Winning a league and section title no longer matters, according to the convoluted “power” ratings and Open divisions established by the state CIF and endorsed by the San Diego Section.

The Horizon girls’ basketball team was essentially told to drop dead by the CIF after the Panthers had won their league title and the San Diego Section Division I championship.

State regional playoffs begin tomorrow night. Horizon is out and La Jolla Country Day and The Bishop’s, teams beaten by Horizon for the Horizon League title, are the 1 and 2 seeds in D-V.

Teams can move down in the regional only if they were in Open Division in their section playoffs.  St. Augustine stays in the Open by virtue of another seeding criteria.

No less an expert and booster of high school sports than Mark Tennis of Cal-Hi Sports weighed in.

“We’ve been doing this for 35 years, longer than the CIF has even had a state tournament, and the Horizon Christian girls basketball team having its season end through a series of CIF San Diego Section policies, CIF State regional criteria, and ridiculous power ratings is one of the worst cases of how not to run high school sports that we’ve ever seen.”

“It’s a tragedy,” added Steve Brand of UT-San Diego.

Boys D-I titlist Escondido also is out.  Morse, which lost to the Cougars, 63-49, in the D-I championship, is in.

Go figure.

The ratings are the result of much statistical analysis.  A labyrinth of information goes into a computer to help determine which teams compete in Roman numeral divisions and which teams are selected for Open divisions.

Sounds good, but it hasn’t worked.

St. Augustine, which won a state D-III title in 2012-13, was denied an opportunity to defend its title and was consigned to the Open Division in 2013-14.

The Saints were forced to go on the road and  took a 67-39, first-round shellacking from Santa Ana Mater Dei.

Coach Mike Haupt’s squad again is in the Open Division and faces another tall hurdle.  As the No. 8 seed, the Saints visit No. 1 Torrance Bishop Montgomery, the state’s second-ranked squad.

Foothills Christian, which won the San Diego Section D-II title, all of a sudden is in the Open Division, apparently because the Knights have an overall high state ranking (No. 20 by Cal-Hi Sports).

The No. 6 seed Knights also have a daunting challenge, visiting No. 3 seed Rancho Cucamonga Etiwanda, the state’s third-ranked team.

Torrey Pines, the Open Division loser to St. Augustine, also is in the tournament, but now has a home game  in D-I tomorrow night against Tustin Foothill.

Go figure II.

More and more teams are being invited to the state playoffs.  The once-pristine regional is beginning to look like the  bloated early rounds of the Section tournament.

Teams with losing records are creeping in.

Regional first-round pairings involving San Diego section teams:

BOYS

GIRLS

FINAL UT-SAN DIEGO BASKETBALL VOTE

Foothills Christian came on strong in the San Diego Section playoffs and  finished atop the UT-SanUT-San Diego poll.

*Awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.  **Includes two forfeits.

Others receiving votes: El Cajon Valley (25-6), 5; Mira Mesa (25-7), 4; Francis Parker (19-8), 2.

Eleven San Diego County sportswriters and broadcasters and a CIF San Diego Section representative vote each week. The panel includes John Maffei and Kirk Kenney (UT-San Diego), Terry Monahan (UT-San Diego correspondent), Bill Dickens (eastcountysports.com), Steve Brand (San Diego Hall of Champions), John Labeta (CIF San Diego Section), Bodie DeSilva (sandiegopreps.com), Aaron Burgin (fulltimeshoops.com), Rick Willis (KUSI Chl. 51), Rick Smith (partletonsports.com), Drew Willis (sdcoastalsports.com).

Ugly blowouts apparently in the rear view mirror, the San Diego Section basketball playoffs reach the semifinals round this week in the Open and Divisions I-V.

The so-called CIF power ratings, with  their comprehensive reviews of statistics, scores, strength of schedule, etc., raised questions when Vista was accorded an Open Division berth, resulting in Francis Parker and Morse being assigned to Division I.

San Marcos’ strength of schedule  was questioned when he it was granted a No. 3 seed in the Open.

St. Augustine, No. 6, defeated San Marcos,  60-45, and Torrey Pines, No. 1, walloped Vista, No. 8, 68-38.

