Depending on one’s perspective, the release of the CCS boys basketball brackets was met with affirmation or with great surprise. While most of the teams ended up within a couple spots of our projections, there were a few significant deviations. Many of the seeding decisions indicated that the committee leaned on December nonleague results over league matchups in which teams beat up on each other and split two games head-to-head.
Open Division (bracket)
The discussion among the group of league representatives that attended Saturday night’s PAL Championship seemed to center around Sequoia’s position. As it turned out, the win over Serra did carry enough weight to keep the Cherokees out of the eighth spot and instead force Bellarmine to meet a league opponent in the first round.
As for the debate between Mitty and Serra, it seems that Mitty’s win over Bellarmine was the trump card over the Padres’ victories against Heritage, St. Francis and University.
Menlo was expected to take the second spot, but seeing WCAL runner-up St. Francis in the fourth spot behind Palo Alto was a bit of a surprise.
As the dust settled, it was revealed that the Open field actually shared a lot of similarities with last year. Menlo and Palo Alto replaced Palma and Menlo-Atherton, but the field is otherwise largely the same. Sequoia and St. Francis are in the exact same positions as last year, Serra will once again open with a WCAL opponent, and St. Ignatius and Mitty line up on the same side of the bracket.
As this is the second year with more than four WCAL teams in the Open Division, it now seems we have a precedent established. The fifth-place WCAL team will almost certainly face a league opponent, whether that’s the league champion or another team.
The biggest surprise, though, was runner-up St. Francis getting the fourth seed. Of the five Open Division championships, three have been played with the top two WCAL teams, and the other two have been between the first-place and third-place teams. Despite their second-place finish, the Lancers would need to take down league champion Bellarmine in the semifinals.
Our final projections had the correct eight teams and properly seeded the top two and bottom two, but the order of the middle four teams went by the wayside.
Division I (bracket)
The top four seeds don’t come with much surprise as Menlo-Atherton’s strength of schedule got the nod over Alisal’s record. Seeing Salinas in the fifth spot, though, caught folks off-guard. The Cowboys’ December win over Santa Clara gave them the edge over Los Altos and Cupertino. Santa Clara defeated Los Altos in overtime to open the season, a loss that knocks the Eagles down to the sixth spot and Cupertino to the seventh.
Seeing North Salinas take the final spot in the field over Fremont was a surprise. Perhaps Fremont chose not to apply for the postseason after going 3-9 in SCVAL El Camino play.
Our projections got the top four teams on the nose, but expected Salinas two spots lower and flipped the order of Santa Teresa and Santa Clara, as well as the order of Independence and Carlmont.
Division II (bracket)
The biggest questions in Division II surrounded the placement of league champions from the lower divisions and power leagues. SCVAL El Camino champion Gunn got the fifth seed, while BVAL Santa Teresa champion Branham was placed in the tenth spot.
Some of that stemmed from how Gunn has performed since the insertion of transfer Brendan Mora, who became eligible at the start of January. Branham owned a December head-to-head win against Gunn, but lost to Saratoga, a team that Gunn swept.
Lynbrook earning the seventh seed was also a bit of a surprise, but a win over Santa Cruz certainly helps the Vikings, as does splitting a pair of meetings with Saratoga. Beating a San Mateo team that ended up with the ninth seed is also a major factor in head-to-head matchups.
San Mateo’s win over Leland, a team that beat Branham twice in December, was the biggest factor in knocking the Bruins down to the tenth seed.
Mountain View ended up in the eighth spot thanks to a win over Los Gatos, one of the biggest victories for any team in the field. It made up for a loss to Branham, but that defeat and other losses put the Spartans behind Lynbrook despite a head-to-head victory against the Vikings.
Our projections had the top four seeds right, as well as Leland in the sixth spot and Mountain View at eight. However, the committee went in a completely different direction with the other seeds. 11th-seeded Woodside and 12th-seeded Overfelt were projected as unseeded teams when our final projections were released.
Division III (bracket)
Very few surprises were found in Division III. Our projections had North Monterey County in the field with their .500 nonleague record, but it appears the Condors chose not to apply for the postseason.
Despite a head-to-head loss, Saratoga was seeded ahead of Sobrato. With 15 teams in the field, the ninth-seeded Bulldogs will not have a home game. Saratoga earned that spot with a win over Santa Teresa, a team that swept Sobrato, as well as a split in two meetings with rival Los Gatos.
There are a few major gaps between teams in Division III, which made the field very easy to seed. Our projections were largely on the nose, with top nine teams in the correct order. The next three were switched in order, but all were correctly placed between the 10th and 12th spots.
Division IV (bracket)
Of all the enrollment divisions, the Division IV field was the most challenging to seed. Half Moon Bay’s strong schedule throughout the season put the Cougars in the top spot, while a much weaker December schedule dropped PAL North co-champion Jefferson into the third slot. A PAL Semifinal victory over Mills wasn’t enough to undo the rest of HMB’s advantage over the Grizzlies, while Santa Cruz’s win over Pacific Grove put the Cardinals in second.
As for Pacific Grove, wins over Salinas, Jefferson and Palma made up for losses to Soledad and King City, earning the Breakers the fifth seed.
Monte Vista Christian was surprisingly placed in the eighth spot despite strong wins over Alisal, Palma and Salinas, all teams that the Mustangs beat at home and fell to on the road. A largely soft December schedule did MVC no favors.
Projections went completely out the window for Division IV, with only fourth-seeded Carmel and sixth-seeded Sacred Heart Prep placed correctly. Still, with the exception of MVC, all teams were projected within two spots of their actual seeding, and the four unseeded teams were correct, as was Marina’s first-round matchup with Seaside.
Division V (bracket)
The biggest surprise in Division V was Mountain View Academy’s decision not to apply to the playoffs despite a 19-1 record. The Mustangs have not applied for the postseason in the past four years, despite eligibility in three of those seasons. University Prep Academy also declined a playoff bid.
Our projections for Division V were largely correct despite the lack of information from some of the lower teams in the field. Oakwood and Summit Shasta were the only teams not placed in the correct spots.
