High Seeds Going on the road in the quarterfinals

[northeastNebraska]

Class C1 finally came to the realization last year that having the high seed travel is idiotic. Will we see proposals in the lower classes soon? I know their is a proposal in C2 for this to be the last year of this old rule. I'd be shocked if that doesn't pass.

Class C2:

#1 Hastings St. Cecilia travels to #9 Battle Creek
#3 Norfolk Catholic travels to #11 Lincoln Lutheran
#4 Malcolm travels to #12 Cedar Catholic

Class D1:

#3 Stanton travels to #11 Nebraska Christian
#7 Clarkson-Leigh travels to #15 Weeping Water

Class D2:
#4 BDS travels to #12 Central Valley
#2 Hitchcock Country travels to #10 Elm Creek

Class D6:
#2 Arthur County travels to #10 Hay Springs

When will this madness end? The high seed should not have to go on the road. They earned the right to play at home.

 

[C-Bearsfan]

Class C1 finally came to the realization last year that having the high seed travel is idiotic. Will we see proposals in the lower classes soon? I know their is a proposal in C2 for this to be the last year of this old rule. I'd be shocked if that doesn't pass.

Class C2:

#1 Hastings St. Cecilia travels to #9 Battle Creek
#3 Norfolk Catholic travels to #11 Lincoln Lutheran
#4 Malcolm travels to #12 Cedar Catholic

Class D1:

#3 Stanton travels to #11 Nebraska Christian
#7 Clarkson-Leigh travels to #15 Weeping Water

Class D2:
#4 BDS travels to #12 Central Valley
#2 Hitchcock Country travels to #10 Elm Creek

Class D6:
#2 Arthur County travels to #10 Hay Springs

When will this madness end? The high seed should not have to go on the road. They earned the right to play at home.

I will have more to say on it after Fridays' results. I agree with the high seeds earning home field advantage but also like the idea of a team that gets an upset, gets help to keep the momentum going. Once this passes thru c-2 i agree, it will pass thru the d levels as well in the next couple years.

 

[Power_I_82]

Class C1 finally came to the realization last year that having the high seed travel is idiotic. Will we see proposals in the lower classes soon? I know their is a proposal in C2 for this to be the last year of this old rule. I'd be shocked if that doesn't pass.

Class C2:

#1 Hastings St. Cecilia travels to #9 Battle Creek
#3 Norfolk Catholic travels to #11 Lincoln Lutheran
#4 Malcolm travels to #12 Cedar Catholic

Class D1:

#3 Stanton travels to #11 Nebraska Christian
#7 Clarkson-Leigh travels to #15 Weeping Water

Class D2:
#4 BDS travels to #12 Central Valley
#2 Hitchcock Country travels to #10 Elm Creek

Class D6:
#2 Arthur County travels to #10 Hay Springs

When will this madness end? The high seed should not have to go on the road. They earned the right to play at home.

I think it ends this year. With the statewide seeding now, people can't hide behind the travel aspect of it now.

 

[253847]

Class C1 finally came to the realization last year that having the high seed travel is idiotic. Will we see proposals in the lower classes soon? I know their is a proposal in C2 for this to be the last year of this old rule. I'd be shocked if that doesn't pass.

Class C2:

#1 Hastings St. Cecilia travels to #9 Battle Creek
#3 Norfolk Catholic travels to #11 Lincoln Lutheran
#4 Malcolm travels to #12 Cedar Catholic

Class D1:

#3 Stanton travels to #11 Nebraska Christian
#7 Clarkson-Leigh travels to #15 Weeping Water

Class D2:
#4 BDS travels to #12 Central Valley
#2 Hitchcock Country travels to #10 Elm Creek

Class D6:
#2 Arthur County travels to #10 Hay Springs

When will this madness end? The high seed should not have to go on the road. They earned the right to play at home.

Respectfully Disagree, A team like Weeping Water should get the chance to host a home game eventually. They shouldn't be punished for a tough regular season schedule, when their last 2 opponents both undefeated had somewhat easy regular season schedules.

Or even teams like Elm Creek or Central Valley. Both traveled + 2 hours last week and had "upset" wins, should be rewarded with a home game.

