CIF Southern Section Division I Preview: Dark Horses
The new CIF Southern Section competitive equity format has shaken up the playoff divisions for the 2017-18 season and beyond.
Let’s take a deeper dive into exactly what competitive equity means.
The division placement for each team is based upon a two-year weighted power point total, as described by the CIF-SS website, which take into account strength of a team’s regular season schedule results (33 percent) and playoff performance results (67 percent).
In addition, regular season contests are weighted based on strength of opponents. For example, a victory over a team in Division 1 is given more “points” than a win over a team in Divisions 2, 3, 4, and 5 and the same goes for playoff performance results.
The past CIF division placements have revolved mostly around number of enrollment, and while the number of students at a specific school is no longer a determining factor, the division breakdowns, especially toward the lower end, still have many of the smaller schools in those lower divisions.
This brings us to our CIF-SS Division I Dark Horse breakdown.
Division I Dark Horses
Crespi
The Celts are the ultimate dark horse candidate because we still don’t know the true status of its best player, Arizona-commit Brandon Williams. The 6-foot-2 combo guard has missed a considerable amount of time with a knee injury and is currently on a limited minutes program to get him back to game speed. Crespi has plenty of other weapons in addition to Williams, including lightning quick senior guard Taj Regans and smooth scoring junior forward Kyle Owens. Sophomore Tai Rutledge is the potential x-factor when it comes to Mission League play. The 6-foot-5 forward has the physicality needed to mix it up in the paint against big men like Alemany’s Fred Odihambo and Harvard-Westlake’s Mason Hooks.
Orange Lutheran
The Lancers still might be one year away with its plethora of junior class talent. Six-foot-7 junior Cade Potter is as skilled as they come and he can stretch the floor to the 3-point line when needed. Six-foot-3 Isaiah Pope, 6-foot-1 Josh Griffin and 5-foot-9 Trey Anderson provide plenty of scoring punch from the perimeter and beyond the 3-point line. Junior Cooper Jervis and sophomore Jordan Montrose will be critical to Orange Lutheran’s success as they bring toughness on the defensive end.
Rancho Verde
The Mustangs have plenty of length and talent on the perimeter, combine that with a one of the most stout team-defensive schemes, and you have a team that could make some noise come postseason play. Tory San Antonio and Marcus Reedy both have good size, length and athleticism, while guards Jaxen Turner and Najee Clowney are impressive two-way players who can hold their own against any guard-duo in SoCal.
Serra
Head coach Bernard McCrumby has a team that has bought in to playing hard on both ends of the floor and that always goes far at the high school level. Junior wing Doctor Bradley has immense natural talent and this season could be the one where he puts it all together. Myles Threatt, Damani Lewis and Jaylan Slaughter are all capable scorers and solid defenders. Freshman guard Darius McClain is a crafty young scorer who could come up huge for the Cavaliers late in the season.
Windward
Wildcats coach Colin Pfaff has shown the ability to get the most out his roster, but having UCLA-bound wing Jules Bernard at your disposal certainly helps win a few games. Sophomore Devin Tillis went down with a knee injury on the first day of Pac Shores, which is a big loss, but it will give others time to develop. Corey Silverman-Lloyd can score both on and off the ball, junior Jared Barnett is developing into a solid point guard and freshman Jaren Harris has an advanced feel for the game. Sophomore Marcus Joseph provides Windward with a much-needed inside presence.