Section Changes Playoff Selection Procedure

Southern Section basketball playoff brackets in 10 boys’ and 10 girls’ divisions will be announced Sunday at Cerritos Gahr High.

Wild-card games begin Wednesday. Championship games are March 1-3.

Teams with at least 11 victories are eligible to petition for inclusion in the playoffs, which is a change from the section’s entry procedure last season, when any team with at least 10 victories was guaranteed a spot if it submitted a petition.

To determine which teams receive at-large berths, the playoff committee will weigh the following factors: strength of league, strength of schedule, overall record, league finish, head-to-head record against other teams under consideration, performance late in the season and records against common opponents among teams under consideration.

This season, there are three divisions within Division I. The winners of I-AAA, I-AA and I-A receive automatic berths in the Southern California regional of the state tournament. One of the second-place teams will receive an at-large berth.

The first- and second-place teams in all other divisions qualify for the state regional.

Girls’ water polo playoff brackets will also be announced Sunday, boys’ and girls’ soccer Monday.

Pairings for the team dual-meet wrestling finals in six divisions will be announced today. Finals will be staged Saturday at sites to be determined.

CITY SECTION

Brackets for the boys’ and girls’ City basketball playoffs will be announced Saturday morning after league representatives meet at Manual Arts High.

There is no doubt that defending champion Westchester (22-1) will be the top-seeded boys’ team and that defending champion Harbor City Narbonne (18-3) will be No. 1 in the girls’ City Championship Division playoffs.

Sixteen boys’ teams and 16 girls’ teams also will be selected for the Invitational Division playoffs.

First-round games in both divisions are Feb. 16.

Westchester’s 77-56 victory at Fairfax last Wednesday clinched the Western League title for the Comets and cemented their status as the team to beat.

“You can’t relax for a second or you’ll find yourself down 15 points,” said Fairfax Coach Harvey Kitani, whose 18-5 team also lost to Westchester, 82-64, on Jan. 9. “We tried not to give them easy shots but they just outrebounded us and got second chances.”

The Fremont and Crenshaw boys’ teams are playing for the Coliseum League championship Friday at Crenshaw in a game that also will likely determine the No. 2-seeded playoff team.

Fremont (17-5) is 8-1 in league play, its only a defeat a one-point loss to Dorsey two days after beating Crenshaw for the first time since 1996. Crenshaw (18-4) is 7-2.

A Fremont victory gives the Pathfinders the title outright--and a chance to avoid a matchup with Westchester until the City championship game.

If Crenshaw wins, there will be a coin flip to determine the league’s top representative.

Dorsey, Washington and Palisades could also figure prominently in the boys’ playoff race.

“You have to be able to rebound and have three scorers to play with Westchester, or they’ll blow you out,” Fremont Coach Sam Sullivan said. “I feel like if we can get that far, I like my chances.”

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Staff writer Ben Bolch contributed to this report.