There are some great games on Day 1. Out of those 12, 6 or 7 could go either way. I love that a team called Norcal is playing a team called Socal. Bring it on!
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Sadly, such a matchup cannot happen in CIF post-season play. . .
Several intriguing first-day matchups in the boys’ 18u age group, including Greenwich vs Atherton. I could see the winner of that group finishing in the top 5 or 6.
For 18u, here’s what I think it looks like for the top 24 seeds. I could be wrong (@marco ?) so please correct things as appropriate.
Seed::Zone::Club::::Club::Zone::Seed
With zone reallocations, I could not make sense of the remainder of the Championship seeding. Seeds 26, 42 and 47 would have gone to SEZ (who now have no teams in Session 2). I have no idea what to do with the three MTN seeds..
It is 100% correct. I compared it to what I posted a few posts back and we got the same layout.
@wp2024 I apologize that I missed your post. I tend not to try to duplicate effort especially if it’s already done *correctly*. I think I was still in a haze of sunscreen and heatstroke 21 hours ago.
Has anyone done a projected bracket for 16u JOs? Be interesting to compare it with @Gibson ‘s list of potential roster shakeups between quals and JOs due to cadet worlds
UPDATED with SPA correction. I think this is the top 36 for 16UB. I don’t know some zones finishes. Click the diagonal arrows (expand table) to see this better.
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1:PSW 1 | 2:PSW 2 | 3:PAC 1 | 4:MTN 1 | 5:PSW 3 | 6:SPA 1 | 7:CCA 1 | 8:SPA 2 | 9:CCA 2 | 10:PAC 2 | 11:CCA 3 | 12:CCA 4 |
| 24:PAC 6 | 23:NEZ 2 | 22:SWZ 1 | 21:SPA 6 | 20:SPA 5 | 19:SPA 4 | 18:PSW 4 | 17:PAC 5 | 16:SPA 3 | 15:PAC 4 | 14:PAC 3 | 13:NEZ 1 |
| 25:SPA 7 | 26:NEZ 3 | 27:CCA 5 | 28:CEN 1 | 29:PAC 7 | 30:CCA 6 | 31:CEN 2 | 32:CEN 3 | 33:HAW 1 | 34:PNW 1 | 35:MTN 2 | 36:PNW 2 |
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L |
| 1:SHORES BLACK | 2:LA JOLLA BLACK | 3:STANFORD RED | 4:MTN 1 | 5:DONS | 6:NEWPORT BEACH BLUE | 7:CIU GOLD (A) | 8:VANGUARD BLUE | 9:SANTA BARBARA A | 10:BERKELEY | 11:LA PREMIER | 12:TROJAN CARDINAL (A) |
| 24:SAN JOSE FOUNDATION | 23:GREENWICH WHITE | 22:THUNDER BLACK | 21:AETOS | 20:IMPERIAL | 19:MISSION | 18:LA JOLLA B | 17:680 RED | 16:PATRIOT NAVY | 15:CC UNITED BLACK | 14:LAMORINDA A | 13:GREENWICH BLUE |
| 25:SAND CANYON BLACK | 26:CAPITAL | 27:ROSE BOWL RED (A) | 28:VNITED A | 29:SANTA CRUZ | 30:LB SHORE RED (A) | 31:CLOVIS A | 32:AR BLUE | 33:HAW 1 | 34:PNW 1 | 35:MTN 2 | 36:PNW 2 |
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i think SPA has last years teams as OCWPC did not finish first in quals this year. i believe they were first in 2025 quals l
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Here is my prognostication after a long weekend of watching as many Super Finals games as I could. Let me start by saying: this was really tough. Rosters and results from Super Finals weren’t always predictive, IMO. However, we did get at least a sneak peek at who is relying on internationals instead of their home-grown talent. The luck of the draw and who you happen to face in key advancement games is very intriguing and many can go either way. Several coin flips.
PAC: I’ve got CCU at the top but this is the deepest zone, IMO. I give the edge to CCU based on diversified scoring threats and historical performance at JOs for this group. Stanford, Lamo and Atherton could be right there, obviously. SFWPC and Norcal each had at least one international player who led their scoring at Super Finals and CCU and Diablo have brought in internationals before and may do so again. Stanford v Diablo on day 1 will influence the rest of the weekend for those teams. Atherton, SF and Norcal can all win their day 1 brackets from the “underdog” position. There is a chance that day two group O is three PAC teams.
