Frank Burlison

LAGUNA NIGUEL – More fuel for speculation before the CIF Southern Section releases the boys basketball playoffs Saturday at noon:

*The BurlisonOnBasketball.Com SoCal rankings have been expanded from 30 to 50, for some added “perspective” when the pairings and matchups are released Saturday.

These are teams I’ve watched play (in person) during the season and/or “competitive fall ball” (the October Border League in Las Vegas the most notable example), most multiple times.

*The first eight teams maintained their pecking order from the previous ratings.

If the Open playoff field returns to eight (it was at 10 a year ago, in the first season in which the CIF SS office utilized a computer program to “rate” the teams), those are the teams that should make up the field.

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FULLERTON – Dang!

We can only hope that any of the CIF Southern Section’s Open Division boys’ basketball playoff games are as compelling as the Trinity League tournament final played at Hope International University Wednesday night.

There were only two points scored in the final three minutes of the gut-twisting game played between St. John Bosco and Santa Margarita.

But that layup by Eagles’ Markee White (after a pass from Drew Anderson), with 1:02 remaining, proved the difference in Santa Margarita’s 57-56 victory.

The Eagles needed one last defensive stop – on a baseline out-of-bounds situation with 1.5 seconds that resulted in a missed turn-around jumper from the free-throw line by the Braves’ Max Ellis – to secure win No.

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LA VERNE – The teams in the mix for the CIF Southern Section’s Open Division playoff field were shaken, not stirred, Tuesday night.

And that could be the case again on Wednesday’s final night of the regular season.

The Etiwanda Eagles made the race to Saturday’s noon unveil of the Open field (be it eight, 10 or 12 teams) more compelling Tuesday night at Damien High, knocking off the host Spartans, 50-43, in the Baseline League tournament title game.

The Eagles (26-2) came into Damien’s Athletic Center standing at No.

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IRVINE – The Mater Dei and JSerra basketball teams cruised to quarterfinal wins at Irvine Valley College Monday night, leading to a couple of potentially terrific Tuesday night semifinals.

Those were among some of the key games throughout the CIF Southern Section Monday, setting the stage for games on the regular-season finals two days – Tuesday and Wednesday – that will largely impact the look of the section’s Open and D-1 playoff divisions.

The Mater Dei Monarchs (17-12) snapped a three-game losing streak while cruising past Orange Lutheran (18-9), 92-65.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL – Three days’ of games – and then a computer and the CIF Southern Section will let sort out the boys’ basketball divisions and release the results Sunday morning from its Los Alamitos headquarters.

The results of Baseline, Big VIII, Mission and Trinity league tournaments, as well as a Bay League finale, over the next three days will go a long way toward dictating the size and seeding in the Open Division, and the bracketing in the 32-team Division I field.

Check below and peruse the updated BurlisonOnBasketball.com

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