 

[HighPlainsCoach]

I don't have any particular problem with it. The real "madness" we've done is completely abandoning the educational concept of High School sports . Dragging kids all around the state, before it is absolutely necessary, is the height of absurdity. From the goofy "substate" round in hoops and vb, the bizarre arbitrary 180 mile limit for neutral site games, all of it. No other large state disregards geography. Even Texas, HS football mecca of the Universe, is STRICTLY geographic until the Finals. I remember people getting their panties in a bunch when Mitchell, before their season collapsed, seemed to have the audacity to get the #1 seed in C2. These kids aren't unimaginably wealthy pro athletes flying charter and having the best of everything, they aren't even college athletes with all of the nutritionists, tutors, health professionals tending to their every whim. To continue to drag kids on possible 6, 8, even 10 hour road trips is the height of insanity in my mind. This idea of continually punishing a vastly under-seeded team, almost guarantees they have zero chance of success, long term. The point system is so completely flawed to base a teams chances of success on it, seems absurd in the extreme. I would also contend that a team who had no say in who they play, based upon an overly simplistic and flawed system deserves nothing. We have so many problems conceptually, that punishing Cinderella just does not move my meter one bit. I feel badly for the kids, parents, families, and fans that face large, and quite unneeded, financial, time, and efficiency hurdles to simply compete. All to feed egos. Doesn't make any sense to me. Here's to hoping that whatever comes with the economy, reality slaps people in the face, and returns sanity and perspective to high school sports.

 

[northeastNebraska]

Respectfully Disagree, A team like Weeping Water should get the chance to host a home game eventually. They shouldn't be punished for a tough regular season schedule, when their last 2 opponents both undefeated had somewhat easy regular season schedules.

Or even teams like Elm Creek or Central Valley. Both traveled + 2 hours last week and had "upset" wins, should be rewarded with a home game.

No they shouldn't. Why should Clarkson-Leigh have to travel because they keep winning and they have a better overall record and points? Weeping Water lost four games in the regular season, they shouldn't get to host a team that is ranked higher. If Weeping Water keeps winning, they should have to keep traveling, that is part of being a low seed.

Hitchcock County is undefeated, they shouldn't have to travel to Elm Creek. I don't care that Elm Creek went to Ainsworth last week, win your regular season games.

 

[northeastNebraska]

I don't have any particular problem with it. The real "madness" we've done is completely abandoning the educational concept of High School sports .this state. Dragging kids all around the state, before it is absolutely necessary, is the height of absurdity. From the goofy "substate" round in hoops and vb, the bizarre arbitrary 180 mile limit for neutral site games, all of it. No other large state disregards geography. Even Texas, HS football mecca of the Universe, is STRICTLY geographic until the Finals. I remember people getting their panties in a bunch when Mitchell, before their season collapsed, seemed to have the audacity to get the #1 seed in C2. These kids aren't unimaginably wealthy pro athletes flying charter and having the best of everything, they aren't even college athletes with all of the nutritionists, tutors, health professionals tending to their every whim. To continue to drag kids on possible 6, 8, even 10 hour road trips is the height of insanity in my mind. This idea of continually punishing a vastly under-seeded team, almost guarantees they have zero chance of success, long term. The point system is so completely flawed to base a teams chances of success on it, seems absurd in the extreme. I would also contend that a team who had no say in who they play, based upon an overly simplistic and flawed system deserves nothing. We have so many problems conceptually, that punishing Cinderella just does not move my meter one bit. I feel badly for the kids, parents, families, and fans that face large, and quite unneeded, financial, time, and efficiency hurdles to simply compete. All to feed egos. Doesn't make any sense to me.

In volleyball and basketball it's one game. Then everyone goes to Lincoln. Not that big of a hurdle. Plus, it's cool to play someone and somewhere completely different.

We do not need east west split again. the current format gets the best teams to Lincoln.

 

[HighPlainsCoach]

In volleyball and basketball it's one game. Then everyone goes to Lincoln. Not that big of a hurdle. Plus, it's cool to play someone and somewhere completely different.

We do not need east west split again. the current format gets the best teams to Lincoln.

