This is the third year the CCAA will be having a conference tournament to determine its automatic playoff qualifier. One would think by now the folks in that office would have the seeding process down. I guess that is asking too much.
The position CCAA officials put some of the teams in because they didn’t have their act together is inexcusable. There always seems to be a tie somehwere between multiple teams, usually three or more. Maybe they should be prepared. No one seems to know what the tiebreaker is or how it is applied. That should be ironed out beforehand and all the teams should know the deal.
So the women’s games all get finished on Friday and there is a four-way tie for seventh between Cal State San Bernardino, Cal State Dominguez HIlls, Cal State Stanislaus and Sonoma State – all at 9-13. Two are getting in and two are not.
The first word comes down at 7:30 p.m, or so. The Coyotes are in., The first tiebreaker being their 4-2 record against the other three they are tied with. Two others are 3-3 and the other at 2-4.
Whoops! Not so fast. Word comes down about an hour later, they’re not in. That tiebreaker was used to eliminate one team – Stanislaus. But now there’s a three-way tie and after that tiebreaker the Coyotes are out. Supposedly that tiebreaker is record against teams in the tournament. The Coyotes were 1-11 and the other three teams 2-12. That’s laughable because all the teams play the same number of games. So they can’t even add.
And usually when tiebreakers come into play you work your way down. Decide the No. 7, then apply a tiebreaker for No. 8. Not eliminate one, then eliminate another. In that case the Coyotes win the first tiebreaker but don’t get rewarded. How is that fair?
So Cal State athletic director Kevin Hatcher places a call to get lobby for his school. He said calls were then placed to the basketball liasons who happen to be reps from Chico State and Sonoma. They confirm that he is indeed right. One more call goes out to the CCAA President who is from UC San Diego. He agrees too.
So it’s 10 p.m. and the Coyotes are back in . . . at least for the moment.
Dominguez and Sonoma State are in the hunt for the final berth and are even on every other criteria . . whatever that may be. That spot is decided on a coin flip. A coin flip! Dominguez is in.
I feel bad for all the schools involved that those who run the conference can’t get it right! Even the teams not directly involved were victims. Cal Poly Pomona coach Scott Davis spent two hours after his game, preparing for Dominguez Hills because that is who he was first told he was playing. Then he finds out he’ll be playing the Coyotes, only because he got a text from one of his players who got a text from a player she knows from San Bernardino.
Two years ago on the men’s side there was a four-way tie for first and a four-way tie for fifth. They didn’t get that right either. One would think they learned from that. Apparently not!
For what it’s worth here is the rundown on Tuesdays’ quarterfinal games . . .
WOMEN
No. 8 Dominguez Hills at No. 1 UC San Diego
No. 7 San Bernardino at No. 2 Cal Poly Pomona, 5:30 p.m.
No. 6 San Francisco at No. 3 Chico State
No. 5 Monterey Bay at No. 4 Humboldt State
MEN
No. 8 Cal State L.A. at No. 1 Cal Poly Pomona, 7:30 p.m.
No. 7 Sonoma State at No. 2 Humboldt State
No. 6 San Francisco at No. 3 San Bernardino, 7 p.m.
No. 5 Chico State at No. 4 Dominguez Hills
