SoCalHoops High CIF Playoff News

LA City Section Invitational Bracket:
First Round Pairings--(Feb. 10, 2001)

The LA City Section coaches and league representatives met early this morning at Manual Arts High School and after much wrangling, jostling for position and even some coin flipping, they agreed on who is in and who's out in the LA City Section "City Championship" and "City Invitational" first round pairings.   The City Championship winner and runner-up advance to the State Southern Regional Tournament and are eligible to win the California State Division I title;  the "Invitational" tournament winner and runner up don't go to the State Tournament. . . The Invitational is reserved for the teams ranked Nos. 17-32 in the City Section, and thus is considered a sort of consolation bracket tournament.  While it used to mean a lot more when the City Section was divided into two different divisions (3A for smaller and not as competitive schools, and 4A for the largest and most competitive schools; and in the even more distant past, more than 10 years ago, the 3A winner and runner up used to be eligible for the Division 2 State playoffs), the distinction between divisions was eliminated entirely two years ago, in favor of the two different playoff brackets and a totally revised league structure without reference to the former "divisions". . .now all teams in City Section are (as they have been for the last 10 years or so) considered Division I for purposes of the State Championship (there's a little known rule which permits a City Section team to declare for D-II, but they have to do it in December, and no one has ever used it as far as we know). . . The Invitational is thus kind of like having an appendix. . .it's there, but no one knows what its significance (if any) is any longer.

In any event, here's the City Invitational Bracket.  The higher seeded team is the home team in the first round, and throughout the playoffs until the finals, which are played on a neutral court. .  All first round games are Friday, February 16, 2001 @ 7:30 p.m. (at least that's the latest information we have. . . if things change we'll correct the information we've been given).

Some notes on the selection process:  Remember, the City Section only guarantees entry into the City Championship for 8 of their 9 leagues, and apparently, many observers, not to mention Ernest Baskerville, the head coach of the Magnet League's No. 1 team, LACES, thought the Magnet got a raw deal.  Not only were they excluded, but based on "strength of league" (which is really the only criteria which was looked at in determining strength of schedule), LACES got a very tough seeding, ranked at No. 14 (really No. 30 overall), only 2 spots above the last two seeded teams, No. 15 Monroe and No. 16 Kennedy.   Oh well, it's still a tournament, a third season, and even if this isn't the most prestigious of the two brackets, it will still be fun seeing who wins.  Other teams that we thought should have been ranked higher within the seeding process here:  Granada Hills, which tied in league with Birmingham, is really a better team than a No. 8 seeding would indicate, and they will have a tough time with Hamilton, which has had to see outrageous competition during league play from teams like Westchester, Fairfax, Venice and Pali. . .

Our thanks to Jack Pollon who covered the City Section bracket selection meeting for us (unlike the Southern Section, media was permitted to observe the meeting). . . We'll have the Invitational bracket posted next. . .

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