BASKETBALL PAIRINGS : Capistrano Valley Can’t Complain, but Magnolia . . .

Mark Thornton and Al Walin provided the few strong views on the Southern Section boys’ basketball playoff pairings, which were announced Sunday.

Thornton, who coaches at Capistrano Valley, was happy--no, make that ecstatic--about the placement the Cougars received in the Division I-AA bracket.

Walin, who coaches at Magnolia, was a little less then enthused--no, make that bewildered--at the Sentinels’ draw.

They provided the day’s only stray from middle ground.

On the happiness side, Thornton was content beyond belief that the Cougars not only drew a home game, but also were the fourth-seeded team. To top it off, they play Leuzinger, an at-large team, in the first round Tuesday and the earliest they would face a league champion is in the quarterfinals.

Leuzinger is 13-12. Capistrano Valley, the defending I-AA champion, is 17-9.

“This is all I could hope for,” Thornton said. “It’s a great draw for us. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”

Walin could have.

Magnolia, champions of the Orange League, open the II-A playoffs Friday against Katella. That’s the same Knight team that pummeled the Sentinels, 78-43, in December.

“I don’t know how they come up with this,” Walin said. “I was talking to (Kennedy Coach) John Mayberry and he said he never played anybody from the county in the first round in all these years.”

But, it’s not as if Walin didn’t see it coming.

“As screwy as it is, I thought going in we would be playing Katella,” he said. “I told my assistant coach that on the way to (the Southern Section) office. It’s like going to Las Vegas and winning a ton.”

A ton of what?

In that earlier loss to Katella, the Sentinels were short-handed, playing without guard Frank Henderson, who was out with a toe injury. This time, they will be without center Demetrius Maltie, who has been ruled academically ineligible.

Maltie was averaging 11 points and five rebounds.

*

Most coaches just shrugged and went about the business of gathering information on their opponents Sunday. Few found anything to complain about. Even Mayberry, who thought his team would be seeded in the II-A.

Lakewood Artesia, Bellflower St. John Bosco and Pasadena Muir were locks for the top three spots, but Mayberry felt the Fighting Irish might be seeded fourth over Ventura, which lost last week

But Ventura was seeded and Kennedy opens at home against Bosco Tech. Not that Mayberry minds. He even had a cliche ready.

“You have to play them all eventually,” he said.

*

The best of the bunch: Orange County cleaned up in I-A. Mater Dei, naturally, is the No. 1-seeded team. The Monarchs (26-1) have steamrollered past everyone California has offered thus far.

But Huntington Beach was seeded third and Esperanza fourth. The only team outside the county to be seeded was Thousand Oaks, which is second.

Other county teams that were seeded:

--Capistrano Valley, fourth in I-AA.

--Santa Margarita, fourth in III-AA.

--Brethren Christian, second in V-AA.

*

The I-AA and IV-AA will begin play Tuesday instead of Friday because of teams that have byes in the first round. Section officials believed it was better teams start earlier rather than have a few go 1 1/2 weeks without a game.

“I imagine there are a few coaches who gave their kids the weekend off that will be hustling to get a practice together for tomorrow,” one coach said.

*

Right idea, wrong team: Anticipating an eventual matchup in the playoffs, Mayberry sent an assistant coach to scout St. John Bosco earlier this season. The game was against Bosco Tech, the Fighting Irish’s first-round opponent.

A lucky break? Hardly.

“We just told him to look at St. John Bosco, so we have nothing on Bosco Tech,” Mayberry said. “But we have some really great stuff on St. John Bosco.”

*

You can run but you can’t hide: Mater Dei, the defending I-A champion, opens against Ontario Friday, prompting this exchange between Monarch Coach Gary McKnight and another coach.

McKnight: “I don’t know a thing about Ontario.”

Coach: “I hear they run a four-corners stall.”

McKnight: “The can’t have enough people to keep running it.”

Obviously, the Monarchs are ready.

*

Maybe you can hide: One would think Irvine Coach Steve Keith would have been upset his team was sent packing in the first round. Then why was he smiling?

The Vaqueros, the third-place team from the Sea View League, play Friday at Montclair. “We’re a team with some definite weaknesses,” Keith said. “Maybe being out of the county will allow us to hide them a little bit.”

*

There were few disapproving voices about the section’s return to a smaller playoff field.

The past three seasons, any team wanting in the playoffs need only apply. This time, unless they finished at least third in league play, teams had to have 10 victories.

Only 255 teams are in the playoffs this season, compared to 327 last year and 367 in 1991.

“I think this is better,” Keith said. “I can’t imagine it was too much fun for a 5-20 team to get destroyed by Mater Dei. There’s not much joy in that. This makes getting to the playoffs mean a little something again.”

But not everyone was completely in favor of it.

“I guess my feeling is that it’s better to take everyone than miss some one who deserves to be there,” Ocean View Coach Jim Harris said.

With the limits, there were few holes to fill. There were only 37 at-large teams placed into the playoffs, 10 of which were in the I-AA. That left 27 at-large teams spread over the nine other divisions.

*

The new format had one glaring oddity in the brackets.

Canyon, which finished last in the Century League, is in the II-AA playoffs. Foothill, which tied for third, and Villa Park, which finished fifth, missed out on postseason play because they were in different, more crowded, divisions.

Canyon’s reward was to be sent to Riverside to play J.W. North--that’s undefeated, No. 1-seeded J.W. North.

Thanks for stopping by, guys.

COMPLETE PAIRINGS: C19