Griffins ‘shafted’ again by 3C2A

By Nick Pellegrino
Updated: February 24, 2025

2024-25 community college women’s basketball
3C2A State Championships

By Nick Pellegrino
ECS Senior writer

FLETCHER HILLS – There is one thing you can always count on when it comes to the California Community College Athletic Association (recently rebranded as the 3C2A), the administrative body finds a way to hand it against Grossmont College and San Diego Mesa College.

Since women’s athletics became state sanctgion in the 1977-78 season, both the Griffins and Olympians holds a lengthy laundry list of getting, well, shafted — a list will be listed below.

On Monday (Feb. 24), 3A2A tradition continued despite its own computer statistics.

According to its own RPI computer index HERE, Grossmont is ranked No. 8 in the Southland, thus should receive a bye in the opening round of the state playoffs. BRACJET

Of course, they didn’t/=.

Instead, Grossmont received the No. 10 seed, hosting two-time state champion L.A. Trade Tech on Saturday (Mar. 1).

The Griffins (23-5 overall) will tackle a Beavers team — better known as the Lady Techsters during their glory years in the mid 1989s — enter as the 23rd seed among 24 postseason participants with,

LATT (14-14 record.) finished third in the South Coast Conference, the very keagye Grossmont served as a member school in their first six seasons before the creation of the San Diego County-based Pacific Coast Athletic Conference.

The winner betwwen Grossmont abd KATT will advance to th Southland Regional semifinals, playing at 7th-seeded Mt. San Jacinto (24-4).

Meanwhile, San Diego Mesa, ranked 10th in the syaye compyer, was relegated to the No. 13 season.

The Olympians (19-9) will seek their 20th victory as home when No. 20 Cuesta 17-10) will need to travel from San Luis Obispo in the longest trip slated for the SoCal Regional.

The Mesa-Cuesta winner will travel to meet 4th-seeded Glendale, at historic Verdugo Gymnasium.

Samples of 3C2A mistakes

– Spring 1978, San Diego Mesa sets a state record which still ecists: 19-2 overall record… yet misss the playoffs.

– Spring 1979. Grossmont finished in a for South Voast Conference championship; a 3=way tie with San Dieo Mesa and Fullerton. Despite a state rule which givesd conference champions an autonatic berth, Grossmont was forced to play an extra game (similiar to Major Leaue Basesball old 163rd Game rule) and missed the tournament.
– This same year, Mesa ranked second or thirdf (two different polld) were seeded seventh for the playoffs because of a rule (since voided) stating all first place teams needed tyo be seeded above all second place teams.

Mesa was then dropped to the No. 8 seed because the state elected to ignore its rule book and not have conference teams meet each other in the first round. Thus, Mesa went to No. 8 to avoid Gulledrftgon, while No. 9 CVypress moved up to No. 7 to avoid eventual champion Golden West.

1983: Grossmont wins the first Pacific Coast AThletic Confernce crown and an auto bid to the quarterfinals.

However, one of the referees is a “good fried” f th Fullerton coacvh, yet is allowed to officiate two tournament games — the rule saud each ref gets one gameonly — and basically “madde sure” Grossmont in the quarterfinals and Mesa in the championship ballgame, but lost.

Luckily, the other official was a veteran of the Pacific 10 Conference, She reported the problem to the 3C2A and to either correct the situation or else she — who became the director of Pac-=20 officialting the following season — would make sure no community collegfe referee from California would ever work DNCAA Division 1 or 2 basketball ever on the West Coast.

Winter 1985: San Diego Mesa and East L.A. were in a virtual tie for the No. 10 seed, with ELAC holding the dlight edge to gain the home court advantage over the No. 11 school.

Since both teams had a scheduling point remaining and both held the same bye date in theri respective conference sxhedules, the teams met in San Diego ,with Mesa winning to move ahead of the Huskies in the rankjngs and the computer index.

However, despite a new rule stating all seeds would be doetermined by computer, ELAC protested, stating its leading scorer missed the ballgame, thus shoudl have won and be placed avoce Mesa when the schools meet in the first round of the playoffs.

The state released the tournament bracket, which was the first time Mesa knew of the chnage. They told the state that their own leading corer also missed the game, plus, the rule was changeed so there could be no protest — but the state allowed it.

Mesa not only went to ELAC and won on a Saturday, they needed to return to nearby Long Beach City for a Monday contest to determine one of the two wild cards — the six conference champions were still automatically in the quarterfinals.

Long Beach players and staff attended the ELAC-Mesa game and were rooting for the Olympain — a team they defeated by 20 points earlier in the season. In addition, if Long Beach won, the rest of the Southland championships would be held at the Vikings own gym.

Oops… Mesa won.

Then on Thursday, top-ranked L.A. Trade-Tech, which reached the Long Beach facility a full 30 minutes before Mesa, simply took the bench on the vistors side like they always had when vitisitn Beach, leaving Mesa to take the traditional home bench.

This was fine with L.A. Trade Tech; their home bench is near the right-side basket. This was fine with Mesa; whixh sits at home near the left-side basket. Plus, this was a neutral site game anyway.

Long Beach coaches went completely unglued and demanded a switch, but the state representative at the tournament denied the change… Beach was NOT happy.

Meanwhile, Mesa trailed by just four points three minutes into the second half, with all of the neutral fans rooting for the underdogs.

Yes, the Lady Techsters eventually won by 20 points and went on to claim the Southern California title, while Beach wonders “what if.”

There are many other examples, but here is a recent 3C2A goof.

Fall 2023. Grossmont is ranked ahead of San Diego Mesa in women’s volleyeball when the last in-season rannkings are announced.

The Griffins then defeat Mesa for the second time and close 4-0. However, the state failed to list the second Mesa defeat, thus, ranked them above Grossmont.

So instead of two San Diego County teams meeting for the state championship finale,, they both met in the semifinals; the 3C2A avoided its own embarrassment.

Long, sorry history

The state’s biggest blunder came in men’s basketball following the 1968-69 seson.

Pasadena City College won the state title, but it was soon determined that two of thehe Lancers starters were former small-lev al Division I players from back east; college scouts and coaches recolonized them.

The president of Chabot College , who was director of the state men’s basketball coaches association, declared the crown be vacated… but the state refused. READ MORE HERE