IT’S WHO YOU PLAY

Torrey Pines was 4-1 in intersectional games and hosted the nationally acclaimed Under-Armour Tournament, which brings teams from throughout the United States.

Vista was 1-5 in out-of-the area competition and participated in a lower level tournament in Westminster.

San Marcos was 5-0 intersectionally and won undistinguished tournaments in Maui, Hawaii, and at Mt. Carmel.

St. Augustine was 4-3 out of the area and was in the lower level West Hills event but also competed in the Under Armour and Santa Margarita tournaments.

The Open semifinals have St. Augustine (23-6) at No. 2 La Costa Canyon (22-6) and No. 4 Army-Navy (24-5) at Torrey Pines (27-2).

Hopefully early-round games involving undeserving, losing teams and  scores of 68-21, 92-29, 77-28, and 71-27 won’t be repeated and, in the future, more weight will be given to the quality of tournaments and intersectional competition.

The sluggish UT-San Diego poll showed no change in the first six positions from last week with  minor juggling after that, most notable being St. Augustine’s rising from 10th to seventh.

Meanwhile, there continues to be an absence of San Diego Section teams in the Cal-Hi Sports state top 20.

Torrey Pines, Foothills Christian, La Costa Canyon, and San Marcos have “On the Bubble” status.

UT-San Diego poll #8:

*Awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.  **Includes two forfeits.

Others receiving votes: Cathedral (13-7), 11; Escondido (15-7), 5; Kearny (18-7), 2.

Eleven San Diego County sportswriters and broadcasters, and a CIF San Diego Section representative vote each week. The panel includes John Maffei and Kirk Kenney (UT-San Diego), Terry Monahan (UT-San Diego correspondent), Bill Dickens (eastcountysports.com), Steve Brand (San Diego Hall of Champions), John Labeta (CIF San Diego Section), Bodie DeSilva (sandiegopreps.com), Aaron Burgin (fulltimeshoops.com), Rick Willis (KUSI Chl. 51), Rick Smith (partletonsports.com), Drew Willis (sdcoastalsports.com).

Where have I gone wrong?

I voted for Morse as No. 5 in the UT-San Diego basketball poll this week.

I assigned No. 10 to Army-Navy.

The poll of 11 voters released today shows Army-Navy No. 5 and Morse No. 9.  No change from last week for either team.

Morse defeated Riverside John North, 96-88, in double overtime and Serra, 81-70, last week.

Army-Navy beat Francis Parker, 63-54, and lost to Foothills Christian, 76-59.

North has an 18-1 record and Serra is 13-7.  Francis Parker is 12-5 and Foothills Christian 16-5 on the floor but 14-7 because of two forfeits.

Army-Navy is 17-3  and Morse 18-4, although the Tigers’ record had been a mystery since the coach or student manager waited weeks before reporting several scores to the San Diego Section.

Morse’s schedule includes an 81-70 loss to Los Angeles Cathedral, the ninth-ranked team in the state.

The Tigers also have losses of 69-53 to Burbank Bellarmine-Jefferson, 59-45 to Beverly Hills, and 62-55 to Francis Parker.

Army-Navy’s two additional defeats were to St. Augustine, 60-43, and to La Costa Canyon, 59-45.

Morse’s loss to Parker was in December.   Army-Navy beat Parker last week.

The CIF’s “power ratings”  lists El Camino (a 54-46 loser to Army-Navy and which has played a mostly local schedule) as the top team in Division 1, with Army-Navy fourth, and Morse 10^th.

I give Morse a slight edge, based on strength of schedule, over the Carlsbad boarding school and El Camino.

I give Army-Navy an edge in perceived North county brain lock by some poll voting members.

But maybe it’s me with brain lock.

UT-San Diego poll #6:

*Awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. NR–Not ranked. *Includes two forfeits.

Others receiving votes: Vista,  (17-4), 5; Kearny, (14-6), 3;  Escondido (11-7), 2.

