L.A. Times prep legend Eric Sondheimer pointed out in a recent article that 17 of 20 teams that participated in last week’s state basketball finals in Sacramento were private schools. It raises the age-old argument of whether public and private schools should have separate playoff divisions. I always have maintained that the CIF-Southern Section playoffs should separate public vs. private, simply because public and private schools have a far different set of rules in terms of acquiring students. Public schools must take players from within certain geographic boundaries, whereas private school boundaries are limitless. Because of this, enrollment figures don’t mean anything. I’m sure Cal Poly Pomona has more students than Duke, but that doesn’t give them an advantage. Maybe a bad example, but you get the point. There are several other differences, some of which cancel each other out in a debate, but the bottom line is the playing field isn’t level. The only time public and private should meet in the postseason is during the state playoffs, because as a fan, at this point I do want to watch the best-of-the best go at it to crown a true state champion. But in the CIF-SS playoffs, public schools deserve to face public schools in divisions where enrollment and school boundaries should mean something. Plus it might help heal the animosity some public school coaches have with private school powerhouses. The system is what’s at fault here, not the powerhouses. In this week’s CIF press release, the Southern Section sent out statistical data of how private schools have done in CIF-SS championships over the past ten years …

From CIF
CIF-SS private school basketball championship results over the past ten years.
Boys
– 60 titles won out of a possible of 106 (57%)
– 31 different private schools have won titles over that time (15% of all private schools)
– 15 of those schools have won multiple titles (48% of the 31 and 7% of all private schools)
– 7 of those schools have won more than 3 titles during that time (23% of the 31 and 3% of the private school membership)
– 47 of the 60 private school titles have come in Division 3A or below (78%).
– In 2011, 128 schools of the 208 total schools in those divisions were private (61%).

Girls
– 57 titles won out of a possible of 106 (57%)
– 33 different private schools have won titles over that ti me (16% of all private schools)
– 17 of those schools have won multiple titles (51% of the 31 and 8% of all private schools)
– 4 of those schools have won more than 3 titles during that time (12% of the 31 and 2% of the private
school membership)
– 45 of the 57 private school titles have come in Division 3A or below (79%).
– In 2011, 113 schools of the 192 total schools in those divisions were private (59%).