norc310

SoCal High School & Prep Report

State Regional Playoffs: Here's Why
The NorCal Bracket Isn't Up Yet--(March 10, 1998)

Fremont? McClymond's? Or Jesuit? Nobody seems to know just yet who will be selected to play in the Northern California bracket in the Division I State Championship playoffs.

As of 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday March 10, the CIF had not yet released the bracket for the NorCal Regionals in Division I. That's the Division which usually features Alameda St. Joe's, Fremont, Vallejo, and other top teams from Northern California. Here's the official statement from the CIF regarding this bracket:

Because of an appeal, and the need to resolve that appeal on Monday, the Division I northern boys' bracket seeding will be tentatively set on Tuesday, March 10, 1998 beginning at 10:00 a.m. at the State CIF office, 664 Las Gallinas Avenue, San Rafael. This meeting is open to the public. First round games in Division I will be rescheduled for Wednesday. All other rounds will remain the same.

But the statement doesn't tell us why there is an appeal, or what's going on that the first round games need to wait until Wednesday, to be followed the very next day by the semis. We searched around a bit, and found this at the Sacramento Bee:

Shortly after Vallejo High School put the finishing touches on its victory over Jesuit on Saturday night, a chant of "Four more, four more, four more" echoed into the Arco Arena corridors.

And for Northern California basketball teams that head into the NorCal regionals, which start Tuesday at home sites, that's the appropriate motto from here on out. Four more victories will crown a team as state champion at Arco on March 20 or 21.

But one team not knowing what exactly to do in practice today is Jesuit, a regular to the NorCal playoff scene and the only local team left in limbo.

The Sac-Joaquin Section historically advances its finalists to the NorCals, but Oakland power Fremont has become a potential stumbling block to Jesuit in the 11th hour. The [Fremont] Tigers recently had to forfeit 18 games due to an ineligible player. Fremont has since lost its coach, Clinton Williams, who was suspended after a fistfight with a player, yet the Tigers still could make the post-season as an at-large team.

Fremont officials will plead their case with CIF officials Tuesday morning. In the meantime, the large-school openers have been pushed back to Wednesday.

"It's incredible what's happened," Jesuit coach Hank Meyer said. "Fremont hasn't played a single playoff game and we feel like we're a definite playoff team that has qualified to be here, but we're on the fence."

So it looks like Jesuit might be in, or might be out, depending upon the outcome of the appeal, right? Maybe not. We got a some additional information about what had gone wrong at Fremont, but the following article says nothing about a possible Jesuit berth, and instead it looks like the at-large berth will come down to either Oakland McClymonds or Fremont. Read on about the nature of the dispute from the Gate's sports section, which had this article:

After appeal Monday, predawn meeting Tuesday will set playoffs

In the wake of the controversy over Fremont High's playoff fate, the Division I Northern California championships will be delayed a day, with pairings and sites to be decided in an unprecedented predawn meeting Tuesday.

The meeting, open to the public, will be at 5:30 a.m. at the California Interscholastic Federation's San Rafael office, said executive director Jack Hayes. The playoff pairings have to be delayed pending the outcome of an appeal that will be resolved Monday, he said.

Hayes was to preside Monday afternoon at the appeal hearing at the offices of the Marin County Board of Education. Hayes did not disclose Sunday who had appealed, what the appeal entailed or who would participate in the hearing.

But it was acknowledged the dispute is about whether Fremont, penalized for using a player deemed ineligible, should participate in the NorCal regionals as Oakland's No. 1 representative or whether playoff champion McClymonds (23-5) should. If Fremont's contentions are rejected, Oakland Athletic League runner-up Oakland Tech (18-5) would be nominated as at-large participant.

After the appeal and the Tuesday morning meeting, NorCal Division I quarterfinal games originally planned for Tuesday will be delayed until Wednesday, to be followed by semifinals Thursday and the championship game Saturday at the New Arena in Oakland. The winner will play for the state large-schools championship March 21 in Sacramento.

Fremont was found by the OAL to have been using a player, Armando Wainwright, a transfer from Mount Eden of Hayward, who was declared ineligible because of improper paperwork. The ruling, upheld by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Henry E. Needham Jr., eventually resulted in 18 of Fremont's 20 victories being considered forfeits.

But the Oakland Board of Education announced late Friday it had decided, on a 6-0 vote with one abstention, that Fremont should be granted a closed-doors special playoff Saturday against the winner of Friday night's McClymonds-Tech playoff game.

However, the two schools declared before McClymonds' victory they would not play Fremont. Commissioner Jerry Luzar presented the trophy to McClymonds and declared he would submit the Warriors as section champion.

The Fremont team appeared at Oakland High at noon Saturday as the school board directed, claimed a forfeit victory when McClymonds did not arrive and now seeks participation in the Division I boys NorCals.

The four other boys divisions and all five girls divisions will open play Tuesday night as planned, culminating in Divisions I and II title games Saturday in Oakland and III, IV and V games at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton.

As soon as the bracketing is completed, which should be later this morning, we'll put it up. Until then, stay tuned.