Sac-Joaquin Section basketball playoffs begin Friday

A group of 10 retired high school basketball coaches and administrators and existing Sac-Joaquin Section staff members assembled Thursday afternoon to crunch the numbers.

Stacks of paperwork – schedules, head-to-head results, key wins, key defeats and league finishes – were used to formulate six section playoff brackets each for girls and boys.

There were no real surprises in a power-packed Division I boys field that includes top-seeded Folsom, No. 2 Modesto Christian, No. 3 Sheldon, No. 4 Jesuit, No. 5 Woodcreek and No. 6 Granite Bay. This is as stacked a D-I field as any in section history, which started playoff action in 1972. Led by two-time Bee Player of the Year Jordan Ford, Folsom opened the season with close wins over Modesto Christian and Sheldon.

The biggest surprise was where defending CIF State D-I girls champion McClatchy landed in the seedings. Ranked No. 1 by The Bee for much of the early part of the season before finishing No. 2, the Lions managed just a No. 7 seed in the D-I scramble. This despite McClatchy (22-5) avenging its lone section loss to D-II power Sacramento – the teams split to share the Metropolitan Conference championship – and playing a strong early nonleague schedule.

The selection committee heavily factors in the MaxPreps computer rankings, broken down by division. The Lions were sixth in those rankings.

There was no surprise with national No. 1 St. Mary’s of Stockton earning the top girls seed in D-I, and Bee No. 1 Oak Ridge was the logical choice at No. 2. St. Francis earned the No. 3 seed, Folsom No. 4, Golden Valley of Merced No. 5 and Lincoln of Stockton No. 6. McClatchy arguably could have been seeded as high as third.

“The D-I field is stacked for boys, too, but not as much as girls,” said Will DeBoard, the section communications director and part of the seedings committee. “McClatchy could have gone anywhere from No. 4 to No. 8 or 9, and they were all high-quality and comparable teams. It was unanimous that St. Mary’s was 1 and Oak Ridge 2, and the vast majority of the committee agreed that St. Francis was No. 3.”

Here’s where it could get interesting: Should Oak Ridge and McClatchy win Tuesday openers, the longtime powers will meet in a second-round game Thursday in El Dorado Hills. The loser would be done, which is the rub for both programs. A seedings tweak for McClatchy could have created a potential semifinal meeting, and thus, a ticket to the NorCal rounds. All section semifinalists advance to NorCal Regional play in March.

Instead, an early Oak Ridge-McClatchy showdown will be as anticipated a second-round game in the history of the girls section playoffs, which started in 1975.

As expected, Bee No. 3 Antelope earned the top seed in D-II girls, followed by Vanden, Elk Grove and Sacramento.

In D-III girls, Christian Brothers is the top seed, opposite No. 2 East Union of Manteca. No. 3 Rio Linda and No. 4 Inderkum are rivals from the Tri-County Conference.

In D-IV girls, No. 1 Brookside Christian and No. 2 West Campus head a deep field that includes No. 5 Placer and No. 6 Colfax. Placer, led by San Diego State-bound senior forward Baylee Vanderdoes, edged Colfax on Wednesday night to win the Pioneer Valley League.

In D-V girls, defending champion Capital Christian is the top seed opposite No. 2 Argonaut. Sacramento Waldorf is the No. 1 seed in D-VI.

Bee No. 1 Sacramento is the overwhelming favorite in the D-II boys bracket behind four-year starters Christian Terrell and Solomon Young, with Antelope the No. 2 seed. It’s a deep field that includes playoff regular No. 3 Burbank, upstart No. 4 Whitney and dark-horse teams such as No. 7 Elk Grove, No. 8 Nevada Union, No. 9 Ponderosa and No. 12 Grant.

Valley Oak League rivals Weston Ranch of Stockton and Manteca earned the No. 1 and No. 3 seeds, respectively, in D-III boys with No. 2 Capital Christian drawing consideration for top-seed honors. Capital Christian was a NorCal Open team – the elite of the elite – three years ago and reached the CIF State D-IV final last season.

In D-IV, Central Catholic of Modesto earned the top seed, its schedule deemed stronger overall than No. 2 Liberty Ranch of Galt, which at 27-0 is one of just three unbeaten teams in the state.

In D-V, Bradshaw Christian and Sacramento Country Day earned the top two seeds. Country Day won the D-VI title a year ago with a lineup of freshmen. Sacramento Waldorf is the No. 1 seed in D-VI.

This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 8:28 PM.