California Southern Section Open Division bracket features four of the nation’s Top 10 high school basketball teams

No. 2 Sierra Canyon, No. 3 Chino Hills, No. 5 Mater Dei and No. 9 Bishop Montgomery to battle it out beginning Friday for section title.

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Feb 13, 2017, 4:00pm
Video: CIF Southern Section Open Division preview
Four of the nation's Top 10 teams vying for same section title.

High school basketball's toughest postseason bracket won't even result in a state champion being crowned.

California's Southern Section Open Division Championships tip Friday with four of the Top 10 teams in this week's High School Top 25 in the field and 11 of the Top 100 nationally if you buy into the computer rankings.

See the bracket: CIF Southern Section Open Division Championships

The top seed is national No. 2 Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth), who enters 25-1 behind junior star Marvin Bagley III and a talented senior contingent that includes future UCLA Bruin Cody Riley and guards Remy Martin and Adam Seiko. The Trailblazers are 106-14 over the past four years but have come up short of the ultimate prize in California.

No. 3 Chino Hills is 27-1 and averaging 102.9 points per game. The Huskies – led by brothers LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball – are the defending section, state and national champions.
Chino Hills and Mater Dei have some recent history, including a section playoff meeting a year ago and this game in the final of the Tarkanian Classic in December. Chino Hills won both contests.
Chino Hills and Mater Dei have some recent history, including a section playoff meeting a year ago and this game in the final of the Tarkanian Classic in December. Chino Hills won both contests.
Photo by Nicholas Koza
Then there is No. 5 Mater Dei (Santa Ana), perhaps the most storied program in state history and an 11-time state champion under head coach Gary McKnight. The already-talented Monarchs got a big lift in January when junior 7-footer Bol Bol was granted eligibility. He's averaging over 19 points and nine rebounds per game.

Finally, No. 9 Bishop Montgomery (Torrance) hasn't lost to a High School Top 25-eligible team since November. The Knights are 23-2 with 20 of those wins coming by 20 points or more.

It's likely that at least four teams from the Southern Section Open Division bracket will advance to the Southern California Regional bracket, which feeds into the North vs. South state championship game.

The quality in the bracket goes far beyond the top four. See the breakdown below of where all 16 participants are ranked nationally.

MaxPreps Computer Ranking for CIF-SS Open Division participants
Where they stand nationally out of 19,789 teams meeting minimum games requirement.
No. 1 – Chino Hills
3 – Mater Dei
4 – Sierra Canyon
11 – Bishop Montgomery
12 – Alemany (Mission Hills)
27 – Esperanza (Anaheim)
34 – Santa Margarita (Rancho Santa Margarita)
37 – Damien (La Verne)
52 – Redondo Union (Redondo Beach)
61 – Roosevelt (Eastvale)
72 – Centennial (Corona)
102 – Long Beach Poly (Long Beach)
152 – Oak Park
312 – Crossroads (Santa Monica)
318 – Heritage Christian (Northridge)
607 – JSerra Catholic (San Juan Capistrano)

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