Chapman Gets Through Maze, Lands Playoff Opponent, Site

If the Chapman College basketball team feels confused these days, it isn’t surprising, especially after what it has been hearing the last few days.

The Panthers will play Cal State Dominguez Hills at 2:30 p.m. Friday at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament. They hope.

Since they clinched the final playoff spot Saturday night, the Panthers’ opponent has been changed twice, the site has been switched and the time of their opening playoff game has been moved twice.

After beating Cal Poly Pomona Saturday, the Panthers thought they would play at top-seeded Cal State Dominguez Hills Friday.

But later Saturday, Chapman learned that its opponent would be Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and the conference tournament site would be switched to Cal Poly SLO.

Monday, the executive committee of the CCAA decided to make Dominguez Hills (10-4, 20-7) its top-seeded team because it has a better overall record than Cal Poly SLO (10-4, 19-8).

That meant fourth-seeded Chapman would play top-seeded Dominguez Hills as was originally thought.

When Dominguez Hills and San Luis Obispo tied for the conference title, the first criterion for awarding the site was head-to-head records. The teams split. So the second tie-breaker was whether the women’s team made the tournament. Because the San Luis Obispo women’s team did and Dominguez Hills’ didn’t, San Luis Obispo was awarded the site.

The Cal Poly SLO women made the tournament only after the Cal State Los Angeles women’s team, which had qualified, was declared ineligible by the NCAA for playing too many games.

Chapman learned of the NCAA decision late Saturday night and realized that it would not be playing at Dominguez Hills.

Through all this, the time of Chapman’s first game was changed from 8:30 to 8 p.m., and finally to 2:30 p.m. Friday.

In the other men’s game, third-seeded Riverside plays second-seeded Cal Poly SLO Friday night at 8.