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SoCal High School & Prep Report

SoCalHoops Corrections: Mea Culpa,
Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa--(March 9, 1998)

When we make a mistake, we own up to it. And we try to correct it wherever possible. Here are two:

First: The CIF Regional Playoff brackets-- Our brackets had a major error, and we've since corrected it, but we don't want you all to be confused. The quarterfinals for all divisions start tomorrow, March 10, 1998. Most games are at 7:30 p.m. (although some are at 8:00 or 7:00). And the semifinals are on Thursday, March 12. We erroneously had the semis on 3/14, the same day as the finals. We stand corrected and want to thank our friend Leon Chaikin, a true basketball junkie, for noticing what should have just jumped off the page at us.

Second: In our report of the Artesia v. Simi semifinals, we wrote about Jason Kapono reportedly playing with the flu, and we also wrote that even after the game was well out of reach, the Artesia coaching staff kept Kapono in the game, which might have placed him at some risk given what we thought his condition was. We even went so far as to say that he should have been allowed to play unless he was cleared by a doctor.

We now understand that he apparently was cleared by a physician to play. To the extent that what we wrote anything which made it sound like the Artesia coaching staff was doing something other than what they should have done as responsible coaches was just wrong on our part, and we apologize to them and to Jason Kapono. We know that Wayne Merino and his staff are fine coaches, and would never do anything to place a player in jeopardy, knowingly or otherwise, and we regret that we might have even suggested it; that'll teach us to rely on newspaper reporter's observations in place of our own.

And don't forget, you can still catch Artesia as they open in the State Regionals against Pacific tomorrow night (Tuesday) at Artesia High at 7:30 p.m. See you there.