worst218

SoCal High School & Prep Report

Random Pre-Playoff Ramblings:
The Worst Team In the Playoffs--(February 18, 1998)

Yesterday's LA Times featured a "Notebook" with little vignettes and stories from the local basketball beat reporters: Peter Yoon; Paige A. Leech, Tris Wykes, Michael Lazarus and John Ortega, all of whom have done just a tremendous job this season reporting and scoring the games. Paige Leech can take stats like nobody's business, and she's got a system, all done by hand, that makes a DynaSport 2000 look unsophisticated. All of the Times reporters (and Vincent Bonignore of the Daily News) deserve combat pay; they've seen more games, some good, a lot of them bad, a few great, than most people see in a lifetime.

And since the playoffs are coming up, the articles and stories they put together had a sort of playoff-motif. The one we liked the best should embarrass the CIF officials (whoever they are) who put the pairings and the brackets together. For example, look at the D-IIA pairings. What's up with playing Sonora (No. 3 in Orange County) playing Servite (No. 3 in Orange County) in the first round!! And if either team gets through that, then they'll have to play Compton Dominguez, the all-No. 1 everywhere team. Huh? Why not balance out the brackets a bit more.

You think that's bad? The Times reminds us that as you go down the brackets things sometimes get worse. Check this out from the Times. Who's the worst, most undeserving team in the playoffs this season.?

Probably St. Bonaventure.

Why?

Because they got into the Southern Section playoffs with an overall record of 10-13.

Ok. So they lost three more games than they won. Big deal. There were other teams (we're fairly certain) with records about as bad that also made the playoffs. So what's really the problem with St. Bonaventure being in the playoffs?

How about the fact that they finished last in the Tri-Valley League with an 0-8 record. Lost their last 8 games in a row. Didn't win a single game in league. They lost to Bishop Diego (18-5, 7-1); they lost to Oak Park (14-9, 6-2); they lost to Carpinteria (13-8, 5-3); they lost to Fillmore (12-11, 2-6).

They finished 7 games back in league.

So why did they get into the playoffs? Because, according to the Times "the Division IV-A draw lacked quality teams." So the Seraphs received an at-large berth and will play at Del Rey League champion Serra in a first-round game Wednesday.

How does this happen? What goes through the minds of the seeding committee? Why not take a team like Buckley or Campbell Hall, or any other number of good teams with overall winning records who, for some reason, didn't get an at-large berth in their own divisions? If the competition in this Division is that bad, then perhaps it's time for the CIF to permit other teams playing in small school leagues to play up a division if they would otherwise qualify with the requisite number of wins but aren't chosen in their own divisions. It wouldn't be so embarrassing to the CIF, and they wouldn't be laughed at for some of their selections, and who knows, the smaller schools might just surprise a few people.

And how about Hoover, in the Pacific League. They finished 16-10 overall and didn't get an at large berth at all. The odds were in Hoover's favor entering a Pacific League finale Thursday. In two of three possible scenarios, Hoover would have finished second and qualified for playoffs. But Hoover had to win its final game. The third scenario--a Hoover loss to Crescenta Valley combined with a Pasadena upset of first-place Muir--would drop Hoover into a third-place tie with Crescenta Valley, a team it had lost to twice, and no guarantee of a playoff berth. "We had our fate in our own hands," Coach Kirt Kohlmeier said. Unfortunately for the Tornadoes, Pasadena beat Muir by 15 and Hoover lost by one to Crescenta Valley. So Hoover didn't get the automatic bid.

They should have gotten a spot though as an at large team. Did they? No way. Hoover, a team which tied in league at 6-4 with CV, doesn't go to the playoffs. But St. Bonaventure at 0-8 does?

You tell us what it means.

Someone's got pictures of someone. Can you say "Monica Lewinsky?"