CIF Southern Section Division Preview: 4AA
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 4AA.
Division 4AA Contenders
Hillcrest
The Trojans are heading into their fifth season of varsity competition and coach Jackson Wood has built a competitive program in a short time. Hillcrest returns six players from last year’s team which finished with a 23-9 record and advanced to the CIF-SS Division 4AA quarterfinals last season. Look for seniors Cam Vollmer and Victor Ohia Obioha to lead the way.
Rowland
The Raiders were a nice surprise in Division 4AA last season, advancing to the semifinals before falling to eventual champion West Torrance. Rowland returns Phillip Aguiniga, Elijah Beasley and Ethan Galang to a team that racked up 21 victories last year.
St. Genevieve
The Valiants won only 10 games last season and missed the playoffs entirely, but the returns of physical, athletic wing and leading scorer Pharoh Allah (12.6 points per game) along with junior Avery Edwards (9.0 ppg) and senior Cristian Contreras (6.5 ppg) gives coach Sean Collyer a nice trio to have a bounce-back season.
Westminster
Head coach C.J. Hollingsworth is making the most of one of the toughest jobs in Southern California. The Lions have bought in to his hard-nosed approach and this season’s roster has the makings of one that could make a deep playoff run. Senior point guard Anthony Nguyen is a heady, jack of all trades type of player, while the team’s leading scorers, Joshua Lee (11.4) and Isaiah Lee (10.9 ppg) are plenty capable of putting a team on their backs.
Woodcrest Christian
The Royals lost its top producer from last season, Alex Wright, but returns a host of players who contributed to the 4AA semifinal effort in 2016-17. Junior Darin Reynolds and senior Jacob van Haaster highlight a squad that features six experienced seniors.
Others to Watch
Bellflower — The Bucs have a new coach in place and a wealth of underclassmen who saw varsity time last season. There’s some potential there for an upstart effort at Bellflower.
Segerstrom — The Jaguars return their top two scorers from last season in Abraham Negrete (13.5 ppg) and Angelo Espinoza (10.5 ppg).
St. Monica — The Mariners sputtered to just nine wins last season with a very young roster and those growing pains could pay off this season. St. Monica will be led by 5-6 point guard John Clausell, 6-4 wing Ike Udengwu and 6-6 forward Riel Fisher.