tournament 10 wins

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SoCalHoops High School News

CIF Says 10 Wins For Playoffs. . .
But Just For This Season--(Feb. 3, 2000)

A lot has been written about the fact that the CIF determined this year, in mid-season, to permit any team with 10 wins into the playoffs. The reason stated was the large numbers of teams with more than 10 wins, deserving teams from Division I and V, the two largest divisions within the Section, which might not make the playoffs without some form of modified brackets this season. Recall that without the changes, last year only the top teams in a league receive automatic berths (in a four team league only the top two teams, in a five or six team league the top three, and in a seven or eight team league--and yes there are more than a few of those--the top four teams go).

No problem you say? Well, tell that to teams in Divisions I and V that had more than 17 or 18 wins last year, but didn't finish high enough in their league. "At large " entry you say? Forget it. Why?

Because in Divisions I and V there were more than enough teams which received "automatic" league qualifying berths to make up a 32 team bracket. Lots of large leagues, with many 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place teams, in fact too many for four 32 team brackets. So the Section had to resort to "wild card" games between the 3rd and 4th place finishers in leagues just to thin the ranks and get the brackets down to manageable size. The winners of these "wild card" games were then placed into the regular bracket. But there was no room for "at-large" berths in those divisions, so a lot of good, and probably deserving teams, got to stay home.

And this year, the Southern Section was headed down the same road. Late in the fall though a small push was made by some coaches involved in the Section, in order to attempt a reclassification of the Divisions, to split D-I and D-V (and possibly even D-II) into not just two subdivisions (AA and A) but into three (by also adding AAA). The reasoning was that would allow more teams to contend for yet another championship, make more money for the schools and the CIF, and allow more teams to participate, which is, after all, the goal of high school sports.

But either because of the sheer size and the problems inherent in coming up with a workable plan in such a short time, or the fact that the Section couldn't receive timely State CIF approval for this season, or the fact that Dr. Harold Cebrun, the now-resigned assistant commissioner for basketball just didn't agree with the concept or didn't want to make a change knowing he was leaving, or due to any number of other reasons, no division reorganization was accomplished.

So, for this season, the same problems existed. Teams ranked in the CIF polls, highly ranked teams (e.g., Montclair Prep) might not make the playoffs because they would fail to get an automatic spot and there would be no "at large" spots.

But just when all hope had gone out the window for schools in this position, in strode Hal Harkness, the new interim assistant commissioner. Now this guy gets things done. Want into the playoffs? Great. Just win 10 games and file a petition. You're in. As Harkness said last week, "If a team files a petition, we'll put them into the tournament."

Is this a good thing? On balance, we think so. Teams are in leagues for various reasons, most having nothing to do with whether they will or won't make the playoffs. Some are in leagues for geographic reasons. Some leagues have existed for years and years, and traditional rivalries have built up. Some teams are so competitive that even if a team tried to leave and join another league, no one would want them. Non-competitive teams? Who wants anyone else's castoffs? No one wants to weaken a league. . . And besides, league competition, with teams from different divisions due to enrollment classification of the playoffs, actually has little to do with what teams are likely to compete against each other in the playoffs anyway. . . Is it fair that a team which plays in D-VAA competes in a league against mostly D-IV or D-III teams, is competitive, and would kick any other D-V team's collective butt doesn't make the playoffs because of a leaguing decision made 10 or 20 years ago?

There are, as always, no easy answers and there are more than a few sides to this argument. "Don't dilute the playoffs", some say. "Championships don't mean anything" other say. Hey, tell that to the team and the kids who win a 32 team bracket and qualify for the State Tournament. . . .

In Steve Fryer's column this past week in the Orange County Register, Harkness made it clear that the decision to go with the "10 Win" rule is just for this season. As Fryer noted, "Harkness emphasized that the 10-and-you're-in plan has been adopted only for this season and out of necessity. The Southern Section hopes the CIF State office will reconfigure its enrollment-based playoff alignments so that this won't be repeated in future basketball seasons."

And the move to reconfiguration is likely to pick up steam because there are many critics of the "new" 10 win rule. Like Dave Desmond, who wrote a very funny, tongue-in-cheek, but only half-kidding piece about the 10 win rule in this morning's Valley Edition of the LA Times. Here's some of what Dave Desmond had to say:

Now It's Dial 10 to Get Into Playoffs

DAVE DESMOND, Times Staff Writer

News item: The Southern Section announced last week that any team with 10 victories will qualify for the boys' and girls' basketball playoffs. Some time this spring, a Division I basketball coach will emerge from his office and triumphantly declare that he has just scheduled his 10th nonleague game against a tiny Division V-A school. Players will dogpile in the quad, thrusting their fists to the air while yelling, "We're No. 1!"

