Star junior guard Lonzo Ball and Chino Hills earned the No. 10 seed in the CIF Southern Section Open Division playoffs. The Huskies led national No. 1 Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) by 14 points in the first half of a January tournament game before falling.
Photo by Nick Koza
The CIF Southern Section Open Division playoffs begin Thursday in California.
The 16-team affair (
see complete bracket here) attracts elite programs from around the high school basketball hotbed of Los Angeles.
We aren't overstating the "elite" part. According to the
MaxPreps Freeman Rankings (computer-generated), the lowest national ranking for any program in the field is No. 311 – meaning all 16 teams are in the top 0.0155 percent of the 20,047 high school basketball squads listed.
"Hearing that statistic reinforces what every coach is feeling," Tyrone Nichols of No. 3 seed
Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth) said.
The Open Division may be the toughest postseason bracket anywhere across the country in high school basketball.
"Any one of the 16 teams can win it," Nichols said. "I know there are probably favorites, but every team has a couple of superstars, every team has good role players and every team is going to be well-coached and prepared.
"I think this is unlike anything high school basketball has seen."
Seven different teams have been ranked in the Top 25 nationally by MaxPreps this season. No. 8 Sierra Canyon and No. 21
Bishop Montgomery (Torrance) both occupy a spot in this week's rankings.
Bishop Montgomery earned the Open Division's top seed and was "rewarded" with a first round matchup against 24-1
J.W. North (Riverside).
Ten teams are among the Top 100 in the Freeman computer rankings, including four-time defending state champ
Mater Dei (Santa Ana),
Centennial (Corona),
Damien (La Verne) and
Long Beach Poly.
At least 35 players who will take the floor are being recruited at the Division I level or have already delivered a commitment/signed.
Notre Dame signee
Rex Pflueger of Mater Dei, UCLA verbals
Lonzo Ball of
Chino Hills and
Kobe Paras of
Cathedral (Los Angeles), Oregon State-bound
Stephen Thompson Jr. of Bishop Montgomery and future SMU Mustang
Sedrick Barefield of Centennial are among the headliners.
Elimination from the Open Division bracket doesn't mean the season is over, as California's section playoffs send multiple teams to the state tournament. Teams that win in the first round stay on the championship side of the bracket and the next loss means they are out of the section tournament. Teams that lose in the opening round go to the consolation side of the bracket and are eliminated with another loss. There is a consolation title game in addition to the championship title game.
CIF Southern Section Open Division seeding(Seed) School – MaxPreps Freeman Ranking(1)
Bishop Montgomery (Torrance) – 12
(2)
Mater Dei (Santa Ana) – 9
(3)
Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth) – 8
(4)
Centennial (Corona) – 18
(5)
Damien (La Verne) – 35
(6)
Etiwanda – 147
(7)
Long Beach Poly – 36
(8)
Redondo Union (Redondo Beach) – 49
(9)
Cathedral (Los Angeles) – 98
(10)
Chino Hills – 311
(11)
Cantwell-Sacred Heart (Montebello) – 283
(12)
Orange Lutheran (Orange) – 63
(13)
Alemany (Mission Hills) – 97
(14)
St. John Bosco (Bellflower) – 197
(15)
Price (Los Angeles) – 146
(16)
J.W. North (Riverside) – 265
