How a CIF state girls basketball snafu involving Tulare Union and Sierra was corrected
When the CIF released the state basketball playoff brackets Sunday, the Sierra High girls were placed in Division V of the Southern California Regionals.
But Tulare Union, not Sierra, was supposed to play against No. 11 seed Locke-Los Angeles in the first round of the Southern California Regionals.
Instead, Tulare Union played at Sierra in a play-in game Tuesday night in Tollhouse. Sierra won the game 59-56.
“I messed up putting the wrong team in,” Central Section commissioner Jim Crichlow said. “What happened, honestly, is neither team would’ve been in, but another team dropped out that was being considered that was much higher on the pecking order like No. 2 or 3. When they dropped out, it left an opening and I inadvertently put the wrong team in.”
Garces is the team that dropped out; Crichlow said it was because of “personal issues.”
Sections rank their eligible teams for state playoffs (in the Central Section, generally semifinalists). Crichlow said Tulare Union was rated higher than Sierra.
“It should’ve been Tulare Union by coaches ranking, by overall record and, Sierra had the strength of schedule, that’s how we use our criteria to rank teams, and I just screwed up,” Crichlow said.
When Garces dropped out, Crichlow mistakenly substituted Sierra in the regional bracket. Tulare Union coaches, players and parents soon deluged the section office in Porterville with messages.
Crichlow said the CIF state office recommended a play-in game as a solution; that plan was finalized Monday afternoon.
Sierra will be the No. 6 seed but will go on the road to play Locke in Los Angeles on Wednesday night.
Crichlow said Locke had previously reserved hotel rooms for a road trip to Tollhouse before the mistake was corrected. The CIF didn’t want to penalize Locke by making it make last-minute travel arrangements.
Crichlow said this isn’t the first time he made a mistake with the brackets. In 2004, he caught an error before the brackets were released.
This story was originally published February 26, 2019 at 3:06 PM.
