D1 - D2 16 team playoff bracket

[custercounty]

Other than travel, why is D1-D2 a 32 team bracket?
Has anyone ever looked at the 32 team bracket and converted it to what a 16 team bracket....and see if any of the lower seeds actually won a 1st round game?
Being 2-6 or 3-5 and "Qualifying" for the Playoffs is not exactly an honor.
It only extended the season 1 week and cost the school travel expenses to go get beat by a team that actually deserved to make the Playoffs.
But of course the NSAA would miss out on the gate from 32 games that don't really matter.

 

[huskerbacker93]

Other than travel, why is D1-D2 a 32 team bracket?
Has anyone ever looked at the 32 team bracket and converted it to what a 16 team bracket....and see if any of the lower seeds actually won a 1st round game?
Being 2-6 or 3-5 and "Qualifying" for the Playoffs is not exactly an honor.
It only extended the season 1 week and cost the school travel expenses to go get beat by a team that actually deserved to make the Playoffs.
But of course the NSAA would miss out on the gate from 32 games that don't really matter.

I agree with you, but I am not sure what the right answer is. Class C went to 16 teams. Now there will be a couple of teams that will be 7-2 and be left out. Not sure that is right either. Take Stanton, most projections have them out. They lost by 13 points to undefeated Battle Creek and then lost to 7-1 Oakland-Craig (whose only loss was to BC). Probably one of the top 10 teams and they will be left out.

 

[Alum-Ni]

I believe a couple of years ago when the Class C schools voted to change, there was a similar vote to change the Class D playoffs to the same format, but it obviously failed.

I assume geography has a part to play in it, and I'm also sure many voted to keep it at 32 just to get more schools the opportunity to say they played in the postseason.

 

[runningback43]

16 teams is not enough teams if teams that go 7-2 do not make it into the playoffs. There will be some teams left out again this year in C-2 that are probably better than teams that will make it into the playoffs. I didn't like seeing 3 win teams getting into the playoffs either, but hate to see a team like Stanton not make it because of going to 16 teams.

They might have to get rid of the automatic qualifier for the 8 district winners and just go to top 16 in playoff points. In my opinion they should also get rid of the bonus points for playing a C-1 team.

 

[custercounty]

Good comments.
Tough part about leaving out district champs is that NSAA controls your schedule. And there are some teams that are in tough or non-tough districts.
I guess I would rather a 7-2 team get left out than a 2-6 team get in.
Guessing there has been a team left out that would have won championship.

 

[custercounty]

Sorry.....guessing there has NOT been a team left out that would have won championship.

 

[OutlawTrail]

I believe a couple of years ago when the Class C schools voted to change, there was a similar vote to change the Class D playoffs to the same format, but it obviously failed.

I assume geography has a part to play in it, and I'm also sure many voted to keep it at 32 just to get more schools the opportunity to say they played in the postseason.

I believe a part of the C vote at that time was a seperate vote to move to a 3 way split of the class instead of 2. The smaller playoff passed the split failed.

 

[RCCOB]

The 16 team or 32 team playoff is always an interesting discussion. I think it comes down to this: Is it a bigger travesty to have a team get in that maybe doesn't deserve it or leave a team out that should be in? What does every one think?

 

[hambenkbr]

If you want to know one of the main reasons for a 32 team playoff....here's a little history for you. Back in the 90's....East Butler and Falls City Sacred Heart were ranked #1 & #2 that year...there was a 9 game format and 16 teams made the playoffs. East Butler had the Mackovickas' and Falls City Sacred Heart was in the middle of their 6 straight championship run. They played that year and Sacred Heart won 28-26 in OT. East Butler didn't make the playoffs because of weak strength of schedule and Sacred Heart went through the playoffs untouched. The next year they changed to the 32 team format to avoid that ever happening again. It might not have been the next year but close....if I remember correctly.

 

[northeastNebraska]

The 16 team or 32 team playoff is always an interesting discussion. I think it comes down to this: Is it a bigger travesty to have a team get in that maybe doesn't deserve it or leave a team out that should be in? What does every one think?

It's a bigger travesty to have 14 teams in who don't deserve to be there and it sucks for two teams who don't get in. If the number were 18 (which wouldn't work) no one would be left out.

Sure Stanton/Crofton might get left at home this year, but that's the way it goes sometimes. I wish the district champ wouldn't automatically get in because there is always one bad district.

The bad district this year is C2-2. 6-3 Elmwood-Murdock will get in and Stanton/Crofton would crush them.

Those are the two teams that deserve to go and they both may not make it. But they are the only two worth being in the playoffs if they are left out in C2 in my opinion.

