LAGUNA NIGUEL – During the first four seasons of the CIF Southern Section’s Open Division boys’ basketball playoffs, the field consisted of 16 entrants.
The next three, including this season, has featured an eight-team format (the last two of those in “pool” instead of “bracket” play).
So, how would the field look this week if it was back in the 16-team format?
If it were strictly my decision (instead of the other Open Division Committee members), joining the 1-8 seeds – Sierra Canyon, Corona Centennial, Rancho Christian, Etiwanda, St. Anthony, Harvard-Westlake, Mater Dei and St. John Bosco – would likely be (in this seed order):
Windward (No. 1 seed in D-1); the No.’s 1-2 seeds in the 2-AA field, Santa Clarita Christian and Heritage Christian; Riverside Poly (No. 2 in D-1); St. Bernard (No. 3 in 2-AA); the top seed in 2-A, Ribet Academy; Damien (the No. 3 seed in D-1); JSerra (assuming Ian Martinez is healthy/No. 4 in D-1); and Renaissance Academy (top seed in 4-AA).
In a “bracket format” it would look like this:
Upper
Renaissance Academy at No. 1 Sierra Canyon
Windward at No. 8 St. John Bosco
Riverside Poly at No. 5 St. Anthony
St. Bernard at No. 4 Etiwanda
Lower
Damien at No. 3 Rancho Christian
Heritage Christian at No. 6 Harvard-Westlake
Santa Clarita Christian at No. 7 Mater Dei
JSerra at No. 2 Centennial
OK, back to reality . . .
I’ll be at the St. Anthony at Etiwanda game Thursday (the other three first-round pool-play games are on Friday) and Harvard-Westlake at Rancho Christian the next evening.
That will be about 235 miles, total, of driving to and from both locations for yours truly.
Leave a Reply