I'm perusing the State Southern Regional basketball pairings on the boys' Division I level and there are going to be some rock 'em, sock 'em matchups as soon as Monday night.
As expected, L.A. City champion Taft got the No. 1 overall seed and Dominguez (which has lost twice, both times to Taft) was No. 2 in the 16-team bracket that gets underway Monday, and then continues Tuesday and Thursday night on the higher seeds' home floor, and wraps up in the L.A Sports with the title game at 8 p.m. Saturday.
The best of the Monday night games: L.A. Fremont (L.A. City semifinalist) at Riverside Martin Luther King (Southern Section IA champion), Hemet West Valley (SS IIIA champion) at San Diego (San Diego champion) and Perris (SS IIIA runner-up) at Fairfax (L.A. City runner-up).
Projected second-round games on Tuesday: Clovis East at Taft, Martin Luther King at Westchester, Etiwanda at Fairfax and West Valley at Dominguez.
Best individual matchups on Monday night: Paul George (Palmdale Knight) vs. Jordan Hamilton (Dominguez), Michael Snaer (Moreno Valley Rancho Verde) vs. Jared Dubois (Westchester) and Robert Smith (Perris) vs. Chris Solomon (Fairfax).
Chino Hills (which lost to MLK in the SS IA semifinal) apparently got the last of the Southern Section's eight Div. I bids instead of Long Beach Wilson, which surprised many by advancing to the IAA semifinals, where the Bruins lost to Mater Dei, 70-61.
Not surprisingly, Trinity League powers Mater Dei and Santa Margarita were the No. 1 seeds in the Divisions II and III, respectively, while Campbell Hall got the top slot in Div. IV and L.A. Price (smacked silly by Campbell Hall in the Southern Section IIIA title game Saturday, is the top seed in V.
Hardest seeding figure: How Westchester (with four losses, including one to Fairfax in the L.A. City semifinals) was seeded fourth while MLK (which won its championship and lost only to Dominguez and Mater Dei, the two best teams in the Southern Section, this season) was fifth.
Assuming both win Monday night, Westchester's better seed means it will face MLK at home. That is a huge advantage, although Tim Sweeney Jr.'s team is certainly capable of beating the Comets outside of the Riverside County limits.
Mater Dei is likely to face Fresno Edison in the Div. II final Saturday at 4 o'clock in the Sports Arena. Mater Dei twins Travis and David Wear would then face a Pump-N-Run traveling team buddy of theirs, 6-9 junior Greg Smith.
Valley Christian, the Southern Section's IVA winner Friday night, drew the third seed in Div. IV and plays host to Fresno San Joaquin Memorial (the Central Section winner) Tuesday night.
If the Crusaders prevail, then it's (probably) on to San Diego Horizon High to face the San Diego champion, which is led by 7-foot Best in the West selection and Arizona-bound, Jeff Withey.
Should Coach Bryan Branderhorst's crew win that one, guess who (barring an upset of something-beyond stunning magnitudes) would be waiting for the Crusaders in the 7 o'clock Saturday night final at Mater Dei High?
Jrue Holiday and his buddies on the Campbell Hall team.
It's going to be an interesting week . . .
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