Van Nuys a Surprise as Top-Seeded Team

Poly High didn’t make the City Section 3-A Division playoffs, but the Parrots’ impact was felt when playoff seedings were announced Saturday.

Poly’s upset of Canoga Park on Wednesday apparently knocked the Hunters out of consideration as the top-seeded team in the boys’ basketball playoffs, which begin Friday.

Instead, Van Nuys (13-9, 8-2 in the Valley Pac-8 Conference), which tied Canoga Park for the conference title, is top-seeded based on a better record in the Mid-Valley League.

“I am a little surprised,” Van Nuys Coach Kevin Kanemura said. “I figured we should be in the top three, but I didn’t think we would be No. 1.”

The Wolves will play the Magnet League champion--Sherman Oaks CES, Mid-City Alternative or Bravo--in the first round. The Magnet League finishes play this week.

Canoga Park (19-4, 8-2) is seeded third behind Eagle Rock and will play host to Bell.

Other teams in the 3-A bracket include sixth-seeded Granada Hills, which plays host to Lincoln; eighth-seeded El Camino Real, which plays host to South Gate, and 10th-seeded Birmingham, which plays at Huntington Park.

In the 4-A Division, Northwest Valley Conference champion Cleveland is seeded highest seed of any local team. The seventh-seeded Cavaliers (15-8, 9-1) will play host to Carson, which beat Cleveland in the 1994 4-A semifinals.

“It’s about where I expected,” Cleveland Coach Kevin Crider said of his team’s seeding. “They always give the teams in the [central] city more consideration.”

Eighth-seeded Monroe, which plays host to Washington, was the lowest ranked of the five 4-A league or conference champions.

Chatsworth, which blew a chance to earn an automatic playoff berth by losing to Cleveland on Friday, made the field anyway. The 13th-seeded Chancellors will play at Westchester.

Chatsworth defeated the Comets in the Artesia tournament in December, but the victory was achieved with center Eddie Miller, who is now ineligible.

North Hollywood, in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time in more than a decade, squeaked in and will play at second-seeded Crenshaw. Crenshaw defeated the Huskies in the first round last season.

Reseda was the last team eliminated by the seeding committee, in favor of University, which plays in the rugged Coastal Conference.

In the girls’ 4-A Division, Taft (19-0, 10-0) finished the regular season undefeated but was seeded only sixth because it played an easy nonconference schedule.

Fourth-seeded North Hollywood (18-3, 10-0), which played in difficult nonleague tournaments, will play host to Roosevelt.

Van Nuys, seeded 14th, 15th-seeded El Camino Real and 16th-seeded Kennedy will play Washington, Westchester and Crenshaw, respectively, considered the best teams in the section.

In the girls’ 3-A Division, North Valley League champion Chatsworth is seeded second and will play host to Eagle Rock.