I'm not a fan of seeing 32 teams in the playoffs. It's unnecessary. For 8 man I think they should have 24 teams.

 

[northeastNebraska]

The only team C1 who I think could win a playoff game or two who probably won't make it is Pierce.

They will finish 6-3 with losses coming to Boone Central, Norfolk Catholic and Scotus. All contenders in C1.

But other than them Mitchell no, O'Neill no (but will probably get in with a win Friday because they will be district champs.) Milford no.

 

[Antone13]

I would rather see to many teams get into playoffs and give them a chance to win and move on. I played at C-2 in High school and we were the last team in. We got blasted in the first round but i would have rather played that game and got beat bad than not have played. This is about the kids and the fact if you ask the kids they want to play. The other part of it is that it gives a lot of teams a chance to make the playoffs. If you dont like it being called state playoffs we can change the name in the first round. I believe the kids like it better with 32 teams getting in and the seeding that happens. 2nd i feels it makes the playoffs more exciting no matter who plays who.

 

[custercounty]

I would rather see a few teams not get in than water it down with 32 teams.
There are teams that don't get in to basketball tournament because they were put in a tough sub-district or district. This has been improved with the addition of the wildcard, but always chance of someone getting left out.
Football teams always know one way to guarantee themselves the playoffs.....win the district.

 

[northeastNebraska]

I would rather see a few teams not get in than water it down with 32 teams.
There are teams that don't get in to basketball tournament because they were put in a tough sub-district or district. This has been improved with the addition of the wildcard, but always chance of someone getting left out.
Football teams always know one way to guarantee themselves the playoffs.....win the district.

Totally agree with this.

And Custer County is the bomb btw. Spent a lot of time up that way when I lived in North Platte for a year and a half in 2013-2015.

 

[wolfy94]

Basketball? Really? Every team makes the "playoffs" in basketball. Every team has a chance at least. Cost the school money? So if you go to a 9 game schedule, even and 0-8 team has to pay for an extra game? So not only do the 16 teams, that dont deserve to be there, have to pay, but the whole rest of the the class has to pay for an extra game? Makes sense. And this thread was started on 8 man, not class C and above. Is 32 perfect? No, not at all. But there are so many factors in the small schools that change things compared to C and above. For example, an injury, and I mean one. One injury on a tough team, maybe only a week or two, which made them them go 6-2, or 5-3. Then its playoff time, athlete is healthy and now they cant make a run? And its just not injury, so many things can happen when in a small school with so few numbers. What I dont really understand is how does it affect you people? What does it matter to you? Ya, so a 3-5 team makes it and goes to a beating. But that same 3-5 team won the games they could, they won the ones they needed to, beat the other team that will be sitting at home next Thursday. I really wonder if any of you played football at a small school, or football at all. Ive been around enough teams in my day, and I have never heard a player, a senior especially, say "Damn, i wish we wouldn't of made the playoffs and got our butts kicked like that." That is usually us coaches thinking "Aw hell", but never the kids. Its one more time you get to put on the pads, and for about all of us in the small schools, it will be the last time. The last time you get to play defense, hit someone, block someone, gain a yard, score a td even if against JVs. If you dont like to watch a beating, don't go! Take a week off, go watch some 11 man, then your "true" 16 teams will be there on that next Wednesday, and the football world will be right with you. Trust me, there are 15-30 kids on that team taking the beating and loving it, because its the playoffs. They are there and the other haft never got a shot. In 8 man, 32 is the best option.

 

[lusciousdelfonte]

The whole idea of state playoffs is to get the best teams in to the state tournament. I have said this many times before. Football is the only sport where at the end of regular season, each and every team does not have that opportunity. Basketball, volleyball, wrestling, track, each and every athlete or team has the opportunity to make the state championship. You go to 16 teams right not in class D2 and you have at least 2 of the top 10 rated teams left out. One of them has one loss the other 2. By having 32 teams you are giving the most opportunity for teams to get to the championship game. As has been said before. In small schools, you lose even 1 key player for a week and a good or great team can become average real fast. Have a team not have a key player to start the season lose 2 or 3 games and then he is back and run off 5 straight wins for nothing. Not right. Lose 1 game to start the year and no you are not going to make playoffs and kind of takes the wind out of the season. Back in the 80's, I know I just dated myself, that is the way it was, and if you lost your first game a lot of times you were already against the wall, lose 2 and most of the time forget it. I think class C did themselves an injustice by going to 16, but that is my opinion look at the quality teams not going to get a chance this year. Keep it at 32, give the kids a chance and let them say they made the playoffs, give the community, kids, and who ever else some pride!