East-West split is absolutely needed. Now more than ever. I would go further and put them into quadrants. A smaller version of what Texas does. Your "best" teams, which is about as misleading as it gets to begin with, comes at an enormous cost. And doesn't matter. The best 5-6 have ALWAYS made it since the advent of the wild card. That's more than enough. One game? Sure. And totally, completely unneeded. Football isn't "one" game. You ever think that this overkill of chasing "perfection" is part of what is driving participation numbers down the drain? No kid, no coach signs up for the bus rides. I would say some of you want to keep turning my beloved high school sports into a mini-professional league. But even THEY, in all cases, use geography to determine qualifiers.

 

[highschoolfootballnut]

East-West split is absolutely needed. Now more than ever. I would go further and put them into quadrants. A smaller version of what Texas does. Your "best" teams, which is about as misleading as it gets to begin with, comes at an enormous cost. And doesn't matter. The best 5-6 have ALWAYS made it since the advent of the wild card. That's more than enough. One game? Sure. And totally, completely unneeded. Football isn't "one" game. You ever think that this overkill of chasing "perfection" is part of what is driving participation numbers down the drain? No kid, no coach signs up for the bus rides. I would say some of you want to keep turning my beloved high school sports into a mini-professional league. But even THEY, in all cases, use geography to determine qualifiers.

It is the state championship. Not the region state tourney The reason they went away from east and west one area or the other would get a team half as good to the finals, More than ever we need no east and west as the west is dwindling fast and it would lead to a pour team in the finals, Thank goodness for NPSP or the west would be void of a team again

 

[Llama57]

East-West split is absolutely needed. Now more than ever. I would go further and put them into quadrants. A smaller version of what Texas does. Your "best" teams, which is about as misleading as it gets to begin with, comes at an enormous cost. And doesn't matter. The best 5-6 have ALWAYS made it since the advent of the wild card. That's more than enough. One game? Sure. And totally, completely unneeded. Football isn't "one" game. You ever think that this overkill of chasing "perfection" is part of what is driving participation numbers down the drain? No kid, no coach signs up for the bus rides. I would say some of you want to keep turning my beloved high school sports into a mini-professional league. But even THEY, in all cases, use geography to determine qualifiers.

They also play 17 games to determine who the best teams are to qualify for playoffs.

There is already geographical criteria for HS. It's called regular season district play. Then the teams in geographically weak districts get the poop knocked out of them by "lower ranked" teams in tougher districts that have 3 losses.

 

[Big Red Thoughts]

East-West split is absolutely needed. Now more than ever. I would go further and put them into quadrants. A smaller version of what Texas does. Your "best" teams, which is about as misleading as it gets to begin with, comes at an enormous cost. And doesn't matter. The best 5-6 have ALWAYS made it since the advent of the wild card. That's more than enough. One game? Sure. And totally, completely unneeded. Football isn't "one" game. You ever think that this overkill of chasing "perfection" is part of what is driving participation numbers down the drain? No kid, no coach signs up for the bus rides. I would say some of you want to keep turning my beloved high school sports into a mini-professional league. But even THEY, in all cases, use geography to determine qualifiers.

Totally disagree with this and your last post, the regular season matters, that is why we have the sub state round in volleyball and basketball. It allows the teams that have had a successful regular season have a chance to make it to state even if they had an off night in sub districts, no more ridiculous east/west split, it just allows bad teams to play at state. Coaches and players know what they are signing up for, if you would ask the Weeping Water or any other team that is a low seed making a run, they would say they want to keep playing, no matter where it is. A #3 seed should not be going on the road in the 3rd round when they have a better record and strength of schedule than the opponent. on a side note: the NSAA schedules regular season games two and a half hours away from schools when there are numerous other schools within 30 minutes, now that is flawed. Travel is a part of the playoffs, I don't think that will change.

 

[mww]

Class C1 finally came to the realization last year that having the high seed travel is idiotic. Will we see proposals in the lower classes soon? I know their is a proposal in C2 for this to be the last year of this old rule. I'd be shocked if that doesn't pass.

