Computers are only as good as the data they’re fed.
Wins and losses and strength of schedule are huge in the MaxPreps computer rankings, the system the San Diego Section uses to pair the boys and girls basketball playoffs.
What the computer doesn’t compute is head-to-head games.
So despite a rating more than 1.4 points higher than Cathedral Catholic and a nearly dead even strength of schedule, it was a pair of losses to the Dons that cost the St. Augustine boys the No. 1 seed Saturday in the eight-team Open Division.
“All we needed to do was win a game,” said St. Augustine coach Mike Haupt, whose Saints blew an eight-point fourth-quarter lead and lost 59-57 at home to the Dons, then fell 56-48 at Cathedral.
A split of the series with Cathedral would have given St. Augustine the No. 1 seed.
Both the Saints and Dons will have first-round home games Friday with Cathedral hosting Christian and the Saints hosting Mater Dei Catholic.
Cathedral-Christian will be a Western League matchup with the teams splitting in the regular season.
The Western League has three teams in the Open Division — Cathedral, St. Augustine and Christian. The Coastal League has two in Francis Parker and Foothills Christian with Santa Fe Christian the No. 1 seed in Division I and Army-Navy seeded No. 3 in Division II.
Poway is the lone Open Division representative from the Palomar League while Mater Dei Catholic represents the Mesa League and Torrey Pines the Avocado West League.
With a win Friday over Francis Parker, Foothills Christian jumped over the Lancers, meaning those teams finish four-five in the rankings, but Foothills gets a home game.
“I’ve stopped trying to figure out the rankings,” said Foothills coach Brad Leaf.
“Of course, we want a home game, but we’ll show up and play wherever they tell us.”
Tentatively, that game is set for Saturday at 7 p.m. at Cuyamaca College. However, Foothills is working on securing Cuyamaca for 7:45 p.m. Friday.
In Division I that starts Tuesday, Santa Fe Christian, Carlsbad, El Camino and San Marcos are the top-four seeds. Without a gym, El Camino will play at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Army-Navy with the El Camino girls playing at 6:30 p.m.
One of the real head scratchers in the pairings is 18-10 Sweetwater not making the Division II field.
“This rankings system is wrong — 18 wins can’t get you in the playoffs?” said Sweetwater coach Jesse Aguirre.
The Red Devils finished second in their league with a 10-2 record, losing twice to San Ysidro, seeded No. 1 in Division III.
But Sweetwater’s strength of schedule is only 1.6.
Aguirre argues that Canyon Crest (9-19, 0-10 in the Avocado West League) gets in. Canyon Crest, however, has a 12.2 strength of schedule.
“Don’t punish a team for the league they’re in,” Aguirre said. “How do you tell your kids that 18 wins is not enough?”
Bonita Vista, San Diego, Army-Navy and Otay Ranch are the top-four seeds in Division II.
San Ysidro, which was the top-ranked team in Division III all season, fell behind Coronado in the middle of the week. But in the final MaxPreps rankings, San Ysidro jumped the Islanders, got the No. 1 seed and plays Madison on Tuesday.
Coronado slips to No. 2 and hosts San Dieguito. Eastlake is No. 3 and Grossmont No. 4.
Grossmont hosts Hoover at 7 p.m. Tuesday while Helix — which doesn’t have a playable gym — plays Vista at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Grossmont.
Calexico and O’Farrell are the top seeds in Division IV.
Fallbrook, which was 1-25 last season, reaped the rewards of a bounce-back 17-8 season and drew the top seed and bye in the 12-team Division V.
The only play-in game in either the boys or girls is in Division V with league champion National University Academy hosting No. 12-seed Liberty Charter.
While the boys seedings took just about 35 minutes, the girls took 75, mainly because of a dispute in Division I.
The seeding advisory committee tries to avoid first-round league rematches.
That was extremely difficult in Division I where the No. 8-9-10 seeds – Carlsbad, San Marcos and Torrey Pines – are in the Avocado West League. And that was just part of the problem.
Mount Miguel is seeded No. 4 and was scheduled to play No. 13 El Capitan. Those teams, however, are in the Grossmont Hills League, necessitating a change.
So Imperial, 21-7 and the Desert League champion, got flipped from No. 12 to No. 13 and must play at Mount Miguel.
League champions are guaranteed a home game unless they’re playing one of the top-four seeds.
Imperial coach Ron Ponchione, a member of the playoff advisory committee, argued long and hard that his team beat El Capitan and should jump the Vaqueros, that league opponents San Marcos and Carlsbad were already playing, that San Diego Section bylaws conflict and that his team was getting robbed of a home game.
In the end, it went to a vote of the advisory board, and Imperial lost.
There were several switches in Division II where head-to-head games came into play. Otay Ranch and Lincoln secured the top-two seeds.
In Division III, No. 2 Foothills Christian lost to No. 3 Helix, so those teams flipped positions.
So No. 1 Point Loma hosts Maranatha Christian, No.2 Helix hosts Mar Vista and No. 3 Foothills hosts St. Joseph Academy. San Diego and Southwest-El Centro are the top two seeds in Division IV.
Hoover and Vincent Memorial are the top seeds in Division V.
On the girls side, La Jolla Country Day earned the No. 1 seed in the Open Division. The Torreys are ranked No. 1 in the nation by MaxPreps. Westview grabbed the No. 2 seed in the Open Division.
“Overall, I think the meetings were very clean,” said San Diego Section Assistant Commissioner John Labeta, who ran the basketball seeding meetings.
“There are some really good games, but the boys Open Division, where there isn’t clear-cut favorite, has some great matchups.”
john.maffei@sduniontribune.com
