CIF Southern Section playoff teams in basketball and many other team sports will be placed into playoff divisions based on results from their current season.
The CIF-SS Council, the Southern Section’s legislative body, voted on the “Competitive Equity Playoffs” proposal at its meeting Tuesday in Long Beach. The proposal passed 79-8-0.
Football playoffs were organized by regular-season performance in the 2023 season according to where teams finished in the Calpreps.com ratings system. Other CIF-SS team sports now will use a similar system to place teams into playoff divisions starting with the 2024-25 school year.
It was announced at the Council meeting that the ratings for the other sports will come from Freeman Ratings, MaxPreps.com or other systems that will be operating for the 2024-25 school year.
The team sports that will be part of the current-season program are the fall sports of football, girls golf, girls tennis, girls volleyball and boys water polo; the winter sports of boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer and girls water polo; and the spring sports of baseball, girls beach volleyball, boys golf, boys and girls lacrosse, softball, boys tennis and boys volleyball.
Team sports playoffs in most CIF-SS sports this school year are organized by a power profile that teams accumulate over a period of two seasons. Teams are placed in playoff divisions before the season begins.
For many years, all CIF-SS sports playoff divisions were organized by league affiliation; all of a league’s playoff teams would go into the same playoff division.
The CIF-SS Council also voted for a proposal that moves up the starting date for boys and girls cross country to Aug. 19 for the 2024 season. That adds two weeks to the season and places CIF-SS cross country on the same schedule as cross country in the state’s nine other CIF sections.
The CIF-SS Council on Tuesday got a first look at upcoming proposals that would create CIF State championships for competitive cheer and for boys volleyball beginning with the 2024-25 school.
The Southern Section is contemplating raising spectator admission fees to add revenue.
Also at the meeting, a Los Angeles Clippers representative said the team will display at its new arena a jersey from every high school basketball team in California that submits a jersey.