Class C2:

#1 Hastings St. Cecilia travels to #9 Battle Creek
#3 Norfolk Catholic travels to #11 Lincoln Lutheran
#4 Malcolm travels to #12 Cedar Catholic

Class D1:

#3 Stanton travels to #11 Nebraska Christian
#7 Clarkson-Leigh travels to #15 Weeping Water

Class D2:
#4 BDS travels to #12 Central Valley
#2 Hitchcock Country travels to #10 Elm Creek

Class D6:
#2 Arthur County travels to #10 Hay Springs

When will this madness end? The high seed should not have to go on the road. They earned the right to play at home.

The higher seed should have home field. It was earned over the entire season.

 

[saluno22]

Part of my problem is essentially taking the wild card averages/seeding as Gospel.

Class A: 31 teams, 9 games (play 30% of all other teams)
Class B: 26 teams, 9 games (play 36% of all other teams; this year was just 24 teams, so 39%)
Class C1: 38 teams, 9 games (play 24% of all other teams)
Class C2: 36 teams, 9 games (play 26% of all other teams)

Now...
Class D1: 61 teams, 8 games (play 13% of all other teams)
Class D2: 54 teams, 8 games (play 15% of all other teams)

I would take what the wild card says in A through C2 for saying one team has "earned" a higher seed and therefore hosting rights more than another when teams play such a high percentage of the rest of the class.

NOTE: I know many teams play a team from a class down or up or out of state. We can get detailed on that, but just using the above since it gets us in the ballpark.

When you get down to D1 and D2, not only are there many more teams, but also fewer regular season games. This lends less solidity to firmly saying "this team has earned hosting rights for the next X weeks."

Additionally, as others have mentioned, the NSAA creates the schedules. Yes, teams can request others outside their district, but also as others have mentioned in other threads, this isn't always surefire.

Throw in not losing points when playing a team in a lower class, and you can get some skewed wild card averages. Again, this is a necessity in many cases due to the dearth of teams.

I would be fine with C2 following suit with A, B, and C1 given they play roughly the same percentage of the rest of the class. But not D1 and D2 given the much lower percentage of the rest of the class played.

I am glad D1 and D2 not only re-seeds after the round of 32, but also they got rid of the hosting process for the round of 16 and just go with the higher seed in that round. That I can get on board with.

One thing else to consider is how much benefit are we to give higher seeds? There's a school of thought where once you're in the postseason, nothing prior matters. Your wild card average gets you into the field and initial placement/pairings, then the playoff is its own "season" without consideration for the regular season results. But of course, we need to determine who hosts when it's not a neutral site situation, and people like to give deference to the higher seeds regardless. I just don't buy that when the percentage of other teams among teams under consideration played is as low as D1 and D2.

 

[HighPlainsCoach]

It is the state championship. Not the region state tourney The reason they went away from east and west one area or the other would get a team half as good to the finals, More than ever we need no east and west as the west is dwindling fast and it would lead to a pour team in the finals, Thank goodness for NPSP or the west would be void of a team again

And you will still have a State Champion. Just like every other state. And it will be done in a way that doesn't throw away time, money, etc. So now we're just participation medalling the second best team? You do realize that the line isn't a fixed point, right? That as demographics change so does the line? But the bringing of perspective and sanity to what we're kids asking kids to do seems common sense to me. Fortunately, or sadly, I think future events will force our hand and wake everybody up. Scottsbluff and Potter-Dix are kind of hurt by your contention, btw.

 

[253847]

No they shouldn't. Why should Clarkson-Leigh have to travel because they keep winning and they have a better overall record and points? Weeping Water lost four games in the regular season, they shouldn't get to host a team that is ranked higher. If Weeping Water keeps winning, they should have to keep traveling, that is part of being a low seed.

Hitchcock County is undefeated, they shouldn't have to travel to Elm Creek. I don't care that Elm Creek went to Ainsworth last week, win your regular season games.

Flip regular season schedules with Weeping Water and Clarkson-Leigh. Who is the better seed now? Too much influence from a flawed point system.

 

[highschoolfootballnut]

And you will still have a State Champion. Just like every other state. And it will be done in a way that doesn't throw away time, money, etc. So now we're just participation medalling the second best team? You do realize that the line isn't a fixed point, right? That as demographics change so does the line? But the bringing of perspective and sanity to what we're kids asking kids to do seems common sense to me. Fortunately, or sadly, I think future events will force our hand and wake everybody up. Scottsbluff and Potter-Dix are kind of hurt by your contention, btw.