 

[BeardedWhale]

My friend knows the staff at Lyons-Decatur and he said they went 7-1 back in 2013, only losing to Humphrey St. Francis during the regular season. If it was a 16 team playoff they would have been left out, despite being up 52-0 at half in the first round of the playoffs and eventually winning that game. They lost second round to the eventual state champion, and St. Francis went toe to toe with that team. While I agree their team wasn't going to win a state title, it wasn't like they didn't deserve to play in the playoffs, especially after blowing the doors off the team they played in the first round. If a playoff format keeps one or two loss teams out, that's probably a bad way to do it. If it's watered down, it is what it is. But there are a lot of 9, 10, 11, and 12 seeds better than the teams in front of them just based on the strength of the districts. Not really sure why it's bad for 16 more teams to get another game in. The bottom seeds are usually pretty bad, I agree, but who cares?

In terms of basketball, isn't everyone in the playoffs since they can win their district tournament at the end of the year and get a bid? That's a bad comparison IMO.

 

[grubby65]

This has been an interesting discussion so I decided to really take a look at it and let the numbers do the talking. I went back and tallied the numbers from 2010-2014 for the classes playing a 32 team playoff (C1&C2 were not included in 2014). I left the brackets split into to two 16 team brackets. So everyone seeded 9 and below would be left out of the playoffs. I realize this doesn't actually take into account the actual points for the individual teams so the seeding would be different if these were actually 16 team brackets. But here is what I came up with:
Round #1 (288 total games)
9 seed won 17
10 seed won 8
11 seed won 11
12 seed won 6
13 seed won 3
14 seed won 3
15 seed won 0
16 seed won 0
48 games (17%) were won by seeds 9-16
Round #2 (144 total games)
9 seed won 1
10 seed won 2
11 seed won 1
12 seed won 2
13 seed won 2
14 seed won 2
10 games (7%) were won by seeds 9-16
Round #3 (72 total games)
11 seed won 1
1 game (1%) were won by seeds 9-16
No team seeded 7 or lower has ever made it to round #4 in this time frame.

Here are the First round results:
(1-vs-16) #1 won 100%
(2-vs-15) #2 won 100%
(3-vs-14) #3 won 92%
(4-vs-13) #4 won 92%
(5-vs-12) #5 won 83%
(6-vs-11) #6 won 69%
(7-vs-10) #7 won 78%
(8-vs-9) #8 won 53%

 

[custercounty]

Great discussion. Here is my attempt at D2 16 team bracket. 10 district champs +6 wild cards

1--CWC 8-0 46.5
16--Eustis -Farnam 4-4 39.625

9--Randolph 6-2. 42.625 wildcard
8--Fall City SC 7-1 42.75

5-- Sandhills-Thedford 7-1 43.125
12--Kenesaw 6-2. 42.0

13-- Maxwell 6-2 42.5
4--Exeter -Milligan 7-1 44.125

3--Garden County. 8-0 44.625
14--Crawford 6-2 42.5 wildcard

11--Bertrand 5-3 42.375 wildcard
6-- Wynot 7-1. 42.825

7--Anselmo- Merna 7-1 42.875 wildcard
10--Stuart 5-3 42.625 wildcard

15--Lawrence - Nelson 7-1 42.25 wildcard
2--Humphrey st Fran. 7-1 44.75

1st 3 out
Brady
Osceola
Alma

I think this would be a very interesting playoff.

 

[EC junky]

Think Brady and Alma could make noise in that bracket. 32 to many but 16 not enough????

 

[custercounty]

Again, as discussed above. With 16, there will be teams left out. But at least it is not watered down with 3-5 or 4-4 teams.
Think Pierce would have made noise in C-1? 6-3, only losses are to 3 of top 8 teams in state.1st time missing state since 1997.

 

[Football2274]

32 teams is just fine. It only adds 1 extra night of games in the playoffs. And this allows them to play the same number of games for the year as Class A-C2.

 

[Antone13]

I feel Osceola would beat alot of the 16 teams that would make it into a 16 team bracket.

 

[skers4life21]

If you want to go with the top 16 then go with the top 16. No District Champions. There will more than likely be at least one district champion that is not very good. To put Eustis-Farnam in over Brady or Alma (who beat Eustis-Farnam by 42 points) would be ridiculous.

 

[custercounty]

I used same format that is used in C1-C2.
Oneill got in by being district champ.
Pierce beat Oneill 42-0. Pierce is staying home.

 

[northeastNebraska]

32 teams is just fine. It only adds 1 extra night of games in the playoffs. And this allows them to play the same number of games for the year as Class A-C2.

32 teams don't deserve to say "we made the playoffs." When over 1/3 of the bracket is .500 or worse, that's when you know too many teams make the playoffs.

