City--using both Cathedral City's main and auxiliary gyms) from June 18 when the first round games will be held, then again all day and well into the evening Saturday night, June 19. The Championship rounds are set for Sunday, June 21. The Championship Game will be held at Cathedral City on Sunday at 2:00 P.M., and preceded by the third place game at 1:00 p.m. in the main gym and what looks to be the consolation finals (or maybe it's the 9th place game given the unique bracketing??) at College of the Desert at 1:00 p.m. also on Sunday.

In any event, here's the schedules, in a slightly different format than Cathedral City's coach Rob Hamner gave them to us, i.e., we've tried to turn them into English so everyone can understand them (sorry Rob. . . ). Just remember, there are four locations and two separate 32 team brackets. Games 1-40 will all take place on Friday, June 18, 1999. Here's the first day's schedule:

Game No.	Time	Opponents	Next Game Winner	Next Game Loser
Game 1	1:00 p.m.	Central v. Ocean View	Game 25	Game 17
Game 2	2:00 p.m.	Palm Desert v. Yucca Valley	Game 26	Game 17
Game 3	3:00 p.m.	Rowland v. Reno McQueen	Game 27	Game 18

Game No.	Time	Opponents	Next Game Winner	Next Game Loser
Game 4	3:00 p.m.	Twentynine Palms v. San Bernardino	Game 28	Game 18
Game 5	1:00 p.m.	Big Bear v. Desert Christian	Game 29	Game 19
Game 6	2:00 p.m.	Coachella Valley v. Riverside Poly	Game 30	Game 19

Game No.	Time	Opponents	Next Game Winner	Next Game Loser
Game 7	2:00 p.m.	Fullerton v. Ayala #2	Game 31	Game 20)
Game 8	3:00 p.m.	Calexico v. Canyon Springs	Game 32	Game 20
Game 9	1:00 p.m.	Ayala #1 v. Beaumont	Game 33	Game 21

Game No.	Time	Opponents	Next Game Winner	Next Game Loser
Game 10	1:00 p.m.	Chaminade v. Serrano	Game 34	Game 21
Game 11	2:00 p.m.	Anaheim v. Temescal Canyon	Game 35	Game 22
Game 12	3:00 p.m.	Yucaipa v. Victor Valley	Game 36	Game 22

Game No.	Time	Opponents	Next Game Winner	Next Game Loser
Game 13	1:00 p.m.	Indio v. West Valley	Game 37	Game 23
Game 14	2:00 p.m.	Cathedral City v. Holtville	Game 38	Game 23
Game 15	3:00 p.m.	West Hills v. La Quinta	Game 39	Game 24
Game 16	4:00 p.m.	San Dimas v. Ridgecrest Burroughs	Game 40	Game 24

So from the looks of things, the winners from this first 32 team are then placed into "32 Team Bracket No. 2" where they will play game No. 25-40 against teams who are seeded, or who receive what in essence are "first round byes". Since we don't have a schedule for Games 17-24, i.e., the games where the losing teams from Bracket No. 1 lost, we can't tell you about those games at all right now. While we're certain someone might want to see these games, we can't tell where or when they are played, but presumably they will be played also on Friday, June 18, because Saturday and Sunday marks the start of two completely different brackets of play.

Again, remember the winners of Bracket No. 1? Here's who they'll play next, again on Friday, June 18. These are grouped by location, not necessarily by the times of continguous games:

Game No.	Time	Opponents	Next Game Winner	Next Game Loser
Game 25	4:00 p.m.	Winner Game 1 v. Sultana	Game 57	Game 49
Game 26	6:00 p.m.	Winner Game 2 v. Buena Park	Game 57	Game 49
Game 27	7:00 p.m.	Winner Game 3 v. Yuma Arizona	Game 58	Game 50
Game 28	8:00 p.m.	Winner Game 4 v. El Segundo	Game 58	Game 50

Game No.	Time	Opponents	Next Game Winner	Next Game Loser
Game 29	6:00 p.m.	Winner Game 5 v. Pacific	Game 59	Game 51
Game 37	4:00 p.m.	Winner Game 13 v. Newbury Park	Game 63	Game 55
Game 39	7:00 p.m.	Winner Game 15 v. Artesia #2	Game 64	Game 56
Game 40	8:00 p.m.	Winner Game 16 v. Clovis/Fresno	Game 64	Game 56

Game No.	Time	Opponents	Next Game Winner	Next Game Loser
Game 30	6:00 p.m.	Winner Game 6 v. Royal	Game 59	Game 51
Game 31	7:00 p.m.	Winner Game 7 v. Perris	Game 60	Game 52
Game 32	8:00 p.m.	Winner Game 8 v. Artesia #1	Game 60	Game 52
Game 33	4:00 p.m.	Winner Game 9 v. Banning	Game 61	Game 53

Game No.	Time	Opponents	Next Game Winner	Next Game Loser
Game 34	5:00 p.m.	Winner Game 10 v. Rancho Cucamonga	Game 61	Game 53
Game 35	7:00 p.m.	Winner Game 11 v. Canyon Country Canyon	Game 62	Game 54
Game 36	8:00 p.m.	Winner Game 12 v. Bishop Diego	Game 62	Game 54
Game 38	6:00 p.m.	Winner Game 14 v. Silverado	Game 63	Game 55

Then on Saturday, things get really interesting. Remember those teams which lost in the first 32 team bracket, the ones who played the mysterious Games 17-24? Well, we have no idea what happens to them, except that it looks like they are really playing in their own, self-contained tournament. As for the rest of the teams, there will be yet two more brackets, the first consisting of those teams who lost in the 32 team bracket No. 2 (which includes the winners of the first 32 team bracket) which will be a second 16 team bracket, which were guessing is the "Consolation" bracket, and then there will be another 16 team Championship Bracket, which is those teams who have won either (a) the first two games (in bracket No. 1 and 2) or those teams who only won one game from bracket No. 2--in other words the winners of games 25-40. Confused yet? Sheesh, we know that we are, because both of Saturday's brackets also have a winners' and a losers' side to them, so this tournament is really like about 4 different tournaments within a single tournament, all using what looks to be single elimination bracketing, yet in which each team gets 3 or 4 games. Complex? Of course it is.

But for simpletons like us, the only thing you have to know is who is playing where and when the first day. From there, you'll have to get a schedule from Rob, otherwise you're on your own.