By Gabe Camarillo
Here is Part II of our Final Week Feature on Central Section high school basketball — the projected seedings for every girls’ basketball team in the final couple days of the regular season.
Playoff brackets are unveiled Saturday afternoon, and the Central Section will decide placements by averaging each team’s MaxPreps rating and strength of schedule.
That’s the foundation, but there are also tiebreakers if teams end up within three seeds of each other — head to head, record vs. common opponent, and most importantly for league foes, finish in league standings. League finish trumps all if league opponents are being compared.
There are 92 playoff-eligible girls’ basketball teams, which puts 12 teams in Division I and 16 in every other division.
Through tiebreakers in every division and accounting for base divisions, here are the projected girls’ basketball brackets in ESPN Fresno’s Bracketology.
Base divisions (teams cannot climb higher than one or lower than one):
https://cifcs.org/sports/CS_GirlsBasketball_Divisions.pdf
UPDATED: Feb. 9, 2024 — 12 a.m. PT
Clovis North was a Division I team until Minarets beat Riverdale — isn’t that crazy?
Division I:
- Clovis West BYE
- St. Joseph (Santa Maria) BYE
- Central BYE
– holds better league record than Buchanan and Clovis - Buchanan BYE
– holds better league record than Clovis - Arroyo Grande
– beat Oxnard, which beat Clovis - Clovis
– beat Monache, which beat San Joaquin Memorial - San Joaquin Memorial
- Clovis East
– lower league record than Clovis. Despite being rated higher than Arroyo Grande, the T’Wolves must be seeded behind Clovis. - Caruthers
– beat Bakersfield Christian, which beat Bullard - Bullard
- Righetti
– split meetings with Paso Robles; beat San Luis Obispo, which beat Paso - Paso Robles
– holds higher league rank than SLO
1 Clovis West BYE
9 Caruthers at 8 Clovis East
12 Paso Robles at 5 Arroyo Grande
4 Buchanan BYE
11 Righetti at 6 Clovis
3 Central BYE
*10 Bullard at 7 San Joaquin Memorial
2 St. Joseph BYE
*although the CIF tends to shy away from league matchups in first round like Bullard-SJM, the Panthers and Knights are locked into their spots due to tiebreakers.
Division II:
1. Tehachapi
– beat Sierra Pacific and Monache, which beat Orcutt; also beat Centennial, which beat Mission Prep
But how high can the Warriors climb? They started the original rankings at No. 6… it would be unprecedented for a school to jump that high based on tiebreakers, but we’ll put them here anyway.
2. Monache
3. Mission Prep
– beat Orcutt and holds league lead over Cabrillo
4. Cabrillo
– 3-1 vs. Mission Prep and Paso Robles
5. Sierra Pacific
– beat Immanuel twice, which beat Clovis North; also beat Righetti, which beat Orcutt
6. Orcutt Academy
– 0-2 vs. Mission Prep and Paso Robles
7. Clovis North
8. Centennial
9. Liberty (Bakersfield)
10. San Luis Obispo
11. Shafter
– beat Mission Oak
12. Mission Oak
– beat El Diamante
13. El Diamante
– holds league lead over Porterville
14. Porterville
– 2-0 against Redwood (Sanger and Fresno 0-1)
15. Redwood
– beat Sanger, which beat Roosevelt
16. Roosevelt
– holds league lead over Fresno
16 Roosevelt at 1 Tehachapi
9 Liberty at 8 Centennial
12 Mission Oak at 5 Sierra Pacific
13 El Diamante at 4 Cabrillo
11 Shafter at 6 Orcutt
14 Porterville at 3 Mission Prep
10 San Luis Obipso at 7 Clovis North
15 Redwood at 2 Monache
Division III:
1. Bakersfield Christian
2. Morro Bay
3. Fresno
– beat Sierra
4. Sierra
– beat Sanger, Reedley and Hanford
5. Sanger
6. Hanford
7. Kerman
– beat Reedley twice
8. Reedley
– beat Madera
9. Madera
– beat Hoover
10. Hoover
– beat Reedley but lost to Madera. So the three-way tie reverts to computers
11. West (Bakersfield)
– split meetings with Ridgeview; beat Frontier, which beat Ridgeview
12. Justin Garza
– beat West, which beat Frontier and Ridgeview
13. Frontier
– beat Golden West, which beat Tulare Western. Frontier beat Garza, but because of the three-way tiebreaker with West, we revert back to computer rankings.
