Prep column: The more ($) the merrier
CIF Southern Section staff members have a gargantuan task. If you
don’t believe me, try to run a rotisserie league for more than 500 teams
in about two dozen sports, virtually without a break from August through
June.
For the most part, the section staff of about 14, including a
commissioner and three assistant commissioners, run the prep athletic
show, most specifically playoff competition, in a first-rate manner that
makes the Southern Section nationally renowned for excellence and
efficiency.
If you’ve spent any time observing the inner workings of section
employees, as I have, you’d appreciate this a great deal more than the
peanut gallery critics who invariably have a better way.
But -- and you knew this was coming -- there are, inevitably, vestiges
of rust in the well-oiled machine. And, casting off from aforementioned
peanut gallery, I’d like to point out a few grinding gears that were
unveiled Sunday and Monday, when playoff pairings for winter sports were
revealed at section headquarters in Cerritos.
Paul Castillo, an assistant commissioner in charge of basketball, said
the reason all 57 at-large candidates were admitted into the boys
basketball playoffs was that the section believes it is there to
accommodate student-athletes by creating as many competitive
opportunities as possible.
Sounds good, right? A little like coming out in favor of the American
flag.
All but one of these at-large candidates fit into either 16- or
32-entry brackets. In 16-team brackets, most at-large entries simply
became first-round fodder for league champions, with the four seeds
usually first in line to consume these “cupcakes.”
In Division III-A, however, there were already exactly 16 automatic
qualifiers (having finished in the upper half of their league), so
Estancia, the lone at-large school, was accommodated only by creating a
wild-card game with Burroughs High of Ridgecrest. This meant the Burros
would have to play their way into the 16-team field by defeating the
Eagles tonight at home.
Estancia and, surprisingly, Burroughs Coach Robert Campbell, were both
big fans of the move.
For Estancia, it enables a 13-13 team to experience the postseason,
albeit after a three-hour-plus bus ride.
The move also allows Burroughs to avoid a week layoff between games, a
constant concern for coaches this time of year.
But a precedent has clearly been set. If, eventually, there arises a
situation in which at-large entries are impractical, their complaints
about being denied participation have a built-in justification.
Now, flash forward about 24 hours to Monday, when the soccer pairings
were distributed. Since there are only five divisions in boys and girls
soccer, exactly half the amount in boys and girls basketball,
opportunities for at-large entries are significantly diminished.
Hence, Crespi’s boys team, ranked No. 1 in Division V for most of the
season, was turning in its gear Tuesday, rather than preparing to compete
with the division’s 41 automatic qualifiers for a Southern Section
championship.
Crespi (11-7-5) finished fourth in the seven-team Mission League,
behind Loyola (Division II), St. Francis (seeded No. 2 in Division IV)
and Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks (Division IV).
The Mission League meat grinder also left fourth-place girls finisher
Flintridge Sacred Heart (9-9-1) out of the playoff picture.
The Tologs were beaten out for a guaranteed berth by Mission rivals
Harvard-Westlake (seeded No. 1 in Division IV), Chaminade (No. 3 in
Division IV) and Louisville. A Mission representative has won at least a
share of a section crown the last five years (four straight by Chaminade,
before Louisville and Harvard-Westlake shared last year’s Division IV
crown).
Glendale News-Press reporter Erik Boal said a Tologs coach told him
that this year’s seniors have 29 losses in their four-year varsity
careers, 21 to the aforementioned big three.
Boal also points out of 187 teams in this year’s girls soccer
playoffs, only two are at-large entries.
So, clearly, the section is not there to accommodate soccer athletes
like they are for basketball. Could this have something to do with the
fact that basketball is a revenue sport and soccer is not?
The more basketball games, and, subsequently, more tickets sold, the
more money rolls into section coffers. The section takes half the gate
receipts from every playoff contest. Since soccer generally does not
charge for playoff games, other than the finals, there is no money to be
made from more early round contests.
Estancia boys basketball coach Chris Sorce said he celebrated the
Sunday morning news that the Eagles had made the playoffs by going on a
short bike ride with 4-year-old son Nicholas.
Sounds like a new superstitious pairings day ritual has been born.
One longtime Orange County boys basketball coach, who does not coach
in the Newport-Mesa District and shall remain nameless, predicted Sunday
that Newport Harbor would upset No. 3-seeded Villa Park in Division II-AA
second round Tuesday.
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