Travel for 3 games a year if you make that far is not a big deal at all. In my opinion a true competitor wants the best teams in the final, not a regional setup that guarantees a team from a certain area each year But thats my opinion 7 or 8 out of the ten years we do the current format it will be an eastern team that makes finals

 

[northeastNebraska]

Flip regular season schedules with Weeping Water and Clarkson-Leigh. Who is the better seed now? Too much influence from a flawed point system.

I bet you may be right for this year, but I'm not talking about the point system. I'm talking about the playoff structure. The structure needs to be changed. Clarkson-Leigh has more points, they have won more games, they should host. If the shoe was reversed, I'd say the same thing about Weeping Water. The high seed should host throughout.

 

[northeastNebraska]

East-West split is absolutely needed. Now more than ever. I would go further and put them into quadrants. A smaller version of what Texas does. Your "best" teams, which is about as misleading as it gets to begin with, comes at an enormous cost. And doesn't matter. The best 5-6 have ALWAYS made it since the advent of the wild card. That's more than enough. One game? Sure. And totally, completely unneeded. Football isn't "one" game. You ever think that this overkill of chasing "perfection" is part of what is driving participation numbers down the drain? No kid, no coach signs up for the bus rides. I would say some of you want to keep turning my beloved high school sports into a mini-professional league. But even THEY, in all cases, use geography to determine qualifiers.

No it doesn't. I don't want to see another HSF vs Pleasanton 2019 debacle.

You know how many more runner up trophies Humphrey St. Francis would have if they could have got place the opposite side of Howells in the 2000's? I'd bet 3 or 4. Howells killed the team from the west. HSF was always undefeated unless they played Howells.

Coaches and players know what they are getting into. Bus rides are part of the experience of high school sports.

You think because a kid has be on a bus for a few hours is making it mini-professional? What you are saying is we might as well just have 8 regional champions and call it good.

 

[ClkTwr2011]

Respectfully Disagree, A team like Weeping Water should get the chance to host a home game eventually. They shouldn't be punished for a tough regular season schedule, when their last 2 opponents both undefeated had somewhat easy regular season schedules.

Or even teams like Elm Creek or Central Valley. Both traveled + 2 hours last week and had "upset" wins, should be rewarded with a home game.

Good points. I had never really thought about this from your perspective. They probably DO deserve a home game for the upset.

 

[ClkTwr2011]

East-West split is absolutely needed. Now more than ever. I would go further and put them into quadrants. A smaller version of what Texas does. Your "best" teams, which is about as misleading as it gets to begin with, comes at an enormous cost. And doesn't matter. The best 5-6 have ALWAYS made it since the advent of the wild card. That's more than enough. One game? Sure. And totally, completely unneeded. Football isn't "one" game. You ever think that this overkill of chasing "perfection" is part of what is driving participation numbers down the drain? No kid, no coach signs up for the bus rides. I would say some of you want to keep turning my beloved high school sports into a mini-professional league. But even THEY, in all cases, use geography to determine qualifiers.

I am not familiar with a Quadrant system. I tried to look at Texas but wasn't able to easily find anything. I would be interested in reading up on this if you could share a link. I will continue looking as well.

I would like to see a system in which we can use Geography AND some variation of a seeding system together. This might be what you are suggesting, but I don't know enough about it to know for sure.

 

[C-Bearsfan]

Good points. I had never really thought about this from your perspective. They probably DO deserve a home game for the upset.

While I can agree with the, "They probably DO deserve a home game for the upset," what about the team that is undefeated that now must travel who also, DOES deserve a home game for continuing to win. Its double edged. Maybe the team plays better on the road, hence the two big wins against undefeated teams. So if they lose at home in the next game can they complain that they should have been allowed to continue on the road. Just a stupid argument full of what ifs and what nots. I genuinely like the round of 32 east/west split, (sub-state), and then reseed for the final 16. No matter where the game is played, like a team out west traveling to Lincoln for the championships, you must win.

