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Staten Island champion Curtis was seeded sixth and received one of nine first-round byes in the PSAL AA division basketball city tournament and second-place squad McKee/S.I. Tech will host a first-round contest as the league announced its playoff seedings Sunday.
The Warriors (23-4 overall) will host the winner of Wednesday’s contest between No. 11 Campus Magnet and No. 22 Monroe in the second round on either Feb. 28 or 29.
“I’m ecstatic with the seed,” said Curtis coach Rich Buckheit, whose club is coming off a SIHSL Tournament title win over St. Peter’s. “It’s like we’ve broke another barrier … we’ve made enough noise in the city and have received the recognition. But with a seed like that, there’s great responsibility. You have to prove you belong.”
The top five seeded teams are No. 1 Jefferson, No. 2 Boys Girls, No. 3 Lincoln, No. 4 Wings Academy and No. 5 Cardozo. Curtis dropped decisions to BG (71-59) and Wings (52-50) during the regular season.
“The Brooklyn league, both this year and perenially, contains the best teams. But seeds four through 12 are very similar; they can knock off anyone on a given day,” said Buckheit, whose Warriors — should they win in the second round —would likely face Lincoln in a quarterfinal matchup on Sunday, March 4 at St. John’s University in Queens.
“In the past, there was more fanfare made of winning the SIHSL Tournament. It was a great preparation for us, with having to deal with the pressure of being a No. 1 seed. But our focus has been on the AA playoffs,” said Buckheit, whose squad will try to prevent any rust during the bye with a non-league game against All Hallows on Saturday. “Ultimately, our boys have been looking forward to this.”
The Sea Gulls (17-10) earned a 12 seed and will host No. 21 Martin Van Buren on Wednesday at 5 p.m.
“I’m happy with the seed and feel comfortable where we are,” said MSIT coach Charlie Donohue. “I don’t know much about Van Buren, just that they play in the same division as Cardozo and Campus Magnet.”
Donohue, whose Sea Gulls are coming off a SIHSL Tournament semifinal loss to Curtis, was “pretty happy with the way we played in the tournament, just not happy with the result. But we’re going in the right direction. I’m glad we’re able to start the playoffs so soon.”
The Gulls’ challenging non-league schedule and prior postseason success helped in their seeding, Donohue believes.
“Absolutely,” said the coach, whose club would play at Cardozo — a school MSIT upset for a road win in the 2009 AA playoffs — in the second round should they win Thursday. “We’ve proved in the playoffs that anything can happen. And we’re a team that’s used to leaving our house and doing well.”
PSAL AA playoffs
All games will be played on Wednesday at 5 p.m. unless otherwise noted.
No. 23 Forest Hills at No. 10 JFK; No. 22 Monroe at No. 11 Campus Magnet; No. 21 Van Buren at No. 12 MSIT; No. 20 Eagle Academy at No. 13 ENY Transit; No. 19 Thurgood Marshall at No. 14 Beach Channel; No. 18 Manhattan Center at No. 15 Gompers, Thursday; No. 17 Robeson at No. 16 Lehman, Thursday.
No. 1 Jefferson, No. 2 Boys Girls, No. 3 Lincoln, No. 4 Wings Academy, No. 5 Cardozo, No. 6 Curtis, No. 7 South Shore No. 8 Wadleigh and No. 9 Bayside all receive first-round byes.
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CSI/McCown, Tottenville and Susan Wagner will all compete in the PSAL A playoffs, with different scenarios for each.
The Dragons are seeded 10th out of the 45 teams and earned a first-round bye. The Pirates are seeded No. 25 and will host No. 40 New Utrecht on Wednesday at 5 p.m. And the No. 38 Falcons will hit the road to face No. 27 Brooklyn Tech, also on Wednesdaty at 5.
PSAL A playoffs
All games will be played on Wednesday at 5 p.m. unless otherwise noted.
No. 46 Richard Green at No. 19 Taft; No. 45 Madison at No. 20 John Adams; No. 44 George Washington at No. 21 Murry Bergtraum; No. 43 Newtown at No. 22 Stuyvesant; No. 42 Morris at No. 23 Frederick Douglass Academy, Thursday; No. 40 New Utrecht at No. 25 Tottenville; No. 39 Environmental Studies at No. 26 Teddy Roosevelt; No. 38 Susan Wagner at No. 27 Brooklyn Tech; No. 37 Seward Park at No. 28 Grand St. Campus, Thursday; No. 36 Van Arsdale at No. 29 Far Rockaway, Thursday; No. 35 Bronx Science at No. 30 Francis Lewis; No. 33 MLK at No. 31 Columbus, Thursday; No. 33 John Bowne at No. 32 FDR, Thursday.
No. 1 Mott Haven, No. 2 Long Island City, No. 3 Brooklyn College HS, No. 4 Bedford Academy, No. 5 Evander Childs; No. 6 Springfield Gardens, No. 7 Global International Studies, No. 8 HS for Construction, No. 9 Lafayette, No. 10 CSI/McCown, No. 11 Clinton, No. 12 Banneker, No. 13 Hunter, No. 14 Telecommunications, No. 15 Norman Thomas, No. 16 Graphic Communications, No. 17 Stevenson, No. 18 Brooklyn HS for LT, No. 24 HS of Teaching all receive first-round byes.
