SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 9: Archbishop Mitty’s Aidan Burke (15) dribbles towards Archbishop Riordan’s Marcellus Edwards (5) within the first quarter at Archbishop Mitty Excessive Faculty in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Space Information Group)
Acquainted groups, new format
Because it has completed since 2013, the CCS positioned its high groups within the Open Division. The Archbishop Mitty boys are again to defend their title. The Pinewood ladies are again to defend theirs, too. Pinewood has appeared in seven consecutive Open finals, successful final June after 5 runner-up finishes to Mitty and one to Sacred Coronary heart Cathedral. The Mitty boys are aiming for a sixth Open title and third in a row. However this season they’ll should do it in a brand new format. Conventional win-and-advance brackets have been changed by pool play. There are nonetheless eight groups within the division, however the groups are actually separated into two swimming pools of 4. Every group will play the opposite three groups in its pool as soon as, with the pool winners advancing to the championship sport at Kaiser Enviornment in Santa Cruz on Feb. 25. “Hey, it’s a brand new problem,” Mitty coach Tim Kennedy stated after his boys group clinched the West Catholic Athletic League title final week. “It’s one thing new. It’s thrilling. I don’t know what to consider it. I’ll wait until it comes out. We’re going to make the perfect of it. You’ve obtained to win to maintain advancing.” As a result of each Open group qualifies for the NorCal regionals, groups that misplaced within the first spherical of the earlier format performed a comfort sport in hopes of staying sharp whereas ready for NorCals to start. Now they gained’t have to do this. “I'll say that a few of the suggestions that we obtained from a few of our member colleges, particularly from the groups that have been possibly 6, 7 and eight seeds perennially, was that they have been sitting round, didn’t have a big sport after that first sport,” CCS commissioner Dave Grissom stated. “Particularly on the ladies’ facet, once they have been taking part in a few groups and there have been some lopsided scores and I believe some individuals had blended emotions about comfort video games. This can be a playoff construction that they use down in Southern California and I believe that our basketball committee simply felt overwhelmingly that this was a step in a greater route for the general well-being of the Open Division normally.”
- CCS basketball schedule: Boys, ladies first-round video games
Why Santa Cruz for Open finals?
Final spring, the highest seeds within the CCS basketball playoffs hosted video games via the finals, even within the Open Division. This season, the part has discovered a impartial web site for its Open championship video games that's geared up to deal with bigger crowds in a COVID local weather. The Open finals, which historically have been the most well liked ticket, are scheduled to be performed on Feb. 25 at Kaiser Permanente Enviornment in Santa Cruz. “Three weeks in the past we have been going, ‘Holy smokes, are we going to have anyone at our video games?’” Grissom stated. “Now issues are beginning to open up and our children are nonetheless taking part in. I believe we’re giving them a greater expertise than we did a 12 months in the past. I’m excited that our children get to play and I believe it’s going to be a very optimistic expertise for our student-athletes within the part.” The commissioner added, “Kaiser Permanente Enviornment is located and so they’ve completed COVID vaccine checks and testing protocols with the Santa Cruz Warriors, so that they’re ready to do this for us. So it’s somewhat extra seamless for us to do this one impartial web site at Kaiser Permanente.”
How did an 8-16 group make the boys Open?
It’s not a shock that the West Catholic Athletic League includes practically the whole lot of entries within the boys’ Open Division. However why did Valley Christian, a group that misplaced 11 of its final 12 video games, squeeze into the combination because the No. 8 seed? The Warriors (8-16) possess a WCAL résumé boosted by victory on the street towards No. 7 seed Bellarmine, a house win over No. 5 seed Serra, an extra time loss towards the Bells and an impressive-enough 54-50 loss at top-seeded Mitty within the regular-season finale. It was sufficient to get a vote of confidence over the remainder of the candidates, who ended up as No. 1 seeds within the different brackets. D-I Carlmont (15-7); D-II Pioneer (17-7); D-III Santa Cruz (19-5); D-IV Palma (18-4); D-V Woodside Priory (13-11). “It’s not an software course of,” Grissom stated. “It’s seeded subjectively, and the conversations within the room have been, ‘Who're the perfect eight groups in CCS?’ There was a reasonably full of life debate and dialog about who they have been and I believe it’s truthful to say that the WCAL rep felt fairly strongly that Valley Christian belonged in that group. There was plenty of dialog a few particular participant and whether or not that participant can be eligible, however actually it boils right down to the groups and the general physique of their work. The fact is that this, the WCAL is our greatest league and that’s not shut, I believe. And the committee felt like they have been the eighth group.” The one non-WCAL group within the bracket is No. 2 seed Sacred Coronary heart Prep (21-3), the outright West Bay Athletic League champion. Whereas the Gators misplaced 59-51 to Bellarmine on Dec. 18, SHP defeated No. 6 St. Francis in the future earlier and No. 3 Archbishop Riordan the earlier week. “These issues spoke fairly extremely in regards to the high quality of the group that they've,” Grissom stated.
Pinewood’s solely loss comes at a price
Greater than three months in the past, in solely the third sport of the common season, Pinewood misplaced 59-54 at dwelling to St. Ignatius. The Panthers (19-1) haven’t tasted defeat since, and a rematch towards SI is scheduled for subsequent Wednesday in San Francisco in Pool B of the ladies’ Open Division. That’s as a result of the Wildcats (16-7), despite back-to-back losses to shut out their common season, earned the No. 2 seed over Pinewood largely to their head-to-head assembly. “That was actually taken under consideration,” Grissom stated. In the meantime, the one public college groups which are assured spots within the NorCal playoffs are No. 7 Palo Alto (20-2) and No. 8 Half Moon Bay (20-4) — champions within the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League and Peninsula Athletic League, respectively. “The fact is that this, it’s completed the identical method because the boys,” Grissom stated. “They put the physique of labor of all these groups up on the board after which they choose who're the perfect eight groups.”
Successful data are usually not essential
Eighteen boys and 13 ladies groups will enter the playoffs with extra losses than wins. To qualify, groups needed to end with a minimum of a .500 document in non-league video games or inside their very own league. The one undefeated group — KIPP, which went 10-0 — is the tenth and lowest seed in boys Division IV. There are 4 one-loss groups among the many ladies, led by Mitty’s 23-1. The others are Pinewood, Hillsdale and Harker.