Gilroy boys basketball coach Bud Ogden scheduled a tough non-league schedule with the hopes it would help better prepare the Mustangs for playoff competition.
The Mustangs got off to a 1-5 start this season. And it’s a good thing they redeemed themselves because a new Central Coast Section playoff rule, fresh on the books for the 2006-2006 season, could have kept them out of the playoffs.
The rule I’m talking about is the “.500 rule” for non-league games. Before this season, the top two finishers in each CCS league (or division of a power league) received automatic bids to the CCS playoffs. After that, teams with overall or league records of at least .500 could also be considered. Everyone else had to petition entry and hope for the best.
This season, in an attempt to do away with the petitioning, the CCS board decided to make a change. Now, a team that isn’t a top-two finisher in league play can get into the playoffs with a league OR non-league record of at least .500. The overall record no longer matters.
The problem? Well, in the most extreme scenario, a team could field a non-league schedule full of guaranteed wins, lose every game in league and still get a CCS berth.
So much for rewarding the teams that challenge themselves.
“Exactly,” said CCS commissioner Nancy Lazenby-Blaser. “I really didn’t know how (the rule) would work, but I don’t like the impact I’ve seen.”
After last year’s playoffs, the suggestion for the new qualification rule came from the basketball committee. The idea, Lazenby-Blaser said, was to get rid of the petitioning process. The new rule, which is also used in volleyball, was later approved by the CCS board.
So it seems the basketball community that had a say dug its own grave.
“It’s not my personal philosophy,” Lazenby-Blaser said. “I’m not a big fan of a big playoff.”
Neither am I. Making the playoffs should mean something and the non-league .500 rule cheapens this. There are 11 more teams in the playoffs this year than last. The boys Division III bracket has 21 teams. Lazenby-Blaser noticed that the Division IV girls bracket, which has 19 teams, is particularly large this year. One team in that bracket that should probably not be anywhere near the playoffs this season? Sobrato. The Lady Bulldogs went 0-12 in the Tri-County Athletic League. But they were 6-5 in non-league games and barely snuck in with the 18th seed. Although they beat Sobrato twice this season, the cross-town rival Live Oak girls did not make the Division II playoffs. The Lady Acorns finished 10-15 overall and 4-8 in league. Granted, the Division II field is the more competitive field and Live Oak probably didn’t deserve a spot in that bracket.
I don’t mean to pick on the young Lady Bulldogs. They didn’t make the rule; they’re only going along with it. But their situation is the perfect example of why this rule was a bad idea.
If I could have things my way, the CCS basketball playoffs would be structured like football and have an Open Division. Then the best-of-the-best, no matter school size, would play for the ultimate title. It’s bad enough that the powerhouse private schools – many from the all-too-privileged West Catholic Athletic League – play in different playoff divisions and often take home the bulk of the CCS championships, without being truly challenged by having to play each other. This year, those teams earned the No. 1 seeds in seven of the 10 boys and girls divisions.
Lazenby-Blaser said the CCS has considered creating an Open Division for basketball. But because basketball teams move on from the CCS playoffs to the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) state playoffs – unlike in football – that isn’t possible. The CIF would have to change the state playoff structure to include an Open Division. Even then, Lazenby-Blaser said it would be hard to completely fill an Open Division in some sections because public schools don’t want to have to compete with the mighty private schools.
“We’re already having it start to crumble a bit (in football),” the commissioner said. “Teams shouldn’t have to be forced to go up.”
So we probably won’t get to see an Open Division anytime soon. I guess I can live with that. But the non-league .500 rule? That needs to go.
