Three Schools Dominate Seedings : Basketball: Poway, Lincoln, Christian top both playoff fields.

You can color the Division I basketball playoffs green. Do the same in Division IV. And paint the Division V playoffs red, white and blue.

Division I Poway, Division IV Lincoln and Division V Christian high schools are the San Diego Section’s No. 1 seeds in both the boys’ and girls’ playoffs, which begin with first-round games on Tuesday.

Poway (16-6), ranked second by The Times, will be the only league champion in the Division I boys playoffs. It shared the Palomar League title with Division II Torrey Pines. Poway plays the second game of a home doubleheader on Tuesday against Granite Hills (5-19) after the No. 1-ranked Titan girls (22-1) play Mt. Miguel (4-11) at 5:30 p.m.

The boys’ second seed is San Diego (4-17), which forfeited 13 victories for using an ineligible player. A Superior Court hearing before Tuesday’s first-round game against Patrick Henry will determine whether guard John McKenna is eligible to compete that night. If he is ruled ineligible, the Cavers must forfeit three games McKenna played since his father obtained a temporary restraining order prohibiting his suspension. Bottom line: the Cavers could enter the playoffs 1-20.

The Division II girls’ playoffs should be more competitive than Division I, where Poway is expected to meet rival Mt. Carmel (18-2) in the finals. Poway’s only loss is to the Sundevils, and Mt. Carmel’s only losses are to the Titans.

Torrey Pines Coach Ken Baumann, who saw both teams during the season but whose team (14-11) competes in Division II, says the lower division will be interesting.

“There are two good teams in Division I--Poway and Mt. Carmel are head and shoulders above everyone else,” Baumann said. “There should be some upsets in Division II. (Teams seeded) one through five are excellent. I think we were lucky to get the sixth seed.”

El Cajon Valley (23-1) is No. 1 in Division II, followed by Carlsbad (20-1), Point Loma (23-2), Castle Park (21-4) and University City (19-4).

Top-ranked El Camino (19-4), the Avocado League co-champion, is the top seed in boys’ Division II. Torrey Pines (20-7) is seeded second. Valhalla (21-6) and Helix (18-5) are seeded third and fourth.

Kearny (20-5) is the top seed in the nine-team Division III boys and opens with a quarterfinal round game Thursday against the La Jolla-West Hills winner. University of San Diego High (18-5) is seeded second, Ramona (17-5) third and St. Augustine (13-11) fourth.

In Division III girls, Santana (19-5)--the only team to defeat El Cajon Valley this season--is seeded first. Kearny (18-7) is second, first-year Rancho Bernardo (17-5) third and USDHS (10-11) fourth.

Lincoln’s boys (17-9) are the top team for Division IV boys. The girls are 16-2 and begin a 5:30 p.m. semifinal doubleheader on Feb. 26.

Christian (19-5), which reached the Division V state championship game last year, is the top seed. La Jolla Country Day (19-4) is second. Christian’s girls are 18-6.