Prep column: 10-wins-and-in is apparently out

Barry Faulkner

NEWPORT BEACH - Advocates for the 10-win minimum, by which scores

of additional teams -- including the Costa Mesa High and Estancia boys --

earned entry into this season’s CIF Southern Section basketball playoffs,

must enjoy it while it lasts.

For, despite a less damning statement to media from Southern Section

Commissioner Jim Staunton Sunday, it appears the 10-win rule will be

disposed of after this season.

“Ten wins is a one-time deal we won’t do again,” Hal Harkness, interim

assistant commissioner and the section’s basketball administrator this

season, emphatically told a coach Sunday. “It will never happen again; I

guarantee you that.”

Staunton, speaking more diplomatically, later told reporters the section

will follow 10-win teams in the playoffs, then evaluate whether the

standard will remain in place.

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Whether you like it or not -- and there has been ample criticism that 10

wins aren’t enough to distinguish teams as playoff worthy -- the format

certainly delivered well-deserved postseason opportunities to Costa Mesa

(17-8) and Estancia (14-12) this season.

Anyone who doesn’t believe the Mustangs or Eagles aren’t playoff worthy,

didn’t see them play and, certainly, never had to compete against them.

If either the Eagles (at 15-11 Verbum Dei tonight) or Mustangs (at 22-2

Monrovia tonight), or both, don’t win in the first round, I’ll be more

than mildly surprised.

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With byes created by five-team Sea View League and Pacific Coast League

schedules this season, as well as PCL boys basketball teams electing to

conclude their seasons on Thursday, not Friday, two local coaches made

good use of their increased scouting opportunities.

Newport Harbor Coach Larry Hirst said he utilized a league bye to go

scout Brea Olinda, which, it turns out, could be the Sailors’

second-round foe in Division II-AA.

“We had a free night, so me and my staff looked in the paper and picked

one game to go to, which happened to be Brea against Valencia,” said

Hirst, who earned his 100th win as a prep head coach Friday against Aliso

Niguel. “It may work out for us.”

Costa Mesa Coach Bob Serven also got lucky, driving out to watch Pomona

Friday. The Red Devils, as it turns out, could be Mesa’s second-round foe

in the III-AA bracket.

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Serven, whose Mustangs are appearing in the playoffs for the first time

since 1992, when all teams were invited, said the postseason is a

valuable opportunity for lower-level coaches, as well as his players.

“I have some guys on my staff who are basketball junkies (including

former Mustangs players Donny Ogo and Duy Tran). I’ll send them out to

tape games for scouting purposes. We’ll go over those videos and,

hopefully, I can teach them something about what to look for.”

Serven, a former Newport Harbor head coach who spent the last six seasons

making extended postseason runs as an assistant at Santa Margarita, said

videotape, however, can only do so much when it comes to scouting.

“Watching tape gives you an idea of what a team likes to do, but it

doesn’t give you a good idea about a team’s quickness,” Serven said.

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Scott Orloff of Dana Hills High will coach the South in the 41st Orange

County All-Star Football Game, scheduled July 14 at Orange Coast College.

Orloff replaces Marina’s Mark Rehling, who was fired last week and

elected to relinquish South coaching duties. Orloff coached three seasons

at Santa Ana Valley before spending the last four at Dana Hills. A former

All-Empire League lineman at El Dorado High (Class of 1982), Orloff, 36,

has also worked as an assistant at Century, Laguna Hills, El Dorado and

Sonora.

John Turek from Troy High will coach the North in the annual summer

showcase.

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Mike Bergey, a former Corona del Mar High quarterback and safety, who

spent his senior season at Dana Hills last fall, will be a preferred

football walk-on at Ohio State.

Bergey will most likely wind up on the defensive side of the ball,

according to Brent Melbon, a former CdM player (Class of 1982), who is

the offensive coordinator at Dana Hills.

Melbon will work with Orloff in the All-Star Game.