CIF Southern Section Division Preview: 4A
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 first CIF-SS Division breakdown in 4A.
Division 4A Contenders
Rolling Hills Prep
The Harvey Kitani-led Huskies return its entire lineup from last season’s team which won Southern Section and State championships in Division 5AA and Division 5, respectively. Senior Alex Garcia, junior Chris Koon and sophomores J.T. Tan and Vaughn Flowers lead the Rolling Hills Prep back-to-back championship hopes.
Valley Torah
You’ll always be in a game when you have a guy like Ryan Turell on your side. The 6-foot-5 senior averaged a near triple-double last season with 25.3 points, 12.4 rebounds and 8.4 assists per game. Coach Lior Schwartzberg is 49-11 heading into his third season as the signal caller for the Wolfpack, including a semifinal appearance in the CIF-SS Division 5AA playoffs last season.
Mary Star of the Sea
The Stars have junior shooting guard Joseph Octave back in the fold. The 6-foot-3 swingman is one of the more explosive and versatile scorers in all of Southern California, as evidenced by his 24.7 points per game average as a sophomore. Jose Rocha and Aaron Torres are two other key returners from last year’s team that went 21-9 and advanced to the CIF-SS Division 4A semifinals.
Riverside Carnegie
Can the Wolverines match their drastic turnaround from last season? Carnegie lost all 14 of its games in the 2015-16 season before a host of talented international students arrived prior to the start of last season. Once the 30-day transfer sit out period was over, Carnegie ran through its compeition, winning 19 of its last 22 games, including a CIF-SS Division 6 championship. The Wolverines potentially return 6-5 senior Kostas Altinis who averaged 11.2 points, 7.3 rebounds and 4.9 steals per game last season and 6-3 senior Julio Arocha (9.1 ppg).
Holy Martyrs
The Armens have quickly become a perennial small schools power thanks in large-part to the leadership of head coach Koko Kaprielian. Holy Martyrs Division 5A quarterfinals in 2016 and to the Division 5AA finals in 2017.
Others to Watch
Hesperia Christian — The Patriots return two of its top four scorers from last season in Quentin Wilson (11.7 points per game) and Hunter Dobyns (6.9 ppg) from a team that advanced to the CIF-SS Division 5AA semifinals last season. Coach Scott Dobyns has a plethora of returning reserves who played big minutes last season.
Serrano — The Diamondbacks have some talent on its roster, led by 6-foot-6 wing Jihuan Westbrook. If Westbrook has a breakout season like many expect, Serrano could make some noise beyond the high desert.