Playoffs to Be Based on Enrollment

In what is considered a radical change, Southern Section boys’ and girls’ basketball teams will be grouped by enrollment for the playoffs beginning next season, the general council voted last week.

Previously, the six playoff divisions had been based on strength and previous playoff success of leagues and enrollment. Now, teams will be grouped in nine divisions--5-AA down to Small Schools--based solely on enrollment. That will bring the Southern Section in line with the rest of the California Interscholastic Federation.

Enrollment figures used will be for four-year, coeducational schools. All-boy and all-girl schools will double the number of students, and three-year schools will double their sophomore classes to reach their rating figures.

Schools, however, will be allowed to petition the Southern Section by the first Friday in January to play in higher divisions.

The new groups: 5-AA (more than 2,400 students) and 5-A (2,000-2,399) in state Division I, 4-AA (1,750-1,999) and 4-A (1,500-1,749) in state Division II, 3-A only (1,000-1,499) in state Division III, 2-AA (750-999) and 2-A (400-749) in state Division IV, and 1-A (150-399) and Small Schools (fewer than 150) in state Division V.

Santa Monica was seeded first in the 4-A and Arcadia first in the 3-A for the Southern Section boys’ volleyball playoffs, which will begin this week.

In pairings released Monday, Los Angeles Loyola, Huntington Beach Edison and Irvine Woodbridge followed Santa Monica in the 16-team 4-A Division. In the 32-team 3-A, Hacienda Heights Los Altos was seeded second, with Glendale third and North Hollywood Harvard fourth.

Competition will start with 11 wild-card games tonight. First-round play begins Thursday. The finals in both divisions are set for May 21.

Interest in point guard Matt Othick of Bishop Gorman High in Las Vegas, twice Nevada player of the year, continues to rise, with UCLA still very much in the picture without having made a firm offer.

Buddy Othick said his son will visit Arizona this weekend, and that Matt spoke to Coach Jerry Tarkanian of Nevada Las Vegas last Friday and UCLA Coach Jim Harrick last Monday. About 10 schools are after Othick, whose letter of intent to New Mexico was invalidated when it was discovered that the Lobo athletic director failed to date the document before sending it out.

“I still think when the smoke clears, it will come down to those three school that he (Matt) will be interested in,” Buddy Othick said. “Depending on what happens at UCLA, I think it will be them, Arizona or UNLV. But there has been no scholarship offer from UCLA at this point. I’m sure they have more on their minds than Matt Othick.”

Such as resolving Darrick Martin’s situation. Martin, a recruit from Long Beach St. Anthony, is trying to persuade UCLA to release him from a letter of intent he signed in November.

Othick’s choice could have a long-range impact. He played two years ago at Bishop Gorman with Brian Williams, who will transfer from the University of Maryland, and the two have remained good friends.

Asked last week whether Othick’s decision will affect his destination, Williams replied: “Yes, to a small degree.”

Ron Copeland’s success at Los Angeles Dorsey High as one of the top hurdlers in the state apparently has his mentor, Jim Bush, wanting to get back into coaching college track.

That may come as a shock to some, since Bush, 61, who guided UCLA to five National Collegiate Athletic Assn. titles and a 152-21 dual-meet record from 1965-84, has made little secret of his lack of regard for big-time college sports since he retired at UCLA.

But now, sparked by the enthusiasm of Copeland and several others at Dorsey, Bush said recently that he would like to try college coaching again--but only as an assistant. He has gone so far as to send out feelers and hopes to land a spot for next season.

“I was so fed up with track and field when I left that I wanted nothing to do with it,” Bush said. “So I worked with the Dodgers or the Clippers or the Raiders. But I found I missed it (track).”

A lot of that is because of Copeland.

“I didn’t think I would ever want to coach track and field again until I met him,” he said of Copeland.

“I’m having a ball working with all these kids who don’t know a thing about going over a hurdle. . . . A lot of it is that I’m coaching, but I don’t have to make a living at it. I’m coaching for the sheer joy. . . . It’s fun. At UCLA, there was always pressure to win.”

Prep Notes

Don MacLean of Simi Valley and Chris Mills of Fairfax will play for the Amateur Athletic Union Kentucky Selects against the touring Soviet Union junior national team Saturday in Lexington, Ky. Shawn Kemp of Concord, Ind., and Sean Woods of Indianapolis, who, like Mills, are Kentucky signees, will be playing when the Soviets are in South Bend, Ind., tonight. Unlike last year, the Soviet team will not appear on the West Coast.

For the record: The Southern Section mark for consecutive games won by a pitcher belongs to Fillmore’s Rick Stewart, not Mike O’Hara of Covina at 15-0 as reported last week. Stewart, who had a 39-2 record in three years as a prep pitcher, went 17-0 in 1977, when he was named 1-A player of the year. Last Saturday, Scott Davison of Redondo improved his record to 14-0 with a 14-strikeout, 1-walk effort in winning the championship game of the Redondo-Palos Verdes tournament.

Lisa Hardy of Santa Monica ran her career strikeout total to 919 recently, third on the all-time Southern Section softball list. Next in line is Samantha Ford, formerly of Newhall Hart, at 1,124, with Michele Granger from Valencia of Placentia No. 1 and still playing. . . . Add softball: When junior De De Weiman of Cerritos Gahr threw a perfect game and struck out 19 batters in a 7-0 victory over Paramount, it was her 12th no-hitter of the season and 27th of her career.

Track star Quincy Watts of Woodland Hills Taft returned after a month’s layoff because of a hamstring injury to record the best 400-meter time in the City this season in winning the West Valley League final last Friday. Along with the 48.05, he also won the 200 despite not using the starting blocks. The three-time state sprint champion sat out both relays, but Taft qualified for this week’s City quarterfinals with Watts as an alternate, so he is still eligible to run a leg.

William Reed, the Philadelphia track star, is still sidelined with the foot injury that kept him out of the April 9 Arcadia Invitational. . . . Javier Delahoya, a junior pitcher at Van Nuys Grant, had 20 strikeouts in 8 innings in a 5-2 victory over North Hollywood May 2. Delahoya struck out the side four times in the East Valley League game. . . . Todd Forman, a water polo player at Long Beach Wilson, and Amy Lightner of Point Loma in San Diego have been named CIFscholar-athletes of the year, winning out among 485 applicants.