When Only Winning Matters Every School Ends Up Losing

Forgive those of us who are not jumping for joy at the prospect of a showdown between the boys’ basketball teams from Crenshaw and Santa Ana Mater Dei this weekend.

Although the schools are the state’s top ranked teams once again and favorites to meet in the CIF’s Southern Regional Division I championship Saturday night at the new Anaheim Arena, the anticipated matchup is a reminder of what is wrong with high school basketball.

CIF officials, excited about the possibility of such a game, are warning fans to buy tickets in advance or risk the chance of being turned away at the door. Never mind that there are two rounds of games before the championship, beginning tonight and continuing Thursday.

While a Crenshaw-Mater Dei matchup will showcase plenty of talent and provide theatrics, it is sad to see the schools that seem to care only about winning have all the success.

This is the year to cheer for the underdog. The chances for an unexpected challenger are not favorable, however. The area’s best teams have distanced themselves even further from the pack.

Crenshaw is 25-2, its only losses to nationally ranked teams in a holiday tournament in South Carolina. It breezed through the City Section Division 4-A playoffs, winning a record-setting 13th section title last Friday. The Cougars are so deep they are averaging a whopping 100.8 points per game.

Mater Dei, 31-0, has hardly been challenged all season. Its closest game was a 65-59 victory over Huntington Beach Edison in the Southern Section Division I-A championship Saturday night. The Monarchs, who have won nine section titles in the last 12 years, were probably looking ahead to Crenshaw.

The schools continue to win because they are the best at getting the top talent. Mater Dei’s captain, Miles Simon, has signed with Arizona. Crenshaw seniors Kristaan Johnson, Tremaine Fowlkes and Tommie Davis have received scholarships to UCLA, Cal and Houston, respectively.

A few other seniors on the teams are expected to sign letters of intent next month. The schools also have several of the area’s heavily recruited underclassmen.

Schea Cotton, a freshman, has been Mater Dei’s starting guard since transferring from Bellflower St. John Bosco three weeks into the season.

Meanwhile, the titles continue to stack up and the players keep coming. Administrators and coaches from Crenshaw and Mater Dei claim their programs are clean, and neither has been punished. But City and Southern Section officials acknowledge they have little time for policing the rules. They leave that task to the individual schools.

Still, it is not difficult to figure out what is happening. It is a matter of the rich getting richer.

Mater Dei, a Catholic school with no attendance boundaries, has players from all over the Southland, and always has room for another.

Coach Gary McKnight offers no apologies for his program, which he is aware is ridiculed by many of its opponents. McKnight welcomed Cotton’s transfer, even though the freshman player left St. John Bosco unexpectedly during the middle of a holiday tournament.

Cotton, 15, said he simply wanted a change. His parents supported him.

Crenshaw is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District and does have attendance boundaries. Nonetheless, the basketball team is made up primarily of players from other schools. Johnson transferred from Van Nuys Montclair Prep, Fowlkes from Culver City, Davis from Fremont, Reggie McFerren from Gardena Serra and Ronnie Arch from Westchester, among others.

Leon Watson is the only starter who began high school at Crenshaw. Davis was supposed to attend Locke, but received a special permit to go to Fremont. Last summer, he was granted another permit to attend Crenshaw.

McKnight and his counterpart, Willie West, are obsessed with winning, so much so that they have compromised principles for victories. Values such as respectability, responsibility and sportsmanship have taken a back seat to championship trophies.

They have provided their players and communities with accomplishments that come with a heavy price. They are proud of their programs and will stop at nothing to make them better.

These are the reasons why some are rooting for a different school this year, perhaps one with players who grew up in the school’s attendance area. Perhaps one with a coach who sees valuable lessons in winning and losing. And a school with an administration that knows when to draw the line.

Finding such a school is becoming increasingly difficult. Being No. 1 seems to be the bottom line most everywhere. That is why it is difficult to watch another Mater Dei-Crenshaw game.

Prep Notes

The CIF announced last week that Channel 9 will televise the boys’ Southern Regional Division I basketball championship game Saturday night. Because of the live coverage, game time has been moved to 7:30. Highlights from the girls’ Division I game will be shown at halftime. The deal was finalized last week by Marketing and Financial Management, which is representing the CIF in corporate sponsorship endeavors.

There will be six regional basketball finals at Anaheim Arena on Saturday beginning with the girls’ Division III game at 9:30 a.m. A new game will begin every two hours, finishing with the boys’ Division I at 7:30. The Division IV and V championship games will also be played Saturday at Cal State Dominguez Hills. The quadruple-header begins at 2 p.m. with the girls’ Division V final.

Times’ Top 20 Basketball Polls

The Times’ top 20 high school basketball polls, with teams from the City and Southern Sections.

BOYS

School Sect. Div. Rec. LW 1. Mater Dei SS I-A 31-0 1 2. Crenshaw City 4-A 25-2 2 3. Inglewood SS II-AA 28-3 4 4. St. John Bosco SS II-A 28-2 6 5. Dominguez SS II-A 27-3 3 6. LB Poly SS I-AA 25-6 7 7. JW North SS II-AA 28-1 5 8. Fontana SS I-AA 25-2 9 9. Santa Barbara SS II-AA 28-3 8 10. Verbum Dei SS IV-A 24-2 13 11. Westchester City 4-A 23-5 10 12. Fremont City 4-A 21-6 12 13. Glendora SS II-AA 27-3 11 14. Loyola SS I-A 22-6 14 15. Fairfax City 4-A 21-6 15 16. Pacifica SS III-A 27-1 19 17. S. Ana Valley SS I-AA 26-4 18 18. Los Alamitos SS I-AA 22-5 16 19. Edison SS I-A 19-10 20 20. Cres. Valley SS I-AA 19-10 17

GIRLS

School Sect. Div. Rec. LW 1. Brea-Olinda SS III-AA 29-0 1 2. Lynwood SS I-AA 29-1 2 3. Alemany SS II-A 28-0 3 4. Buena SS I-A 24-2 4 5. Woodbridge SS II-AA 29-0 5 6. Peninsula SS I-AA 24-4 6 7. St. Bernard SS IV-AA 25-5 7 8. Mater Dei SS I-A 24-4 8 9. San Bernardino SS II-A 25-5 9 10. Valley Chr. SS IV-A 26-2 12 11. Cypress SS II-A 26-4 10 12. Bishop Amat SS II-A 24-2 11 13. Ventura SS II-A 21-6 13 14. B. Montgomery SS III-AA 23-8 14 15. Lompoc SS III-A 24-4 19 16. Gahr SS II-AA 13-16* 16 17. Crenshaw City 4-A 22-5 NR 18. Newbury Park SS III-AA 23-5 18 19. Diamond Bar SS I-AA 23-2 20 20. Hemet SS II-AA 21-5 15

* Indicates 10 losses by forfeit.