Boys Pairings: Damien and Bishop Amat earn fourth seeds while Lutheran No. 2 in 5AA

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For a look at the CIF-SS boys basketball playoff brackets, visit the CIF website

By Fred J. Robledo, Staff Writer
While Damien caught almost everyone by surprise when it advanced to the CIF-Southern Section Division 2A semifinals last year after finishing fifth in the Sierra League, the Spartans are not fooling anyone this time. After finishing second behind highly regarded Chino Hills in the Sierra, Damien (19-7) earned the No. 4 seed in Division 2A when the boys basketball pairings were announced on Sunday. All first-round games are Wednesday at 7 p.m.

The host Spartans will open at home against Mt. Baldy third-place finisher Don Lugo (12-14).
Baldwin Park (22-4), in the midst of one of its best seasons ever, earned the 11th seed and will host Golden No. 2 Eastside (15-10) in the first round of the 2A playoffs. Nogales (16-11) will have a tough first-round game at ninth-seed San Bernardino (20-6).
Miramonte champ Bonita (23-4) is having a great season, but the Bearcats are in the tough Division 3A bracket, where they are only the No. 8 seed, and will host Desert Sky at-large Barstow (10-12) in the first round on.
South Hills (21-3) is also having a terrific season after winning the San Antonio, but the Huskies could do no better than a No. 15 seed, and will host a surprisingly difficult first-round opponent in Garden Grove league runner-up Rancho Alamitos (13-11).
In other 3A first-round games, Charter Oak (19-7) is at Rosamond (18-6); Sierra Vista (13-12) is at No. 9 Golden Valley (22-5) and Mountain View (11-11) is at San Marcos (19-4). Mission Valley champ Rosemead’s (7-10) reward is a home against sixth-seed Campbell Hall (19-7).
San Antonio league runner-up Walnut (13-13) is on the road in the first round of the Div. 1A playoffs against 14th seed El Toro (17-9), with the winner advancing to face top-ranked Chino Hills (25-2) in the second round on Friday.
Sierra at-large Glendora (18-8) is hoping to continue its magic in the playoffs after back-to-back semifinals appearances. The Tartans draw a manageable first-round game at 11th seed Burbank (20-7), which finished second in the Pacific League behind Pasadena.
In 3AA, Miramonte at-large Los Altos (11-16) is at fifth-seed Palm Springs (18-6) while Arroyo (9-13) is at 14th seed Magnolia (16-10).
Montview champ Workman (14-9), behind Bobby Miles-Serrano and his 27 points a game average, are at home in the 4A opener, but have a tough opponent in Mission at-large Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (14-13).
In the 4AA bracket, Del Rey runner-up Bishop Amat (18-8) earned the fourth-seed at will be home against De Anza at-large Desert Hot Springs (13-13).
Also in 4AA, Valle Vista champ San Dimas (18-8) earned the ninth-seed and will be home against Rim of the World (8-17) while league foe and 14th seed Northview (16-11) is home against Tahquitz (14-10).
La Puente (14-9) is at 15th seed Chaminade (10-17); Gladstone (11-12) is at Inglewood (17-8) and South El Monte (12-11) is at No. 10 San Juan Hills (15-12).
In the Division 5AA playoffs, Arrowhead champion La Verne Lutheran (18-8) hopes to earn its third-straight trip to the finals, getting the No. 2 seed and hosting Del Rey at-large St. Bernard (4-22) in the first round.

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  • Tech Support

    Rowland also got an at-large. Will play at Norwalk.

  • BigDog

    Fred
    How can Los Altos get an at large birth over Diamond Ranch.Diamond Ranch schedule was much more difficult then Los Altos or Charter Oak for that matter.It was a down year for DR in boys basketball and we still beat CO and LA in league? Charter Oak played there games against such week teams and there record reflects that.CO and LA will get beat in first round

  • Check Again

    BigDog,

    Unless I am reading the CIFSS schedule incorrectly LA did get the At Large bid (4th) but DRanch is the 3rd team.

  • Explain bracket

    In boys 3A playoffs, Rosemead is a co-champion of Mission Valley League with Gabrielino, and gets a home game against #6 team, Mountain View is second place finisher tied with South El Monte and Mt. View gets a 13th ranked team. Why would a second place finisher play a weaker team than the league co-champ?

  • Explain bracket

    In boys 3A playoffs, Rosemead is a co-champion of Mission Valley League with Gabrielino, and gets a home game against #6 team, Mountain View is second place finisher tied with South El Monte and Mt. View gets a 13th ranked team. Why would a second place finisher play a weaker team than the league co-champ?

  • Explain bracket

    In boys 3A playoffs, Rosemead is a co-champion of Mission Valley League with Gabrielino, and gets a home game against #6 team, Mountain View is second place finisher tied with South El Monte and Mt. View gets a 13th ranked team. Why would a second place finisher play a weaker team than the league co-champ?

