Some reactions to Orange County’s showing in the CIF-SS boys basketball finals and a look ahead to the CIF Southern California Regional:
1. If a CIF-SS Finals MVP was selected for the boys basketball playoffs, who would be Orange County’s top candidates?
Crean Lutheran senior guard Nick Giarrusso made all the big plays in clutch time in the Saints’ 59-52 win over JSerra in the Division 1 championship game. He is an all-around fine player who can play multiple positions. The knock on Giarrusso’s game is that he is lacking as a shooter, but he made a big 3-pointer from the top of the key with 48 seconds remaining, finished 4 for 4 on all shots and 2 for 2 on 3-point shots and was 4 for 4 at the free-throw line for 14 points.
Laguna Hills senior forward Jackson Burnham scored 18 points with 17 rebounds and eight assists for the Hawks in their 78-51 win over Ramona in the Division 6 championship game for the school’s first CIF-SS title in boys basketball. Also worth considering is Laguna Hills sophomore guard Fletcher Freeman who scored 21 points including four 3-point baskets.
Jerry West was the NBA Finals MVP in 1969 when the Lakers lost to the Boston Celtics in the championship round. So, with that in mind …
Aliso Niguel senior guard Jayden Mysin, the team’s leader all season, scored 18 points with two 3-point shots and six rebounds in the Wolverines’ 65-58 loss to Murrieta Mesa in the Division 3 final. Then there is Trabuco Hills senior guard Devon Williams who scored 13 points, the only Mustang to score in double figures, while shooting 6 for 8 from the floor with a team-high nine rebounds in a 51-44 loss to Colony in the Division 4 final.
2. Are Toyota Arena and Azusa Pacific University good venues for CIF-SS basketball championship games?
Both are fine. They have well-lit courts, good locker room accommodations, good sightlines for spectators and plenty of nearby parking.
People would love to see the CIF-SS finals return to Honda Center. The Southern Section office would love that, too, if the pricing made sense for the Southern Section.
Of course it would have been great for the all-Orange County matchup of Crean Lutheran and JSerra to be played in Orange County instead of at Ontario’s Toyota Center. But securing venues must be completed well before the playoffs begin.
3. Is using computer-generated, current-season rankings the best way to create playoff divisions?
It’s not perfect. No system is or could be.
Division 1’s top two seeded teams, No. 1-seeded Crean Lutheran and No. 2-seeded JSerra, met in the division championship game. Higher-seeded Crean Lutheran won, 59-52. The computer had it right.
Sierra Canyon was on top of the computer rankings all season. Sierra Canyon rolled to the Open Division championship. The rankings looked good, there.
It seemed a mistake, when the CIF-SS boys basketball brackets were released, that Mater Dei was placed in Division 2 when it looked like the Monarchs belonged in the Division 1 bracket. Mater Dei lost in the semifinals to Hesperia, which lost by 23 points to Bishop Amat in the Division 2 final. So it looks like Division 2 was the correct placement.
One big mistake that was made in placing teams into divisions was putting Corona del Mar in the Open Division.
Corona del Mar had a 27-1 record at the end of the regular season and were 12-0 in the Sunset League. The quality of the league was, by its high standards, low this season. Our rankings, including the final rankings, all season had Santa Margarita at No. 1, Crean Lutheran at No. 2, JSerra at No. 3 and Corona del Mar at No. 4.
Playoff results support those rankings. Computers are fine, but I’ve never sat down next to one at a game. Seeing teams and players play remains an essential way to evaluate how teams and players play.
Keep the computer ratings and the concept of using current-season results to create playoff brackets. But a bit of editing from a human would help.
4. Who has a chance to do well in the CIF Southern California Regional?
Everybody. It’s a great second-chance tournament. Look for JSerra, especially, to be a hungry group.
The challenge for the CIF Southern Section champions like Crean Lutheran and Laguna Hills is … are they satisfied? Can they rev it up again after already achieving full glory?
We shall see.