This means, funny enough, Garza and Frontier are seeded behind teams they beat. There’s no way to solve this. Let’s say the CIF places Garza ahead of West; then Frontier could claim, “Hey, we beat Garza so we should be the No. 10 seed.” And this is why the CIF reverts to computer numbers.
14. Ridgeview
15. Selma
16. Tulare Western
– Tulare Western beat Selma. Selma beat Dinuba. Dinuba beat Tulare Western twice, so everything reverts to the computer numbers.
16 Tulare Western at 1 Bakersfield Christian
9 Madera at 8 Reedley
12 Garza at 5 Sanger
13 Frontier at 4 Sierra
11 West at 6 Hanford
14 Ridgeview at 3 Fresno
10 Hoover at 7 Kerman
15 Selma at 2 Morro Bay
Division IV:
1. Torres
– beat Sunnyside twice, which beat Immanuel and Santa Maria
2. Immanuel
– beat Strathmore, which beat Santa Ynez
3. Strathmore
4. Santa Ynez
5. Santa Maria
6. Dinuba
7. North
– beat Templeton
8. Templeton
9. Tulare Union
– beat Immanuel, which beat Arvin
10. Arvin
11. Pioneer Valley
– beat Corcoran
12. Corcoran
– beat Farmersville, which beat Mendota
13. Mendota
14. Independence
15. Hanford West
– beat Golden West
16. Madera South
– beat Selma, which beat Golden West
Golden West is out of D4
16 Madera South at 1 Torres
9 Tulare Union at 8 Templeton
12 Corcoran at 5 Santa Maria
13 Mendota at 4 Santa Ynez
11 Pioneer Valley at 6 Dinuba
14 Independence at 3 Strathmore
10 Arvin at 7 North
15 Hanford West at 2 Immanuel
Division V:
1. Rosamond
2. Farmersville
– beat Exeter and Mendota, which beat Parlier
3. Parlier
4. Fowler
– beat Strathmore, which beat Lindsay.
5. Lindsay
– beat Chavez and Coalinga. Golden West win doesn’t come into play with more than three seeding spots of separation.
6. Coalinga
– If they beat Mendota and win the West Sierra League, they might end up in Division 4.
7. Chavez
8. Desert
9. Exeter
– holds better league record than Central Valley Christian
10. Atascadero
11. Central Valley Christian
– beat Golden West and Fresno Christian, which beat Mt. Whitney
12. Mt. Whitney
13. Kern Valley
14. Taft
– beat Golden Valley, which beat East Bakersfield
15. East Bakersfield
16. Bishop
16 Bishop at 1 Rosamond
9 Exeter at 8 Desert
12 Mt. Whitney at 5 Lindsay
13 Kern Valley at 4 Fowler
11 Central Valley Christian at 6 Coalinga
14 Taft at 3 Parlier
10 Atascadero at 7 Chavez
15 East Bakersfield at 2 Farmersville
Division VI:
1. McLane
2. Orosi
3. Foothill
4. Firebaugh
– beat Chowchilla
5. Chowchilla
– holds league tiebreaker over Fresno Christian
6. Fresno Christian
7. Summit Charter Academy
8. Boron
9. Kennedy
10. Woodlake
11. Lone Pine
12. Immanuel Christian
13. Liberty (Madera)
14. Kings Christian
15. Baker
16. Alpaugh
16 Alpaugh at 1 McLane
9 Kennedy at 8 Boron
12 Immanuel Christian at 5 Chowchilla
13 Liberty (Madera) at 4 Firebaugh
11 Lone Pine at 6 Fresno Christian
14 Kings Christian at 3 Foothill
10 Woodlake at 7 Summit Charter Academy
15 Baker at 2 Orosi
