SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Boys Varsity Soccer Question about absurd boys rankings....

So, looking at the AAAA boys rankings today....how can they still have Wando and Mann as #1 and #2, followed by Irmo at #3? Didn't DF beat Irmo at the end of the season, beat Lexington during the season also, then beat an undefeated Wando team at home. This, to me, puts DF as the #1 team in AAAA. Mann lost to Nations Ford....so they aren't #2 anymore. As for Lexington, Irmo and Nations Ford...it is a toss up where to rank those. But the four teams that are left aren't ranked 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th....Seems strange to me. I would call it a joke, except that I don't know if the ranking were compiled before the games on Saturday. (I hope that is the case).

Not unusual. The 4 teams that were left last year didn't finish 1, 2, 3, 4 either. Apparently beating a team in the playoffs doesn't make you better!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

I have always maintained that ranking high school soccer teams in a state that has a playoff system is pretty pointless, except to gin up "interest" and "debate." UNLESS, that is, you use the "rankings" to seed statewide for a legitimate tournament bracket. Which is not what we have now.
National rankings are even more laughable. The idea that this year's Wando team was/is No. 1 in the nation is somebody's idea of a bad joke. Record aside, it simply never passed the eyeball test. Not enough "next-level" athletes. Not enough difference makers.
A lot of very good high school soccer players, which is a good and honorable thing. Why can't THAT be enough? Why must we persist in ranking?

No question the "brackets" are ridiculous. I am specifically talking about when one team beats another (Nation Ford beat Mann). Doesn't matter what would happen in 99 other games. If you beat someone, you were better. You may be better "just that day", but you are better.

The original point is, the rankings don't seem to account for head-to-head play.
My guess is, had Wando played in a different region, it would have more than one loss.

Adidas...if I had to bet money on Lexington and Wando playing each other....I would bet that 50% of the time Lexington wins. JMO.

Backscreen, the rankings don't seem to account for head to head play.

If you are one of the final 4 teams left....you better be at worst ranked #4.

Like most folks, I haven't seen all of the teams play this year. But I know what Wando had, and I was shocked to see them ranked No. 1 NATIONALLY. No. 1 in the state? Well, OK, until they lost.
I think we're on the same page.
I also agree with some posting here about pre-determined brackets. Were it me, I'd take only two teams from each region, then fill out a 32-team field with "at-large" teams based on non-conference records and SOS.
Then, I'd seed 1-32, REGARDLESS OF GEOGRAPHY, and play.

Actually, based on regular-season standings, Watford (3rd) should have beaten Leicester (6th) in a 2-match tie. Perhaps not the WAY it happened. But the same result.
Then again, those standings were established over a long, fair regular-season, with complete home-and-home, round-robin scheduling.
Unlike mythical state rankings, which are based on ...