 

[ClkTwr2011]

While I can agree with the, "They probably DO deserve a home game for the upset," what about the team that is undefeated that now must travel who also, DOES deserve a home game for continuing to win. Its double edged. Maybe the team plays better on the road, hence the two big wins against undefeated teams. So if they lose at home in the next game can they complain that they should have been allowed to continue on the road. Just a stupid argument full of what ifs and what nots. I genuinely like the round of 32 east/west split, (sub-state), and then reseed for the final 16. No matter where the game is played, like a team out west traveling to Lincoln for the championships, you must win.

I don't disagree with you at all. It really is double edged. There are great points supporting both sides in this thread alone. Where I live and grew up, we were just so excited to finally be in the post season that nobody ever thought about these type of rules! Just happy to be there .

 

[liltoad_99]

There's not a kid in this state not going out for a sport because they have to make a long bus trip. Most schools and coaches embrace those long trips and make it about making memories, while working to complete goals. Those who chose not to embrace the journey end up making excuses.

The only problem I see with high seed hosting is that schools don't control their schedules. Can't help it if you end up with 3-5 bad teams on your schedule, or if you are like Battle Creek and get 4 games on your schedule of teams you pray find 3 wins so they aren't division 4...because 1 loss means you likely never host in the high seed format but you could be in the 4 best teams in the state...

 

[northeastNebraska]

There's not a kid in this state not going out for a sport because they have to make a long bus trip. Most schools and coaches embrace those long trips and make it about making memories, while working to complete goals. Those who chose not to embrace the journey end up making excuses.

The only problem I see with high seed hosting is that schools don't control their schedules. Can't help it if you end up with 3-5 bad teams on your schedule, or if you are like Battle Creek and get 4 games on your schedule of teams you pray find 3 wins so they aren't division 4...because 1 loss means you likely never host in the high seed format but you could be in the 4 best teams in the state...

Battle Creek had a tough draw, with the two forfeits and losing to the two best teams on their schedule, but still, Malcolm shouldn't have to go on the road.

 

[nenebskers]

The more regular season games there are the more accurate the power points become. I'm probably on an island here but I wouldn't mind seeing the regular season going to 10 games for all classes and an 8 team playoff. B and C2 could go that route for sure with the current number of teams.

 

[HighPlainsCoach]

I am not familiar with a Quadrant system. I tried to look at Texas but wasn't able to easily find anything. I would be interested in reading up on this if you could share a link. I will continue looking as well.

I would like to see a system in which we can use Geography AND some variation of a seeding system together. This might be what you are suggesting, but I don't know enough about it to know for sure.

Texas is somewhat like our State Wrestling, where a .District Champ wrestles a 4th place kid, then the winner/loser of a match between the 2nd and 3rd place kids. No actual seeding occurs. Keep in mind the sheer volume of people and # of schools is a little overwhelming. In 2A ("small" 11 man) there are 4 regions. Each region is made up of 4 Districts. Each 16 team region is pre-set before the season. District 1 Champ plays D4 4th, D2 runner-up plays D3 3rd pace, and so on. Winners meet. Each Region will the top 4 of each District. In 6A it's the top 2 from 8 Districts that make up the Region. You might have the 3rd best team in your class and be eliminated in the round of 64 in 6A. People deal with it.

Football Playoff Brackets — University Interscholastic League (UIL)

 

[HighPlainsCoach]

The more regular season games there are the more accurate the power points become. I'm probably on an island here but I wouldn't mind seeing the regular season going to 10 games for all classes and an 8 team playoff. B and C2 could go that route for sure with the current number of teams.

That would be something to consider in my mind.

 

[ClkTwr2011]

Texas is somewhat like our State Wrestling, where a .District Champ wrestles a 4th place kid, then the winner/loser of a match between the 2nd and 3rd place kids. No actual seeding occurs. Keep in mind the sheer volume of people and # of schools is a little overwhelming. In 2A ("small" 11 man) there are 4 regions. Each region is made up of 4 Districts. Each 16 team region is pre-set before the season. District 1 Champ plays D4 4th, D2 runner-up plays D3 3rd pace, and so on. Winners meet. Each Region will the top 4 of each District. In 6A it's the top 2 from 8 Districts that make up the Region. You might have the 3rd best team in your class and be eliminated in the round of 64 in 6A. People deal with it.

