Basketball: Poly Boys Snubbed From Open Division

On Friday afternoon, the CIF Southern Section office released the teams that have been selected for their first ever Open Division postseason tournament bracket. The stated goal of the Open Division was to take the best teams from across all divisions and place them into one gauntlet featuring Southern Californias best teams.

Of course, with any selection process, whether its the BCS or the Open Division, conversation was bound focus on who was left off the list as much as it focused on who made it. From Moore League, Compton, made it in, but the biggest surprise of the day across all of SoCal was that Long Beach Polys boys team didnt make it.

On a scale of 1 to 10 (as far as a surprise factor), tweeted Ronnie Flores, one of the editors of Cal-Hi Sports, not having Long Beach Polyis a 10.

The Jackrabbits had been on the Open Division Watch List issued weekly by the CIF-SS for the entire season, and every single media prediction in SoCal had them as a lock entry, with Cal-Hi Sports mock bracket seeding them 10th out of the 16 teams selected.

Poly coach Shelton Diggs was at the postseason Moore League coaches meeting when the list was released, and said a charge went through the room at the surprising news.

Its a slap in the face, plain and simple, he said.

At issue is the fact that Compton, who finished second place in the Moore League behind Poly, did make the list.

"Us in over Poly? asked Tarbabes coach Tony Thomas. They're the best team in the area over the last four years, period. I just don't get it.

As was the case across much of the Southland, coaches saw the grass on the other side of the fence as greener regardless of whether they made the list or were left off. For Diggs, it was a matter of respect. If that division is the best we want to be there, thats the Poly way, he said.

Truthfully, being left off puts the Jackrabbits in a better spot. If last weeks rankings stay the same, Poly would enter the Division 1AA bracket as the top seed, as they were the top-ranked team to not make the Open Division. Poly was ranked No. 6, the next highest team to stay in 1AA is Rancho Cucamonga, at No. 8.

Read more here:
Basketball: Poly Boys Snubbed From Open Division