  • COChargerfan

    BigDog, you have selective memory pal because you are forgetting that CO and DR split games but CO beat Bonita once in league who I believe was then ranked #6 in our division…and Bonita beat DR twice. DR also lost to Nogales who CO beat by 20 points. Rather than predicting that CO will lose to a team ranked 332nd in Section and 825th in State, I suggest that you worry about DR who is facing a team that has won 16 straight and is ranked 24th in Section and 46th in State…every team can get beat but on paper it looks like DR is the team more likely to go down in flames…

  • Aaron

    I find myself upset with this because Bonita will be playing a team that went 4-8 in league play and finished with a losing season. Everyone knows my opinion about teams with losing records going into the playoffs so how both Los Altos and Diamond Ranch getting to the play is beyond me.

    Good job Bonita and CO.

  • lut fan

    :Trojans should make the finals with a strong test with Buckley in the semis solid pre season did not look good against Price should meet #1 seed Windward in the finals a repeat of last yrs. finals,lets hope the real talented Trojan shows up against Windward best of luck and go Trojans!

  • >>>

    Got to agree with Aaron here.

    LVL is playing a team that is 4-22. Also I think I saw a girls team with ONE win in the tournament. The Athletic Director’s who would submit that wild card paperwork cause me to scratch my head.

    But then again, the 4-22 team is rated higher than CO’s first round opponent – how is that team in 3A??? Their league is rated even lower than LVL’s and we all know how weak that league is!

    CIF has some work to do on this system. 68% of the teams in the playoffs – IMO too many.

  • >>>

    Got to agree with Aaron here.

    LVL is playing a team that is 4-22. Also I think I saw a girls team with ONE win in the tournament. The Athletic Director’s who would submit that wild card paperwork cause me to scratch my head.

    But then again, the 4-22 team is rated higher than CO’s first round opponent – how is that team in 3A??? Their league is rated even lower than LVL’s and we all know how weak that league is!

    CIF has some work to do on this system. 68% of the teams in the playoffs – IMO too many.

  • >>>

    Got to agree with Aaron here.

    LVL is playing a team that is 4-22. Also I think I saw a girls team with ONE win in the tournament. The Athletic Director’s who would submit that wild card paperwork cause me to scratch my head.

    But then again, the 4-22 team is rated higher than CO’s first round opponent – how is that team in 3A??? Their league is rated even lower than LVL’s and we all know how weak that league is!

    CIF has some work to do on this system. 68% of the teams in the playoffs – IMO too many.

  • COChargerfan

    I also agree that there are a lot of teams in the playoffs with marginal records but the cream will rise to the top by Friday night so what’s the harm in allowing a few more kids being able to say they played in a CIF tourney and at the same time let their schools generate a little more money?

  • Spartan

    Look out for Damien with an easy win over Don Lugo this week who they beat by 17 earlier this season. The bracket forms out pretty well for them with Westlake who is undersized and Righetti and San Jacinto who have inflated records based on low competition. It is already looking like Damien versus either Eisenhower or an underrated Mayfair team next friday night.

  • basketballfan

    just wondering how harvard westlake is in 3A didnt’ they play mater dei a couple of years ago in 1AA?

  • AJ

    That must of been in the regular season if Mater Dei played Harvard Westlake because Mater Dei and HW have never been in the same CIF division even in state, you might be thinking of them playing Westlake high school in 07.

    Rough draw for Amat they will be out by the semis max when they play Price.

  • Joe Amat

    basketball fan,

    For a couple years, ending in 2008, CIF tried to enter entire leagues into playoffs and attempted to place leagues according to strength. The basketball version of the Mission League was placed in the highest level 1AA because of the success of Loyola and HW (at the lower levels). In the second round Mater Dei 84 beat Harvard-Westlake 59.

    That experiment was quickly scrapped for the format they use now. Large schools like Kaiser, Patriot and Jurupa Valley, who had little success at their level, dropped all the way down to D4 and advanced deep over tiny private schools like Ontario Christian, Aquinas, Loma Linda Academy, ect.

    Individual schools start at their appropriate enrollment level and earn a point for every playoff win over their past 4 years. For every 5 ots they move up 1/2 a division. That’s why you have a small school like Price that has been successful move up the maximum division and a half into 4AA with some of our valley schools.

    This is a format CIF really likes and have talked internally about other sports like volleyball, soccer, and baseball going to this. It helps the school that is not placed in an appropriate league for whatever reason, and they still can compete against like schools in the playoffs.