Football Playoff Brackets — University Interscholastic League (UIL)

This is interesting. I see your point about the sheer number of people (teams) in TX. I'll follow the links as well.

 

[saluno22]

Texas is somewhat like our State Wrestling, where a .District Champ wrestles a 4th place kid, then the winner/loser of a match between the 2nd and 3rd place kids. No actual seeding occurs. Keep in mind the sheer volume of people and # of schools is a little overwhelming. In 2A ("small" 11 man) there are 4 regions. Each region is made up of 4 Districts. Each 16 team region is pre-set before the season. District 1 Champ plays D4 4th, D2 runner-up plays D3 3rd pace, and so on. Winners meet. Each Region will the top 4 of each District. In 6A it's the top 2 from 8 Districts that make up the Region. You might have the 3rd best team in your class and be eliminated in the round of 64 in 6A. People deal with it.

Football Playoff Brackets — University Interscholastic League (UIL)

Maybe we can combine D1 and D2 into one class and then have regional playoffs culminating with the semifinals and the state title game?

 

[LTFO]

I don't have any particular problem with it. The real "madness" we've done is completely abandoning the educational concept of High School sports . Dragging kids all around the state, before it is absolutely necessary, is the height of absurdity. From the goofy "substate" round in hoops and vb, the bizarre arbitrary 180 mile limit for neutral site games, all of it. No other large state disregards geography. Even Texas, HS football mecca of the Universe, is STRICTLY geographic until the Finals. I remember people getting their panties in a bunch when Mitchell, before their season collapsed, seemed to have the audacity to get the #1 seed in C2. These kids aren't unimaginably wealthy pro athletes flying charter and having the best of everything, they aren't even college athletes with all of the nutritionists, tutors, health professionals tending to their every whim. To continue to drag kids on possible 6, 8, even 10 hour road trips is the height of insanity in my mind. This idea of continually punishing a vastly under-seeded team, almost guarantees they have zero chance of success, long term. The point system is so completely flawed to base a teams chances of success on it, seems absurd in the extreme. I would also contend that a team who had no say in who they play, based upon an overly simplistic and flawed system deserves nothing. We have so many problems conceptually, that punishing Cinderella just does not move my meter one bit. I feel badly for the kids, parents, families, and fans that face large, and quite unneeded, financial, time, and efficiency hurdles to simply compete. All to feed egos. Doesn't make any sense to me. Here's to hoping that whatever comes with the economy, reality slaps people in the face, and returns sanity and perspective to high school sports.

Montana is a much larger state, yet they take geography out of the equation. Their bracket for all classes is pre-determined where the 4 seed from the west may play the 1 seed from the east. Actually inviting travel so that you do not have rematches from the regular season. You are talking about some 7-8 hour drives in round one. Check out some of the brackets.

Post Season

www.mhsa.org

 

[northeastNebraska]

Maybe we can combine D1 and D2 into one class and then have regional playoffs culminating with the semifinals and the state title game?

I would love this.

 

[HighPlainsCoach]

Montana is a much larger state, yet they take geography out of the equation. Their bracket for all classes is pre-determined where the 4 seed from the west may play the 1 seed from the east. Actually inviting travel so that you do not have rematches from the regular season. You ar,e talking about some 7-8 hour drives in round one. Check out some of the brackets.

Post Season

www.mhsa.org

That's really cool. I was unaware of that. And...I loathe it. Seriously, it must work for them, I just see absolutely no need for it. To me, I just want to crown a Champ. I could care less about "we were better than the other semi-finalist" whine. Participation medals and first-round loser T shirts are no big deal to me. Couldn't, for example, HSF found someone a lot closer to lose to, than Benkleman? About this plan, I like the predetermined part of it, like Texas, but not the inter-regional aspect. Also surprising is their 5 classes. So now I can't say "every" other large state? Maybe I still will and hope nobody else reads it. Thanks for posting that. I would guess that every state like ours, MT, the Dakotas, CO, KS has lively debates about the wisdom of various ideas. Add to ours, CO to a certain extent, and KS, a massive demographic disparity and it gets pretty sticky. Thanks again, I LOVE looking at different systems.

