No teams in the boys’ Open Division looks like a break for San Diego Section teams, which were assigned some favorable seeds in other divisions of first-round play that gets under way in the Southern California regional tournament Tuesday night.
Two girls teams are seeded No. 1 and have byes to the quarterfinals. Open Division La Jolla Country Day goes in not only with the top seed but is ranked first in California and in the Country, according to some voting entities.
Thirty-three boys’ and girls’ squads were invited, compared to 31 last season, and with no opposing Central Section squads most travel will be no more than (hopefully) a three-hour bus ride.
DONS FIRST IN GIRLSÂ D-I
Cathedral, which lost to La Jolla Country Day in the San Diego Section girls Open final, also received a first-round bye in D-I.
Francis Parker, a 2 seed in D-II, is the highest seeded boys squad. Cathedral, El Camino, and Foothills Christian have No. 3 rankings, and Torrey Pines got a desired 4.
Based on seeds 1 through 8, San Diego teams are favored in 16 of 30 opening-round games. Game 31 is not counted because it matches two San Diego Sections squads, University City and Calexico, in D-III.
If history holds, some of those lower seeded, visiting Southern Section teams will be more difficult than expected.
San Diego clubs were 16-14 against Southern, Los Angeles City, and Central section clubs in the first round in 2018-19, but not without disaster. L.A. University, No. 16 in boys D-III, scratched out a 78-74, overtime win at No. 1 Montgomery. No. 12 Temecula Linfield upset No. 5 Grossmont, 63-55, in girls D-IV.
BOYS
| DIVISION | TEAM | RECORD | OPPONENT | RECORD |
| I | 3 Cathedral | 24-7 | 14 Altadena Renaissance | 24-9* |
| 4 Torrey Pines | 26-5 | 13 West Hills Chaminade | 26-8* | |
| 7 St. Augustine | 24-6 | 10 Riverside Poly | 26-6* | |
| II | 2 Francis Parker | 22-5 | 15 Riverside Hillcrest | 24-5* |
| 3 Foothills Christian | 20-9 | 14 L.A. Salesian | 28-4* | |
| 8 Poway | 24-5 | 9 Lake Balboa Birmingham | 19-9^ | |
| 10 Mater Dei | 22-6 | @7 L.A. King/Drew | 23-8^ | |
| 11 Christian | 21-6 | @6 Eastvale Roosevelt | 24-8* | |
| 13 Santa Fe Christian | 23-9 | @4 Hesperia | 24-7* | |
| 16 Carlsbad | 24-8 | @1 La Canada St. Francis | 26-8* | |
| III | 3 El Camino | 24-6 | 14 Adelanto | 27-5* |
| 6 San Marcos | 18-11 | 11 Burbank Providence | 25-7* | |
| 7 San Diego | 21-10 | 10 L.A. Price | 24-10* | |
| IV | 6 University City | 20-9 | 11 Calexico | 27-3 |
| 7 San Ysidro | 24-8 | 10 L.A. View Park | 17-8^ | |
| 9 Coronado | 21-10 | @8 Harbor City Narbonne | 20-12^ | |
| V | 12 Classical | 24-8 | @5 Redlands Arrowhead | 17-12* |
*Southern Section. ^Los Angeles City Section.
GIRLS
| DIVISION | TEAM | RECORD | OPPONENT | RECORD |
| Open | 1 La Jolla Country Day | 30-1 | Bye | |
| I | 1 Cathedral | 20-11 | Bye | |
| 9 Bonita Vista | 21-9 | @8 Garden Grove Orangewood | 26-6* | |
| 14 La Costa Canyon | 22-6 | @3 Lynwood | 21-8* | |
| 15 Westview | 26-3 | @2 Fullerton Rosary | 19-12* | |
| II | 5 The Bishop’s | 17-10 | 12 Granada Hills | 20-11^ |
| 6 Mater Dei | 18-9 | 11 L.A. Hamilton | 21-7^ | |
| 13 Serra | 20-9 | @4 Santa Monica | 26-7* | |
| 15 Mission Hills | 18-9 | @2 L.A. Pacific Palisades | 22-9^ | |
| III | 8 Mount Miguel | 21-8 | 9 West Covina | 23-7* |
| 10 Poway | 19-12 | @7 Calabasas Viewpoint | 18-9* | |
| 13 Lincoln | 23-7 | @4 Menifee Paloma Valley | 30-3* | |
| IV | 12 Point Loma | 22-2 | @5 Sherman Oaks Notre Dame | 27-5* |
| V | 6 San Diego | 20-8 | 11 L.A. Central City Value | 24-5^ |
| 7 Madison | 15-17 | 10 Santa Barbara Bishop Diego | 23-9* | |
| 8 Hoover | 28-3 | 9 San Bernardino | 18-12* |
SEED PODS
Eastvale Eleanor Roosevelt, the D-II opponent of Christian, is the alma mater of San Diego State star Matt Mitchell…San Diego Section teams open play against 22 Southern Section and 10 Los Angels City Section squads…after posting a 16-14 record in the 2018-19 first round, local clubs were 6-10 in the quarterfinals…Torrey Pines, runner-up in San Diego this season, was the 2018-19 Open Division champion and got in as a No. 8 seed, sentenced to play at No. 1 Chatsworth Sierra Canyon…the result was an 83-38 loss for the Falcons…only Southern Section teams occupy the six-team Open Division bracket this season…seven San Diego teams, almost half of the 16, are in D-III…Cathedral will try to recover from the emotional shock of losing star Obinna Anyanwu, who sustained serious injuries in an automobile accident over the weekend…San Ysidro has won 15 games in a row but a challenging early schedule that left the Cougars 9-8 at the turn of the year worked against them…they’re a 7 seed in the competitive D-III and maybe deserved a better opportunity in D-IV…Francis Parker and Foothills Christian have played three times during the season (Parker won two) and could meet again…they’re 2 and 3 seeds in D-III…St. Augustine is 1-0 against Riverside Poly, the Saints’ D-1 opponent…they defeated the Bears, 75-59, in the Torrey Pines Christmas tournament….
