San Diego Prep Review : A Case for Expanding Basketball Playoff Field

The Mira Mesa High School boys’ basketball team of the City Eastern League finished its season 16-8. Kearny of the City Western League finished 17-9.

Neither received a berth in their divisions of the San Diego Section playoffs. The reason for their absences has less to do with their records than with the comparative strength of their leagues.

Mira Mesa, playing in what is generally recognized as the county’s toughest league, finished third to powerhouses Morse and Serra.

Kearny’s story is even more heart-breaking. The Komets tied La Jolla and University for the City Western League title at 8-2. In previous years, such a deadlock would have been broken by a vote of the league’s coaches or school administrators.

But under the current system, each team flipped a coin. The coins came up the same for University and Kearny, forcing them to meet in a playoff Friday night. Kearny lost in overtime, 63-62. The Vikings, the odd team in the three-way flip, were declared league champions.

Not surprisingly, both Kearny Coach Bill Peterson and Mira Mesa’s Tim Cunningham disagree with the method by which playoff teams are selected.

“I don’t see why they can’t expand the playoffs,” Peterson said. “The schools in the county complain of their lack of revenue in sports and one way to bring in more revenue is to send three more teams to the playoffs. I’m from Illinois where every team in the state goes to the state tournament. Here you win 17 games and you get nothing.”

Said Cunningham: “I’ve always been for (increasing the number teams). Back when the coaches ran the playoffs, going on 10 years ago, we went all the way down to No. 4 (in a particular league). The thinking of the coaches was ‘Let’s have as many of the good teams get in the playoffs as possible and let them play it out.”

Even coaches who are headed for the playoffs, such as University’s Pat Murphy, agree that the selection process has left many good teams sitting at home.

“I think Kearny has got a great ballclub,” he said. “It’s a joke when a team like Mar Vista (7-16) gets in with the kind of year they had. All the teams that deserve to be there should be there. And when you have teams that don’t deserve to be there, it’s ridiculous. But that’s the system and you just live within the system.”

Cunningham, however, wants to change the system. He and other coaches from “strong” leagues are pressuring San Diego Section officials to expand the number of playoff spots from 8 to 12. The additional “at-large” berths would go to the four best teams to finish below second place.

“That would take into account a strong league,” Cunningham said. “That at-large berth always allows you to get the best teams in there.”

Opposition to an expanded playoff schedule, Cunningham said, comes primarily from teachers and other school officials who don’t want the extra after-school supervision requirements the additional games would entail.

“It just boils down to people who are in charge not wanting to have athletics expanded,” he said. “It seems like they’re in a rush to get the season over.”

However, Cunningham hopes that if enough coaches lobby their school administrations, the proposal could come up before San Diego Section directors in time to be implemented by next season.

“It’s an idea that’s basically been brought up every year, but it seems this year there’s more interest in it,” he said. “I think the expanded playoffs in college basketball are great. And I think like most things, the high schools are always a couple of years behind the colleges.”