Why wait for something as anticlimactic as winning a league championship? Celebrate now. You're postseason-bound.

The playoffs are now within the grasp of any large-school team that can reach for a Southern Section phone directory. The magic number just became whatever seven digits connect you to an athletic director at a school half your size. Scheduling will be more important than practice. Just call and line up the 10 tiniest schools you can find, beat them into submission and go to the playoffs. Don't worry about where you finish in league. It doesn't matter anymore. In fact, don't even show up for league games.

It would be senseless to get a starter injured while playing a meaningless league game. You've already clinched a berth with those hard-fought victories at the La Verne Lutheran tournament. Just win 10, baby. That's the only requirement. Doesn't matter who they're against. If a school with 3,000 students wants to set up a home-and-away series with every member of the tiny Westside League, so be it. The Southern Section might even reward you with a home game in the first round. Southern Section: "Congratulations, School XYZ. Based on your victories over Pacific Christian, Mesrobian and the rest of the International League, you will host the Marmonte League champions in the Division I-AA playoffs." No need to fight over these patsies, everyone. From the Academy of Academic Excellence in Anaheim to Zinsmeyer Academy in Long Beach, there's plenty to go around for everyone desiring a cheap date to the dance.

Any time more than 10 teenagers stand together for more than 15 minutes, the Southern Section declares it a Division V-A school and charges a membership fee. More than 100 boys' and girls' teams from the region won 10 or more games last season without the motivation of earning an automatic playoff spot. About half of them made the playoffs. The Southern Section says the expanded format was necessitated by the dearth of Division I and V teams. Instead of turning away a team worthy of playoff inclusion, it figured it could let everyone in and sort things out later. Remaking the divisions would be too difficult and would cause problems when teams get to the state playoffs. This way, almsot everyone is rewarded, whether deserving or not.

No one has to do any hard math, a bunch of 10-18 teams get to be pummeled in first-round and wild-card games and the section office gets a cut of more gate receipts. Of course, we have to make things a little more equitable for the helpless teams that will line the path to playoff glory. There are precedents. About 10 years ago, Highland Hall, enrollment 65, was invited to play in the Hart boys' tournament. In exchange for total submission, the tournament agreed to waive Highland Hall's entry fee. Hart got a 16th team to round out its tournament bracket, two teams got 70-point victories and Highland Hall received a free basketball clinic. Everyone was happy.

But I urge all the small schools to drive a much harder bargain. After all, you hold in your hands the fate of several desperate Division I, II, III and IV teams. Demand half the gate receipts. Maybe more. Make the big schools dress in the visitors' locker room . . . and insist on a free meal, in addition to the lunch they're about to hand you. As far as deals go, that might be the "Perfect 10."

Very funny. Except someone forgot to tell Desmond that the scheduling phenomenon he describes just didn't happen this year because the "10-win" rule didn't come into effect until midway through the season, in fact until midway through the league competition, long after any games were scheduled. Of course, he's right that if the rule stays in effect through next season (and how many times have we seen organizations say, "it's just temporary" only to have a stop-gap measure institutionalize?) a lot of coaches will be looking for those 10 wins through soft early-season scheduling, so they are guaranteed a playoff spot before league competition even begins.

Which is why we think the CIF will clearly announce, in a very formal, institutional way (you know, like one of those "press releases" or "memos to schools") that the 10-win rule is just being used this season, and it won't be implemented (or at least that coaches should not count on it) for next year. And for those coaches tempted to just look for 10 easy wins (and no, we're not going to take any cheap shots at Highland Hall or Zinsmeyer, or Orange Lutheran like some people. . . ), consider that those who do the seeding still look at strength of scheduling and overall how good a team really is. Sure, if you just want a "one and out" playoff experience and don't want to prepare a team for a competitive season, then what Dave Desmond suggests might not be so far off the mark. But we don't think we'll see a lot of that happening. And neither does Harkness.

In fact, he believes that teams which are not terribly competitive won't even file a petition to gain entry into the playoffs this season. As Fryer noted in his column:

A team could have a 2-8 league record, but if it has 10 or more overall victories, it can petition for an at-large berth and that petition will be accepted, according to CIF-SS interim assistant commissioner Hal Harkness. "This might dilute the tournament," Harkness said, "but we're still going to do it." . . . . He predicts that fifth-place teams that are 10-16 will be judicious in determining if they really are of playoff quality and will decide against petitioning for an at-large berth. "We would expect that to happen," Harkness said. And we hope so.

So do we.