No one understands how this all works in Calif. I can't give you a good answer.... only some some excuses - good? bad? You decide.
Teams here don't play their seasons ONLY against their division opponents. All our losses came to teams in higher divisions. BUT.... we moved up a Division for the playoffs. SO -
In our Division some teams had very weak schedules and some, like us, had very hard schedules.... a computer factors that in. Strength of schedule is HUGE in the making the final rankings.
Teams have to win ONLY 30% of their games to be 'considered' for the playoffs. Yup... that means a 3-7 team 'may' make the playoffs. On the face of it that seems ridiculous, true? Certainly does to me. But then there is this - Garces (I think Ferragamo's Alma Mater) played a BRUTAL schedule - taking on those 'All Star High Schools".... They were easily one of the strongest teams "In Their Division" but had a very poor W/L record.
It used to be that "League Play" determined the playoff contenders. That made sense, to me anyway.... this mix and match scheduling of today has me totally confused. - JamesJM