southern section division I AA & IA placements for 2000

With the impending start of the "real" high school season today (ok, so some leagues already started in December. . . ) , given the large number of misconceptions we see about which divisions each school in the Southern Section is really in, we thought we'd try to clear this up once and for all. League competition has nothing to do with "Divisions", and in the Southern Section, more often than not, you'll find leagues with teams from two, sometimes three and possibly even four different playoff divisions.

The playoffs and the brackets which will be announced on Sunday morning, February 13, 2000 may seem like a long way off, but it's only six weeks from now. When that happens, based largely upon league finish and placement (in a five or six team league, the top three go, in a seven or eight team league, it's the top four), the only thing that will then matter is what division each school will be competing in so that the competition can be assessed. That's why "divisions" are important. It's only about the playoffs, nothing more and nothing less. Of course throughout the season there are polls put out by SCIBCA (the Southern California Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Assn.), which rank the top 10 teams in each of the Divisions, and while the poll is nice for everyone's ego during the season, it's real importance is in helping to determine seeding for the playoffs. So, Division standing does have importance even during the regular league season. . .

In order to get a real idea though of where each team fits in the grand scheme of things, you have to know about the Divisions. Forget everything you know about "leagues," we're talking playoffs here. The CIF published Southern Section Division lists in late November, 1999, before the "move up" date (December 15 was the last day when schools could opt to "move-up" from their regular enrollment division, or elect to stay where their enrollment kept them), and thus, this is the "early" list, and it's possible that some of these schools listed will in fact move up into a higher enrollment division (i.e., like Artesia, which is really II-A, but which moves up each year to D-IAA) or stay put. It's also important to note that when a school moves up a full division, it must play in the higher end of the new division. In other words, a jump from II-A to I, requires that the school play in I-AA not I-A).

In any event, we'll post the lists up alphabetically, rather than by enrollment figures (the CIF sent us two different lists, but alphabetical is the only really useful one for our purposes). If we miss a school, or there's one missing from the list, well, blame the CIF Southern Section office not us. We don't make 'em up, we just report them

We'll start with Division I-A and I-AA. Overall, D-I has schools with enrollments of 1500 and above. Ony in the Southern Section are there two subdivisions within the Division, and that's just because of the large number of teams. The theory has been that more opportunity for more teams, will equal greater satisfaction, more self-esteem for more student athletes, and a greater chance to make money for the CIF and the schools with the increased playoff receipts. In short, everyone wins, and in fact, there's a push to create three divisions in D-I, D-II and D-V in order to give even more players the chance to play in the playoffs. Some say that it will "water down" the resulting titles, but those who say that are becoming voices in the wilderness. We're willing to bet that by next year you'll see even more divisions than the presently existing 9 (actually down from 10 because D-III was combined into a single division this year). The exact mechanics for entries into the State Tournament will need to be worked out, but by and large, we think it's probably a great idea, whose time is long overdue. There are more teams in Division I alone than in most other Sections of the CIF (e.g., more than all of San Diego, Central, North Coast, Northern, etc), and to allow only 32 teams to compete in post season play when in these other sections virtually half the teams compete is, to many, not what the sport is all about.

Ah, but we digress. . . . In any event, Division IAA is for schools with enrollments of 1785 and up, and I-A is for 1500 to 1784, at least for this year. . . and keep in mind these are statewide numbers, i.e., 1500 is the D-I number across California. By the way, the enrollment figures used are those from last year, not the 1999-2000 enrollment figures, at least that's what the CIF said they were going to use back in October, and we think that's what they've done. Why the SS-CIF office chose to do that probably has more to do with economics and getting the divisions set early more than anything else. Anyway, here's Southern Section Division I:

Division I-AA	Enrollment		Division I-A	Enrollment
Alhambra Aliso Niguel Alta Loma Arcadia Arroyo Grande Ayala Bell Gardens Camarillo Canyon Springs Capistrano Valley Century Chaffey Channel Islands Chino Coachella Valley Colton Crescenta Valley Dana Hills Diamond Bar Downey Eisenhower El Rancho El Toro Esperanza Etiwanda Fontana Fountain Valley Glendale Glendora Hawthorne Highland Hoover Irvine Jordan Lakewoood Leuzinger Los Alamitoos Lynwood AB Miller Millikan Moontclair Montebello Murrieta Valley Ontario Oxnard Paramount Peninsula Long Beach Poly Rancho Cucamonga Redlands Redlands East Valley Rialto Righetti Rio Mesa Rowland Saddleback San Clemente San Gabriel San Gorgonio Santa Ana Santa Ana Valley Santa Maria Santa Moonica Schurr Temecula Valley Upland Valencia--Valencia Valley View Warren Westminster Long Beach Wilson Yucaipa	2297 1803 2219 2675 2064 2643 2002 1979 1917 2171 1877 2365 2016 1898 1918 1863 1795 1977 2141 1885 2306 2180 1872 2088 2556 3164 2067 2618 1865 2357 2081 2337 1974 2584 2902 1890 2072 2704 2462 2277 2034 1870 1910 2073 2169 2529 2190 3427 2062 2001 2025 2108 1865 1810 1955 2006 1785 1845 1954 2235 1971 2276 2281 2179 2014 2378 1858 1970 1916 1843 3350 1888		Anaheim Apple Valley Arlington Arroyo Baldwin Park Beverly Hills Buena Burbank LB Cabrillo Cajon Calexico California Caynon--Canyon Country Centennial--Corona Cerritos Claremont Corona Damien Don Lugo Edison El Dorado Garey Hart Hueneme Huntington Beach Indio Juripa Valley Katella Kennedy La Mirada La Sierra Lancaster Loara Loyola Marina Mark Keppel Mater Dei Mira Costa Mission Viejo Moreno Valley Noogales North, JW North Torrance Orange Pacific Palm Springs Palmdale Perris Poly--Riverside Quartz Hills Rancho Verde Royal Rubidoux San Marcos Santa Barbara Santa Fe Santiago--Corona Saugus Silverado Simi Valley St. John Bosco Sultana Sunny Hills Thousand Oaks Trabuco Hills Troy University Ventura Victor Vallley Villa Park Walnut West Covina Woodbridge	1660 1529 1740 1573 1568 1535 1581 1590 1668 1703 16174 1560 1649 1688 1670 1643 1684 1566 1743 1691 1513 1502 1742 1728 1637 1744 1722 1596 1518 1558 1506 1609 1547 1720 1660 1558 1547 1559 1592 1756 1715 1716 1514 1595 1641 1663 1612 1503 1589 1577 1530 1733 1578 1515 1552 1546 1619 1616 1677 1735 1584 1617 1676 1753 1671 1582 1718 1679 1515 1504 1758 1743 1569