 

[Football2274]

32 teams don't deserve to say "we made the playoffs." When over 1/3 of the bracket is .500 or worse, that's when you know too many teams make the playoffs.

I'm not sure why this bothers you so much. Let it go. It's not going to change anytime soon. Deal with it!

 

[northeastNebraska]

I'm not sure why this bothers you so much. Let it go. It's not going to change anytime soon. Deal with it!

Because it teaches kids and coaches how to deal with adversity and not always getting your way. Every game should matter and when you have 32 teams in the playoffs it makes the regular season not matter as much.

A coach can have his kids prepared for the 3 or 4 lesser opponents on his schedule and if they win those 3 or 4, they get in no matter what even if they get blown out in the other 4 games.

At least in 11 man football the last three weeks of the season are crucial to standings and who makes it. They can't just lose two games. They have that extra insentive to play harder and win the games that make or break their future.

 

[JB Hero]

Because it teaches kids and coaches how to deal with adversity and not always getting your way. Every game should matter and when you have 32 teams in the playoffs it makes the regular season not matter as much.

A coach can have his kids prepared for the 3 or 4 lesser opponents on his schedule and if they win those 3 or 4, they get in no matter what even if they get blown out in the other 4 games.

At least in 11 man football the last three weeks of the season are crucial to standings and who makes it. They can't just lose two games. They have that extra insentive to play harder and win the games that make or break their future.

I guarantee there's not a single game out there to any kid playing ball that doesn't matter. Each team wants to win every game, wether or not it's possible. Saying that coaches only prepare there kids for games that are 100% winnable is ignorant

 

[Cy Tolliver]

Because it teaches kids and coaches how to deal with adversity and not always getting your way. Every game should matter and when you have 32 teams in the playoffs it makes the regular season not matter as much.

A coach can have his kids prepared for the 3 or 4 lesser opponents on his schedule and if they win those 3 or 4, they get in no matter what even if they get blown out in the other 4 games.

At least in 11 man football the last three weeks of the season are crucial to standings and who makes it. They can't just lose two games. They have that extra insentive to play harder and win the games that make or break their future.

I disagree that it sends that message. A quality coach will instill the correct sense of competitiveness and the true benefits. It also gives a chance to breathe life into otherwise dead programs/ community. You are not looking at the pluses here and are focusing only on what you think. it may be "watered" down, but that's what makes sports great, there's alway a chance. No matter your position underdog or not, all u need is a chance and to work as hard as possible to take advantage of that opportunity. That is the message to be shared to young kids as they learn what it means to compete.

not getting their way. That is something that parents need to teach kids not sports.

 

[northeastNebraska]

I guarantee there's not a single game out there to any kid playing ball that doesn't matter. Each team wants to win every game, wether or not it's possible. Saying that coaches only prepare there kids for games that are 100% winnable is ignorant

That's not really what I meant, and I understand it came out that way. My point is I don't like having teams in the playoffs who are 4-4, and their four losses are blowouts and their four wins are against bad teams.

 

[northeastNebraska]

A team this year in D1 that I look at is Mead. They finished 4-4, and are the #13 seed playing #4 GACC.

Mead wins:
Scribner-Snyder (3-5) 40-34 OT
OCA (0-8) 52-12
Pawnee City (1-7) 70-18
Cedar Bluffs (2-6) 32-28

Mead loses:
Johnson-Brock (5-3) 26-20
Diller-Odell (6-2) 34-16
East Butler (8-0) 62-22
Lourdes (7-1) 58-40

I just don't like it, plain and simple. I just think 16 teams is plenty. There are not 32 great teams in one class.

 

[skers4life21]

I'd like to look at 24 teams with the top 8 in power points getting a bye the first week.

 

[northeastNebraska]

I'd like to look at 24 teams with the top 8 in power points getting a bye the first week.

I would be okay with testing those waters.

 

[huskersox86]

24 will never work. Nobody wants a bye week going into the playoffs. It will never happen. Class D will not change. Get over it. All of you have stated your opinions. If you don't like, it don't watch the first round or write your letter of complaint into the NSAA. Old topic. Moving on.

 

[Cy Tolliver]

I just don't like it, plain and simple. I just think 16 teams is plenty. There are not 32 great teams in one class.

This right here is what we should be worried about teaching kids. To much now, people think that just because they don't like it they have the right or feel compelled to try to change it. Instead of trying to weigh the positive & negatives to come to a good conclusion, entitled individuals think their opinion is all that matters.

I agree with you there are not 32 great teams. But that goes for all classes. There are not 16 great teams, not even 8. Aquinas will roll to the semis if not through the final. c1 seems pretty balanced. B is a 2 horse race and class A is really about two legit teams.