 

[Big Red Thoughts]

That's really cool. I was unaware of that. And...I loathe it. Seriously, it must work for them, I just see absolutely no need for it. To me, I just want to crown a Champ. I could care less about "we were better than the other semi-finalist" whine. Participation medals and first-round loser T shirts are no big deal to me. Couldn't, for example, HSF found someone a lot closer to lose to, than Benkleman? About this plan, I like the predetermined part of it, like Texas, but not the inter-regional aspect. Also surprising is their 5 classes. So now I can't say "every" other large state? Maybe I still will and hope nobody else reads it. Thanks for posting that. I would guess that every state like ours, MT, the Dakotas, CO, KS has lively debates about the wisdom of various ideas. Add to ours, CO to a certain extent, and KS, a massive demographic disparity and it gets pretty sticky. Thanks again, I LOVE looking at different systems.

I like the way it is right now, I wouldn't change a thing.

 

[C-Bearsfan]

That's really cool. I was unaware of that. And...I loathe it. Seriously, it must work for them, I just see absolutely no need for it. To me, I just want to crown a Champ. I could care less about "we were better than the other semi-finalist" whine. Participation medals and first-round loser T shirts are no big deal to me. Couldn't, for example, HSF found someone a lot closer to lose to, than Benkleman? About this plan, I like the predetermined part of it, like Texas, but not the inter-regional aspect. Also surprising is their 5 classes. So now I can't say "every" other large state? Maybe I still will and hope nobody else reads it. Thanks for posting that. I would guess that every state like ours, MT, the Dakotas, CO, KS has lively debates about the wisdom of various ideas. Add to ours, CO to a certain extent, and KS, a massive demographic disparity and it gets pretty sticky. Thanks again, I LOVE looking at different systems.

HSF did choose somewhere closer, Hitchcock County, saved them like 32 miles. i know what you mean though about the participation t-shirts. I own plenty where we never made it past the first round over the last 25 years. Now I, at the least own 2 that represent us making the semifinals, counting chickens before they hatch this year but have confidence. Wrestling teams travel all over the state so what is the difference, Lincoln East would make their way to the Arapahoe Invite when I was in high school. We traveled 4-5 hours for some of our meets, especially for districts. Traveling is a fun benefit of the sport and when you can get your hometown crowd to follow, it is amazing. Friday still isn't here quick enough.

 

[TC53]

The origin of the goofy home/road rules was the fact that the men who devised the playoff-point system knew it was very limited in determining who was the best team. It was their system and they didn't want it to be the determiner of who was at home. They devised a system that was fluky on purpose because they didn't want their point system to weigh heavily on who advanced. In football and all sports now we continue to put more and more weight on that system and it does not carry it well.

Consider this: home-field advantage is so important that year after year we have this thread arguing about how it is determined, and yet, the point system that so many want to use to determine this important thing DOES NOT CONSIDER HOME/AWAY WHEN GIVING OUT POINTS! A home win and a road win are considered exactly the same.

 

[TwinsRRUs]

Maybe we can combine D1 and D2 into one class and then have regional playoffs culminating with the semifinals and the state title game?

The benefit of separating Class D into D1 and D2 is helping those teams with 20-35 boys in 9th-11th, in that they don't have to compete against the teams with 36-47 boys in 9th-11th.

In 8-man, having one or two more athletic kids on a team makes a hell of a difference and can be the difference between 2 wins and 6 wins.

 

[C-Bearsfan]

The benefit of separating Class D into D1 and D2 is helping those teams with 20-35 boys in 9th-11th, in that they don't have to compete against the teams with 35-47 boys in 9th-11th.

In 8-man, having one or two more athletic kids on a team makes a hell of a difference and can be the difference between 2 wins and 6 wins.

So why not a big vs small school championship for both C and D. Fun to pick that but would suck to end the year with a state championship and then a loss in Super State. Lets' just keep it how it is so we can complain next year, otherwise all of us has beens will get bored during the fall season and will have nothing to put our cent and a half in on.

 

[Llama57]

WW had a rough week

 

[northeastNebraska]

WW had a rough week

But they got the home game they “deserved”.