Cabrillo’s Julian Reagan and Righetti’s Terry Butler try to control a loose ball last year. The two teams will be in the CIF Central Section this year.Â
St. Joseph's Avary Cain drives against Nipomo's Makennah Simonson during a Mountain League game last season. The two teams will start the season in Division 2 after playing in the Open Division playoffs last year.Â
St. Joseph's Will Kuykendall hits a 3-pointer during the CIF Central Section Open Division semifinal game against Clovis North last season. St. Joseph beat Clovis North 69-64 before falling to Clovis West in the Open Division championship game. The Knights will likely be in Division 1 this year as there is no Open Division.
Cabrillo’s Julian Reagan and Righetti’s Terry Butler try to control a loose ball last year. The two teams will be in the CIF Central Section this year.Â
St. Joseph's Avary Cain drives against Nipomo's Makennah Simonson during a Mountain League game last season. The two teams will start the season in Division 2 after playing in the Open Division playoffs last year.Â
St. Joseph's Will Kuykendall hits a 3-pointer during the CIF Central Section Open Division semifinal game against Clovis North last season. St. Joseph beat Clovis North 69-64 before falling to Clovis West in the Open Division championship game. The Knights will likely be in Division 1 this year as there is no Open Division.
Unlike last season, area high school basketball teams will have some sort of idea where they stand for the playoffs before the season starts.
The CIF Central Section is instituting base divisions for nearly all sports this school year.Â
Last season, base divisions were applied in the middle of the basketball season after it appeared that many smaller schools would be in the higher, more difficult divisions while some larger, more historically successful schools were sinking into lower divisions thanks to a new playoff system.Â
Last basketball season was the first with the playoff system that uses MaxPreps power rankings, formulated by a computer program, with few other guardrails in place.Â
This year, teams know their base divisions before the season starts.Â
The Nipomo girls basketball team, for instance, is in the Division 2 base division group. Teams can move up or down just one division from their base division. So, Nipomo knows it will either be in Division 1, 2 or 3 once the playoffs start.
Nipomo was in the Open Division last year and had to face Clovis West, the top program historically in the Central Section, in the playoffs and lost handily.
This base division system should give programs that are having historically successful regular seasons a better chance of winning in the playoffs.
There will not be an Open Division in either boys or girls basketball this year. For the most recent seasons, there were four-team Open Divisions.Â
St. Joseph's boys won the Open Division title in 2021 and lost in the final in 2022. St. Joseph's and Nipomo's girls were both in the Open Division last season.
The new format means the top 12 teams in the MaxPreps computer rankings at the end of the year will be in Division 1, unless moving a team up to Division 1 breaks their base division rule.Â
Lompoc's girls, for example, are in base Division 3. If they were ranked in the top 12 at the end of the season, they would likely be one of the top seeds in Division 2 instead of being bumped up to Division 1, a scenario that happened during the football season that didn't have base divisions.
The CIF Central Section boys and girls basketball championships are slated to be held at Selland Arena in Fresno next year.
Girls basketball
The Mountain League will have Arroyo Grande, Morro Bay, Righetti, Nipomo, St. Joseph, Cabrillo, Orcutt Academy and Mission Prep while the Ocean League will feature Templeton, San Luis Obispo, Pioneer Valley, Santa Maria, Paso Robles, Atascadero, Santa Ynez and Lompoc.
Arroyo Grande and Righetti are the only area teams in the Division 1 base group this year. Clovis West, with a long string of top Central Section championships in its wake, is also in Division 1 of course.Â
The top division will have 12 teams come playoff time while the other divisions will have 16 teams, a fairly big departure from previous seasons.Â
Nipomo, Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo and St. Joseph are in the Division 2 base grouping. Caruthers, a defending CIF champion is also in Division 2 and could likely end up in the top division this year after beating Orcutt Academy for the Division 3 title a year ago.Â
Cabrillo moves into the Central Section and joins sister school Lompoc in Division 3. Mission Prep, Orcutt Academy and Pioneer Valley are in Division 3. Again, these groups mean they can only move up or down one division come playoff time.Â
Atascadero, Morro Bay and Templeton are area teams in the Division 4 group.Â
Santa Maria and Santa Ynez are both likely happy to be in Division 5. No area teams are in Division 6, though they could theoretically end up there once the playoffs start. Santa Maria lost to Orcutt Academy in the opening round of the Division 3 playoffs last season.
Boys basketball
The Mountain League will have St. Joseph, Mission Prep, Arroyo Grande, Righetti, Atascadero, Pioneer Valley, Lompoc and Cabrillo in it once the season starts later this year.
The Ocean League will feature Orcutt Academy, Santa Maria, Santa Ynez, San Luis Obispo, Nipomo, Templeton, Paso Robles and Morro Bay.
St. Joseph's boys have been to the Open Division playoffs three straight years, winning the championship in 2021. St. Joseph made the final last year, falling to Clovis West.Â
The Knights, of course, are in Division 1. The playoffs will have a different feel, as the Open Division had previously had just four teams, meaning the teams started in the semifinals. Previously, Open teams were all granted state playoff berths.Â
St. Joseph is the only area team in Division 1. Bakersfield, Bakersfield Christian, Clovis Buchanan, Fresno Bullard, Fresno Central, Clovis East, Clovis North, Clovis West, Fresno Edison, Bakersfield Liberty, Fresno San Joaquin Memorial and St. Joseph.Â
Arroyo Grande, Atascadero, Mission Prep, Paso Robles, Righetti, San Luis Obispo and Santa Ynez are all in Division 2 to start the season.Â
Cabrillo, Lompoc, Nipomo and Pioneer Valley are in Division 3. Morro Bay, Santa Maria and Templeton are in Division 4.
Orcutt Academy is the only area team in Division 5. No area team are in Division 6.Â
Valley Christian Academy continues to be the only local school remaining in the CIF Southern Section.Â
St. Joseph freshman Tounde Yessoufou loses his grip on the rim after breaking the backboard with one of his dunks in his high school debut Tuesday night.
St. Joseph freshman Tounde Yessoufou drives to the hoops for a dunk that would break the backboard with one of his dunks in his high school debut Tuesday night.
St. Joseph freshman Tounde Yessoufou loses his grip on the rim after breaking the backboard with one of his dunks in his high school debut Tuesday night.
