PREP REVIEW : Section to Use Power-Rating Format for Playoffs

Southern Section administrators will use a power-rating formula this season to select at-large teams for the section’s 10 divisions of boys’ and girls’ basketball playoffs.

Each division will have a 32-team bracket; the top three teams from each league will receive automatic berths in their divisions, which are based on enrollment.

At-large teams will be selected based on the following criteria: --One point for scheduling any team above a school’s division. For example, if a team such as Laguna Beach (2-A) plays in a league of 3-A and 4-A teams, Laguna Beach will receive a point for playing each game. The school also would receive points for scheduling nonleague games.

--One point for defeating any team in a higher division.

--One point for defeating a team in the same division.

--One point for defeating an eventual league champion or co-champion regardless of division.

--One point for winning a nonleague tournament championship.

Those teams compiling the most points are eligible for at-large bids. If teams total the same points, then the selection will be based on head-to-head competition, performance against common opponents and a blind draw.

The point system, designed and adopted by the Basketball Coaches’ Advisory Committee, will be incorporated in the playoff handbook. Woodbridge High School Coach Bill Shannon, a member of the committee, began developing the system last year. He said the format rewards teams that play tougher nonleague schedules.

“It allows good teams to get into the playoffs and that’s what it’s all about,” Shannon said. “There may be people upset with it who didn’t schedule a tough level of opponents (this season). But that’s probably someone who wasn’t up on the rumor mill.”

Previously, teams needed only a .500 record to qualify for an at-large bid. As a result, many teams padded their nonleague schedule with opponents from smaller schools, Shannon said.

“I felt that being over .500 to be considered for at-large bid was a mistake,” Shannon said. “People quit playing good teams in preseason. You could have a good fourth-place team that is 10-14 with wins and losses against high-caliber competition, and (it) still wouldn’t get in (the playoffs).”

Shannon said the system probably wouldn’t work for football, where pairings are set up on a geographic as well as record basis, but it could be expanded to other sports. Other states, such as Nebraska, use a similar system to determine at-large berths.

The boys’ playoff pairings will be announced on Feb. 11 and the girls’ matchups on Feb. 12 at the Southern Section office in Artesia.

Add basketball playoffs: Division playoffs begin Feb. 13 for boys and Feb. 14 for girls.

The boys’ Southern Section championships are scheduled for Feb. 28, March 1-3.

The girls’ Southern Section championships will be Feb. 28, March 1-2.

The Southern California regionals will be March 6, 8 and 10 and the state finals are scheduled for March 16-17 in Oakland.

Whitlock by the numbers: Guard Tes Whitlock gave scorekeepers fits in Loara’s 93-91 Empire League loss to Los Alamitos Friday night.

Whitlock, a 6-foot-2 junior, scored 54 points to tie the third-highest single-game total in county history. He was five points shy of breaking the county record of 58 set in 1910 by Art Worthy of Huntington Beach.

Whitlock opened with 19 points in the first quarter and added 11, 13 and 11, respectively, in the final three quarters. He scored 16 of the Saxons’ first 20 points and had 30 of their 44 points at halftime.

Whitlock made 17 of 24 shots, including five of 10 three-pointers, and was 15 of 21 from the free throw line.

“He’s awful fun to watch,” Loara Coach Jerry Halpin said. “It’s almost scary because he’s only a junior and he’s playing like he’s a man. When he gets on a roll, you want the ball in his hands.

“It was a great game to be at. It was a packed house and a league game. Tes thrives on that kind of environment. I didn’t even realize he had 54 because he was in the flow of the offense.”

Whitlock entered the game as the county’s second-leading scorer with a 30.2 average. His previous best was 42 points against Western earlier this season.

Whitlock’s scoring has made a difference for Loara. The Saxons, 9-33 in the past two seasons, are off to a 12-3 start this year.

Add Loara: The Saxons were playing without starter Dan Wassink, who broke his left foot against Katella last week. Halpin said Wassink will be out eight weeks.

Vladimir Nieto, boys’ soccer coach at Kennedy High School and a co-coach at Cerritos College, will take a high school team on a tour of the Soviet Union in July.

Nieto was one of 50 coaches picked from a field of 1,000 to participate in the Sports for Understanding, an international exchange program. U.S. teams in several sports will tour the Soviet Union and other countries for three weeks this summer.

Kyong Kim, a senior co-captain at Kennedy, will be one of 16 players on the U.S. team that will play 12 games against the Soviets.

“The Soviets are excellent soccer players,” said Nieto, who grew up in Colombia and played soccer at New York University. “They’re among the favorites to win the World Cup.

“But they often underestimate the level of U.S. soccer. We might go in and surprise them. It’s not a sport like basketball, where the Soviets expect the United States to have a high level of play.”

Run but not gun: After Capistrano Valley’s Chris Kostoff and Scott McCorkle combined for 41 points in a 64-47 loss to Mater Dei Jan. 6, Cougars Coach Mark Thornton decided his team needed to balance its scoring.

On the Monday after the Mater Dei game, Thornton didn’t let McCorkle and Kostoff shoot during practice.

“When two guys have 41 of your 47 points, something is definitely wrong,” Thornton said. “We had to do something to get the other players involved in the offense. We made them shoot the ball.”

Thornton’s plan worked--sort of.

Brett McCorkle, Scott’s brother, led the team with 24 points and Tom Airey came off the bench to add 17 in an 85-79 triple overtime loss to Mission Viejo Tuesday.

Kostoff scored 22 points, Scott McCorkle scored only six.

Winning ways: Pacifica girls’ basketball fans found something to cheer about last week as the Mariners ended a 46-game losing streak with a 43-39 victory over Los Amigos.

Pacifica had suffered through two consecutive winless seasons--0-16 in 1988 and 0-20 in 1989--and were off to an 0-3 start this year. The Mariners had not won since 1987, when they beat Loara with seven games left in the season.

Pacifica’s winning streak was short-lived, however. The Mariners (1-4) lost to Bolsa Grande, 31-26, Friday night.

Corona del Mar finished fourth and Laguna Beach 13th in Volleyball Monthly’s national girls’ rankings. Corona del Mar’s Danielle Everett, The Times’ Orange County player of the year, was named to the magazine’s All-American first team.

Westminster’s football team is scheduled play a game in Virginia on Aug. 31 against Robert E. Lee High School, pending approval of the Southern Section’s general council on Thursday. Westminster opened its 1987 season with a victory over Robert E. Lee and Coach Stan Clark said he is hopeful of returning to the East Coast.

Carl Sweet, El Dorado athletic director, is accepting applications for two assistant track coaches, a girls’ varsity swim coach and several varsity assistant football coaches in a walk-on capacity. Anyone interested should contact Sweet at 993-5350.

Orange County players and coaches were honored at the All-Southern Section water polo awards banquet last week at the Sequoia Athletic Club.

Brandon Howald of Corona del Mar was the 4-A player of the year and Jeff Ehrlich of Villa Park was the 4-A coach of the year. El Toro swept the 3-A honors with player of the year Ken Nickel and coach of the year Don Stoll.