High School

CIF basketball: Mira Costa's win over Redondo Union justifies thoughts of larger Open Division field

The closer we get to Saturday, Feb. 8, when the CIF Southern Section reveals playoff pairings and divisions, the more results support the notion for a larger Open Division field.

Tarek Fattal

Mira Costa celebrates after a narrow victory over Redondo Union to earn a share of the Bay League title on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025.
Mira Costa celebrates after a narrow victory over Redondo Union to earn a share of the Bay League title on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. / Tarek Fattal

Change is staring right into the eyes of high school basketball in the CIF Southern Section as judgement day approaches under the new 'competitive equity' model that uses computer rankings to decide the playoff divisions.

Judgement day is Saturday, February 8, when the playoff division and pairings created by a computer will be revealed for the first time. It sounds like change is already here …

But some are stuck in the past ... The 'this-is-how-we've-always-done-things' way of thinking has some believing the Southern Section office wouldn't dare select more than eight teams for the Open Division.

Why? Because only eight teams are guaranteed an automatic berth to the CIF State playoffs. God forbid Open Division teams are left to earn their state playoff berth ...

Meanwhile, with less than 48 hours left in the regular season, 'competitive equity' is bursting at the seams with parity that simply cannot be ignored. On Tuesday night, No. 13 Mira Costa knocked off No. 5 Redondo Union 69-68. And No. 9 Notre Dame defeated No. 6 Sierra Canyon 83-72.

"It would be an honor to be in the Open Division," Mira Costa coach Neal Perlmutter said. "I don't know if this win gives us enough juice to lift us up — we don't know if they're going to take 8 or 10 teams — but this (win) gives us a lot of belief and momentum going into wherever we have to play."

Two teams out of the standard eight-team threshold, beat two teams in the Top 6 Tuesday night. Last week, Santa Margarita was No. 9 and defeated St. John Bosco and JSerra, which were ranked No. 3 and 8, respectively.

Parity could forge a 10-team Open Division playoff, and Tuesday's results indicates the notion even further.

High school basketball's ability to change, evolve, and adapt is undergoing a stress test. How will it react?

There's still 24 hours left in the regular season ... and we have no idea what will happen if No. 9 Notre Dame/Sherman Oaks finds a way to take down No. 1 Harvard-Westlake in the Mission League tournament final Wednesday night.

One word: bedlam.

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Published
Tarek Fattal, SBLive Sports
TAREK FATTAL

Tarek Fattal has been covering high school sports since 2015 in Southern California and primarily in Los Angeles, covering notable athletes such as Bronny James, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Alyssa Thompson. He was with the LA Daily News for eight years, which included being the beat reporter for the UCLA men's basketball team. Tarek can be seen on TV regularly on CBS/KCAL as a sports analyst with Jim Hill.

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