Eleven San Diego County sportswriters and broadcasters, and a CIF San Diego Section representative vote each week. The panel includes John Maffei and Kirk Kenney (UT-San Diego), Terry Monahan (UT-San Diego correspondent), Bill Dickens (eastcountysports.com), Steve Brand (San Diego Hall of Champions), John Labeta (CIF San Diego Section), Bodie DeSilva (sandiegopreps.com), Aaron Burgin (fulltimeshoops.com), Rick Willis (KUSI Chl. 51), Rick Smith (partletonsports.com), Drew Willis (sdcoastalsports.com).

We’re going to hold off on publishing the weekly Union-Tribune basketball poll, because games Monday night would dramatically alter the Top 10, the deadline of which for voters is 10 a.m. on Monday.

The poll’s timeliness often is in question at this time of year, because clubs are involved in the annual series of one-night stands and specially promoted events on various dates before league play permanently locks in.

Torrey Pines hosted a Martin Luther King doubleheader  and the No. 3-ranked Falcons defeated La Costa Canyon, tied for No. 1 with Foothills Christian, 68-42.  Francis Parker, No. 10, topped St. Augustine, No. 7, 65-55, on the undercard.

Most impressive, at first glance, was Morse’s 96-88, double-overtime victory over Riverside John North in the MLK Classic at La Salle High in Pasadena.

Justin Davis had 42 points and 13 rebounds and 6-foot, 11-inch sophomore Brandon Davis added 27 points for the 16-5 Tigers, who dealt the North Huskies their first loss in a 16-1 season.

Two of North’s starters did not play, according to Cal-Hi Sports.

FOOTHILLS UP AND DOWN

Enigmatic Foothills Christian, ranked 17th in the state, continued to roll with 6-foot, 11-inch T.J. Leaf, in and out of the lineup since an ankle injury in the Under Armour event at Torrey Pines in December.

The Knights were stunned, 48-41, by unranked The Bishop’s but defeated La Jolla Country Day, 76-52, in Coastal League contests which Leaf sat out.

Foothills took a 45-36 lead over state No. 6 Redondo Beach Redondo Union but were outscored, 22-12, in the final  quarter and beaten, 58-57,  by the 14-4 Seahawks in a MLK event at Cerritos College in Norwalk.

Leaf, who has missed seven games, scored 21 points and had 16 rebounds against Redondo.

NEAR THE PARK 

Balboa City is a prep school located on the former Hawthorne Elementary campus at Second Avenue and Hawthorne Street.

The team plays  other prep squads and high school opponents and is coached by school principal Zack Jones, the formerly successful mentor at Horizon.

Jones is assisted by Ollie Goulston, who built a powerful program and won more than  250 games at Hoover before being pushed out by a principal who soon moved to La Jolla High.

(The principal has since incurred the disfavor of a group of  Vikings football alums who say they are at odds with the administrator on where a plaque could be placed honoring the late Vikings coach and beloved figure Walt Harvey).

Balboa City has a 7-6 record and dropped its most recent game, 65-40, to Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary, in the Flyin’ To The Hoop Tournament in Kettering, Ohio.  St. Vincent-St. Mary is the alma mater of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Lebron James.

The order of  the Union-Tribune Top 10 was unchanged after the fourth vote of the season, but there will be changes next week.

No. 1 Foothills Christian was beaten, 48-42, by The Bishop’s at Cuyamaca College last night in what is evolving into a tough Coastal Division race.

Foothills’ 6-foot, 11-inch T.J. Leaf did not play as the Patriots fell to 10-7, while The Bishop’s improved to 10-4.

UT-San Diego poll #4:

*Awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. NR–Not ranked.

Others receiving votes: Kearny, (11-6) and Grossmont (11-2), 8 each; Escondido (7-5), 5; Vista,  (13-4), 3; Steele Canyon (12-4), 1.

Eleven San Diego County sportswriters and broadcasters, and a CIF San Diego Section representative vote each week. The panel includes John Maffei and Kirk Kenney (UT-San Diego), Terry Monahan (UT-San Diego correspondent), Bill Dickens (eastcountysports.com), Steve Brand (San Diego Hall of Champions), John Labeta (CIF San Diego Section), Bodie DeSilva (sandiegopreps.com), Aaron Burgin (fulltimeshoops.com), Rick Willis (KUSI Chl. 51), Rick Smith (partletonsports.com), Drew Willis (sdcoastalsports.com).