Coaches sometimes ask, “What can we do to keep out of the Open Division?”
Lose a lot, is the answer.
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The first in-season CIF-Southern Section boys basketball poll was released Monday. Included in the rankings was the Open Division “watch list.” The watch list names the teams that are considered early candidates to be selected for the Open Division. Seven of the 35 teams on the watch list are Orange County teams.
The Open Division is the section’s elite, and toughest, division. What the CIF-SS office calls a “Blue Ribbon” committee selects the teams that will go into the Open Division when the playoffs begin Feb. 15. The committee is composed of current and former representatives of the CIF-SS Executive Committee, the CIF-SS Basketball Coaches Advisory Committee, the Southern California Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association’s Executive Board, the CIF State Basketball Coaches Advisory Committee and media members.
Up to 16 teams will be selected to the Open Division. The committee can select fewer teams for the Open Division, but since the Open Division began a couple of season ago it has had a 16-team bracket.
The seven Orange County teams on Monday’s watch list are Edison, Esperanza, Mater Dei, Saddleback Valley Christian, Santa Margarita, Sonora and Villa Park.
Teams can be on the watch list and be ranked in their division. Mater Dei and Santa Margarita are in the Division 1AA rankings at, respectively, No. 4 and No. 5.
The watch list will shrink as the season progresses and teams’ losses grow.
Jump stops around Orange County boys basketball:
• No O.C. team was ranked No. 1 in its CIF-SS division this week. Some county teams that are close to No. 1 are Villa Park, No. 2 in 2AA; Capistrano Valley, No. 3 in 2A; Saddleback Valley Christian, No. 2 in 3AA; and Pacifica Christian, No. 2 in Division 6.
• The Register’s O.C. top 10 comes from a poll of five media members. Here is a personal 11-25 for the county: 11. Los Alamitos (10-5); 12. Capistrano Valley (10-4); 13. Foothill (13-4); 14. Tesoro (12-4); 15. Corona del Mar (11-5); 16. Crean Lutheran (12-6); 17. Yorba Linda (11-6); 18. Northwood (12-6); 19. Ocean View (10-6); 20. Huntington Beach (11-7); 21. Cypress (9-6); 22. San Clemente (10-7); 23. Woodbridge (10-7); 24. Trabuco Hills (10-8); 25. El Toro (13-5).
• League play began in a couple of leagues last week and launches almost everywhere else in Orange County this week, except for the Century Conference, which has some good intra-conference, nonleague games.
• Among the better matchups: Tuesday’s schedule has Foothill at Villa Park (nonleague), Northwood at University (Pacific Coast League) and Buena Park at Sonora (Freeway); Wednesday, Santa Margarita at JSerra (Trinity), Edison at Huntington Beach (Sunset), El Toro at Aliso Niguel (South Coast) and Trabuco Hills at San Clemente (South Coast); Thursday, St. Margaret’s at Crean Lutheran (Academy); Friday, JSerra at Mater Dei (Trinity), St. John Bosco at Santa Margarita (Trinity), Edison at Newport Harbor (Sunset), San Clemente at Aliso Niguel (South Coast), Tesoro at Trabuco Hills (South Coast), Northwood at Woodbridge (Pacific Coast) and Villa Park at Esperanza (nonleague).
• Eight O.C. schools make up the Century Conference: Brea Olinda, Canyon, El Dorado, El Modena, Esperanza, Foothill, Villa Park and Yorba Linda. They are placed, four schools each, into the Crestview and North Hills leagues, with league membership varying by sport. In boys basketball this year (league membership changes every two school years), the Crestview teams are Canyon, Esperanza, Foothill and Yorba Linda; North Hills teams are Brea Olinda, El Dorado, El Modena and Villa Park.
• Villa Park’s Myles Franklin scored 24 points, made five 3-pointers and had seven assists against Brentwood, and he scored 14 points with five assists against Valley Christian of Cerritos in a pair of Spartans wins last week. Franklin is a 6-3 senior guard who signed with Northeastern.
• Yorba Linda 6-3 senior Shaun Maeder extended his streak of scoring 20 or more points to six games Wednesday when he scored 25 points in a loss to Great Oak of Temecula. The streak stopped at six when Maeder scored 17 in a win over Ganesha of Pomona.
• Orange Lutheran senior guard Chris Williams scored 50 points over two games – 29 in a win over Westminster, 21 in a Trinity League-opener loss at Santa Margarita.
• Foothill coach Rusty Van Cleave continues to make progress in his recovery from a stroke suffered during the fall. He still is not strong enough to resume coaching fulltime. Assistant coach Jeff Gomez has served as the team’s interim head coach.
• The Nike Extravaganza is Feb. 3 and 4 at Mater Dei. Sierra Canyon of Chatsworth and Chino Hills, the top two teams in CalHiSports.com’s California top 20, are in it. Oak Hill Academy of Virginia, Santa Margarita and Centennial of Corona are also in it. Tickets ($12-$22) are available at materdei.org/tickets.
• Orange County Christian, a private school in Anaheim with an enrollment of 80, has a team this season. David Hirwa, a 6-3 senior, is averaging 20 points a game for the Eagles.
Contact the writer: sfryer@scng.com