PSW: SD Dons are not as deep as Del Mar was and will also suffer from lost players to Cadet and Service Academies but many of those players were gone from Super Finals and they still impressed. The Dons will have some tough matchups but I’ve given them a well-earned benefit of the doubt. SD Shores is quite strong and they also have a long history of international additions. La Jolla had a poor showing at Super Finals with at least one international leading their scoring but without Black. They don’t have an easy first game. I missed with them last year but I’m not sure they’re top 10.
CCA: CIU has a very diverse (many HS programs represented) and talented team, especially if the Oaks graduates play with them. I don’t know what to make of their results at Super Finals as that team was likely a composite of their two Championship entries. They have a lot of additions this year that could push them into a top-10 finish. Trojan has been a top-10 team the last three years with this group but very inconsistent this year. They are losing players to academies and cadet but this is mostly Loyola and Mira Costa, two teams that were quite successful during the high school campaign. I suspect that LA Premier will be hampered greatly by the loss of players to the Cadet team and don’t know if they will bring in international players as they did with this group two years ago. There’s a chance they don’t finish in platinum for the first time in a long time.
SPA: I think this is the weakest SPA has been in years. Newport is a clear favorite to win it all if remotely fully staffed. However, not having Ross for a month due to his Team USA commitments could hurt. They may be the only top-10 finisher. Aetos, CDM and Mission are talented but pretty young. Socal did well at quals, so I’ll be curious to see what they bring.
NEZ: Greenwich, as usual. This team finished 7th two years ago and will need a strong run to repeat that feat. They had at least one international addition at Super Finals. Atherton on day 1 is a big one. They’ll face a long list of challenging games.
SWZ: Longhorn or Thunder could make platinum, but not likely a top 18 finish.
MTN: Who knows?
CEN: American River might make platinum, but likely not a top 18 finish.
MID, PNW & HAW: Probably no platinum teams from this group.
I reserve the right to change this continuously.
| Finish | Squad |
|---|---|
| 1 | Newport Beach |
| 2 | CCU |
| 3 | SD Dons |
| 4 | Atherton |
| 5 | Trojan |
| 6 | Greenwich |
| 7 | SD Shores |
| 8 | CIU A |
| 9 | Lamo |
| 10 | La Jolla |
| 11 | Mission |
| 12 | CDM |
| 13 | Pride |
| 14 | Shaq |
| 15 | Stanford |
| 16 | Imperial |
| 17 | Aetos |
| 18 | Diablo |
| 19 | Norcal |
| 20 | Kearns |
| 21 | Socal |
| 22 | SFWPC |
| 23 | North Irvine |
| 24 | American River |
| Final guess: 7/23, 6:09am |
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Here is what I’ve got for 18uB:
I do not know the finishing order for MTN or MDW. Also, there is one MDW team missing. That mystery MDW team may show up or their slot could be redistributed to another zone. Either way, it should only effect the last two spots in the bracket.
Wasn’t So Florida Vegas a SEZ “qualifier” last year?
Nope. Last year SEZ had two spots which were taken by Orlando United and Miami Riptides. South Florida Vegas was a team belonging to Team Vegas and got in on a MTN allocation.
Makes it even more outrageous that MTN zone doesn’t have a qualifying tournament.
So Vanguard qualifies 8th from SPA and gets the 37 seed but North Irvine skips Quals and gets the 27 seed. Seems fair.
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I wouldn’t mind hearing from North Irvine’s Club and listening as to why this should be allowed and why we all should think this is ok. Maybe I don’t have all the info, but as a club director I would just like to know what I’m missing for this to be going on.
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curious to see what NI Vegas is cooking up for 18U team, are they also using MTN seed for 16U?
Maybe ask Ed on his TikTok. He’s very active there and has a lot of opinions to share. 
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What Zone did Olympus qualify for? I thought they were in the MTN zone.
Nope. In 16uB, the SPA team taking advantage of MTN allocations would be Tsunami.
Again, I do not know the finishing positions of MDW, MTN, or SEZ, but here’s what I’ve got:
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They qualified in MTN, but as a 16u girl’s team. I don’t believe Olympus tried to qualify any boy’s team in any age group.