By Mitch Abramson
Eisenberg phoned the PSAL girls' basketball commissioner Virginia Matthews while the seeding committee, comprised of PSAL personnel, was ranking the 22 Class A playoff teams at the league office in Long Island City.”I would have liked to have been the No. 2 seed, but I'm not unhappy about where we are,” said Eisenberg later in a phone interview. “I think we have four quality wins over the top eight seeds, over Cardozo twice, Midwood and JFK, but I can see the committee's reasoning for putting us at No. 3.”Grand Street Campus's win over Francis Lewis, 59-47 Feb. 6 weighed heavily in the minds of the voters, as did narrow victories by the Patriots over St. John the Baptist (55-52) and Midwood (62-57). Although Grand Street Campus lost to both those teams, the margin of defeat was so small (58-57 to Baptist and 68-66 to Midwood) that the games cancelled each other out, the committee decided.Evaluating Francis Lewis (18-3) took around 10 minutes and required two different votes to get a consensus. Although every voter but one selected Grand Street Campus as the No. 2 seed, eight out of 14 coaches and media submitting mock seeding lists had Francis Lewis as the No. 2 seed.It was briefly pointed out that Francis Lewis played without its starting backcourt for the first quarter against Grand Street Campus because they were late for the game, resulting in a 17-7 lead for the Wolves, but the committee still penalized the Patriots for the loss.The Patriots have a bye in the first round, which was scheduled to begin Feb. 15 and will meet No. 14 South Shore, Eisenberg's alma mater, in the second round if the Vikings can beat No. 19 Tottenville. A potential meeting with Grand Street Campus looms in the semifinals as does another date with Bergtraum, which has beaten Francis Lewis in the finals four of the last five years. Cardozo (18-5) received the No. 5 seed, despite beating fourth-seeded JFK and No. 8 Midwood, which defeated Grand Street Campus. The committee wasn't impressed with non-league wins by Cardozo over South Shore and St. Mary's, and Matthews expressed dismay that Larry Carradine, the Judges' coach, only sent her a copy of his victories, instead of a complete synopsis of the season like everyone else.”I think in the end, that may have helped where we were seeded,” Carradine said.Beach Channel was seeded No. 21 and could meet Cardozo in the second round if the Dolphins can beat No. 12 Lincoln. August Martin received a No. 18 seed and plays 15th-seeded Norman Thomas. The first 10 seeds have first round byes. Because the PSAL cancelled the borough championships this year, teams that have first round byes won't have a game for approximately three weeks.Reach reporter Mitch Abramson at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300 Ext. 130.
