Basketball: A new era begins in City Section playoffs

In two weeks, the City Section will announce seeds for its basketball playoffs, and it will be the first year with an Open Division.

Let’s just say that everybody is going to need a year to get used to what’s about to happen. For one, there’s going to be a consolation division for teams that lose in the first round of the Open Division playoffs and those that lose in the semifinals.

The City Section gets four invitations to the Division I state playoffs. As it stands, the Open Division champion and runner-up will get automatic berths, along with the consolation champion and the Division I champion. The losers in the Open Division semifinals will join the consolation division already taking place. That’s confusing but it’s part of the process trying to come up with the best teams to make the state playoffs.

The Open Division will be made up of the eight-best teams in the City Section. That means as many as eight schools from Division I could be pulled from Division I, making Division I a lot easier for several teams.

The Open Division boys’ teams as of today look like this: Fairfax, Westchester, Narbonne, El Camino Real, Dorsey and Taft. Those are definite. The other two will likely come from University, Crenshaw, View Park and Palisades.

The Open Division girls’ teams look like this: Palisades, Fairfax, Carson, Narbonne, El Camino Real, Westchester, University and Granada Hills. View Park also is in the mix.

Pairings will be announced on Feb. 14.

Twitter:@LATSondheimer