  • basketballfan

    thank you joe amat for the education, i have another question – for example last year south hills had to play Ranch Sta Margarita in the second round – how fair is that when these private schools can recruit from all over socal and our public schools cannot – and you know these private schools have many more resources for their athletes too. i know its based on enrollment, but it’s really lopsided…i really feel private schools should have their own separate bracket in all sports i am not knocking private schools, i know there is something unique in a private school education, however i feel playing field should be fair all around.

  • AJ

    Basketball fan i completely understand what you are saying, I am a private school guy(D)but you have to realize most private schools do not recruit like Mater Dei in Basketball and Amat for football their tradition and excellence recruits itself to kids, they do not go out of their way to get kids. I know their is recruiting in some private schools but lets be realistic it happens in public schools too.

    To say that you want an all private schools bracket is absolutely absurd, they are high schools too, and based on enrollment and the current system that is working that is best system, you group teams based on the number of students in the school, not based on if it is private or public. And for you there are just private school leagues like the Trinity and Serra Leagues where all the members of the league are private schools. There are many ways to tackle that issue of a level playing field, but making an all private and all public school divisions is absolutely not the way to go.

  • Joe Amat

    basketballfan,

    All schools, public and private, play under the same rule book and have the same opportunities to promote their program to students who wish to attend – in or out of their attendance area. I do find it somewhat ironic that someone from South Hills questions other schools for getting players from outside their attendance area to play for their athletic teams. We don’t have to go into any details to further illustrate that point I’m sure.

    I always find it funny when folks talk about the “advantages” of private schools. There are more private schools struggling – some just to stay open -than there are thriving like Mater Dei, Santa Margarita, and Amat. For every one of those there is a

    Schools go through cycles and as we always say here – coaching matters. Parichial schools like St Bernards, St Anthony, St Monica, Bosco Tech, Cantwell, Mary Star, St Francis, St Paul, St Genevieve and Salesian have all had horrible sub-10 win seasons recently – and no one is feeling sorry for them. One time national power Verbum dei won 6 games this year….or a Daniel Murphy, Pater Noster, or Pius X that closes altogether.

    It’s not a function of public or private… it’s a function of coaching and commitment to build a quality program. Those who can do -= those who can’t … complain about those that did.

  • COChargerfan

    I second what Joe Amat is saying as open enrollment has allowed the publics to “compete” the same as the privates. Probably the only difference is that the CIF rules allow a little more flexibility for transfers from publics to privates.

    Joe, when I read AJ’s post the first school that came to my mind was Verbum Dei and I actually looked up their record and read that their athletic demise is related to a change in their financial position which caused them to change their mission to focusing on educating the economically disadvantaged kids from the neighborhood…seems the alumni/bosters aren’t real happy about it.

    In the day, they had some of the best high school b-ball teams ever…David Greenwood, Andre Miller and the infamous Ray Lewis. All legends.

  • Joe Amat

    COCF,

    How do “CIF rules allow a little more flexibility for transfers from publics to privates.”?

    I don’t recall seeing separate sections in the Blue Book for public and private. In fact it specifies the transfer rule …

    “… pertains to all public to public, private to private, private to public and/or public to private transfers”

    How are you interpreting this “flexibility”? Because , believe it or not, there is far, far, far (sorry – I had to) more scrutiny.

  • Again, you’re stuck on stupid

    COCF you’ve said some stupid things but “infamous” for Ray Lewis? Think about what you’re saying. He torched so many Pro and HS legends it’s not funny/ He was way ahead of his time and people still speak of Ray in terms afforded very few who ever bounced a basketball. The “infamous” tag is uncalled for and should be assigned men who have done things to hurt others or who have a callousness for human life. Verbum Dei honors Ray Lewis to this day. I’ve seen Verbum Dei players in our gym and know quite a few of them to this day and “infamous” Ray Lewis might not be a phrase that would endear you to them. Maybe the “infamous” tag could be assigned to the Ravens LB who took part in two men losing their lives in a parking lot over stupidness but you clearly have your facts wrong. Raymond Lewis Jr. torched Doug Collins in Rookie camp over and over again and went to have his contract or playing time adjusted, from what they say, he quit- from what Ray says, they sent him home to mature. Either way he was black balled by the powers that be in the NBA because he challenged the pay scale. In every aspect of his game he was far, far superior to any player of his time, and few who saw him, would argue that point. Ask Michael Cooper how many times Ray Lewis abused him, and Ray was past his prime and out of basketball. Except for Summer Pro League where he routinely put up 30, 40 and yes 50 points a night. Now COCF don’t educate me on the use of the “infamous” word, before you know it you’ll say it meant “IN” FAME. What a stupid remark.

  • NEEDS A VACCINATION

    It looks like COCF needs a vaccination for the dreaded hoof in mouth disease. Either that or stay out of the pasture because you seem to be stepping in shiat everytime you venture on the blog.