The computer power rankings that were used to place teams in divisions for the CIF Southern Section boys basketball playoffs provided a few strange outcomes.
One of them was Orange Lutheran being placed in Division 1 and Mater Dei being sent to Division 2. Mater Dei beat Orange Lutheran twice during the regular season, including by 27 points last week in the Trinity League Tournament.
The system gave us some good-looking games, too, in the first round Wednesday.
Here is a look at the games between two teams in the Orange County Top 25:
In Division 2, No. 20 Fountain Valley (21-7) at No. 17 El Dorado (25-3). Fountain Valley beat Marina, 64-56, last week to take the Sunset League’s fourth and final automatic spot in the playoffs. The Barons are led by senior guard Kenneth Nguyen, who averages 19 points, six rebounds and five assists a game. El Dorado, the Freeway League champion, has four players who average 10 or more points a game, led by senior guard Noah Barker’s 15 points a game.
In Division 2, No. 19 Edison (19-9) at No. 18 Esperanza (24-3): Edison, the third-place team in the Sunset League, is led by talented senior guard Derick Johnson, who is averaging 30 points a game. Esperanza clinched the Empire League championship last week with a 54-41 win over Troy. Senior forward Alex Van Otterloo, senior guard Nicholas Sosa and sophomore guard Jackson Fries each scored 10 points for the Aztecs.
In Division 3, No. 21 Aliso Niguel (20-8) at No. 23 Newport Harbor (16-12): Aliso Niguel senior guard Jayden Mysin averages 21 points a game for the Sea View League champion Wolverines. Newport Harbor has a fine player in 6-6 senior forward Owen Saukkola.
NOTES
If both teams win their first-round games in Division 1 on Wednesday, JSerra will play at Los Alamitos in the second round Friday. JSerra is No. 3 and Los Alamitos is No. 7 in this week’s Orange County Top 25. Another potential Division 1 game Friday in the second round is No. 8 La Habra at No. 14 Tesoro. …
In Division 2, if both teams win their first-round games Wednesday, a second-round game would be No. 16 Sonora at No. 13 San Clemente. …
Several Orange County players in these playoffs have played for Doug Gottlieb, broadcaster and University of Wisconsin-Green Bay coach, in the Branch West youth basketball program. Among them are Hugh Hannan at Servite, Ryan Mansouri and Maxwell Scott at Corona del Mar and Ryan Doane at JSerra. Gottlieb was the Orange County basketball player of the year at Tustin High in the 1990s and led the nation in assists twice as a player at Oklahoma State. …
Five boys basketball finals and five girls basketball finals will be played at Toyota Arena in Ontario, Feb. 27 and 28. The other 10 CIF-SS championship games, five boys games and five girls games, will be played at Azusa Pacific University on the same dates. …
Admission to CIF-SS playoff games through the semifinals: $12 for adults, $6 for high school students, $6 for children of ages 5-12. Only tickets purchased at GoFan.co on smartphones are acceptable for admission. Paper tickets and screenshots of tickets are not accepted. …
The results of coin flips required to determine second-round home teams are available at CIFSS.org in the website’s boys basketball section. …
The four CIF-SS semifinalists in the Open Division and in Division 1-8 qualify for the CIF Southern California Regional tournament. The Open Division also will have 4-6 other teams advance to the regional playoffs. Division 9 will have 2-4 teams go to the regional playoffs. …
The official CIF-SS standings for the San Joaquin League has Orange County Classical Academy as the league champion, with O.C. No. 11 Pacifica Christian and O.C. No. 12 Fairmont Prep tied for second with San Gabriel Academy. Orange County Classical Academy, a private school of 88 students in Santa Ana, was 9-2 this season. It is in CIF-SS probationary status and did not play Pacifica Christian, Fairmont Prep and San Gabriel Academy this season but that is how the league submitted its final standings to the CIF-SS office. …
The Orange County boys and girls all-star basketball games are May 2 at Cypress College.