SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums SCHSSCA AAA Playoff Proposal

Coaches,
Our head football coach has put together a proposal for determining the seeding for the AAA playoffs. The main reason why it is somewhat difficult in AAA is due to the unusual region alignment for the upcoming seasons. Below you will find the information that he is bringing to the meetings coming up in March with the AD's and administrators. Please let me know what you think of the proposal and if you have any changes/suggestions for the proposal. If you like the proposal, discuss it with your AD and principal.


AAA Playoff Proposal – Football, Basketball, Baseball, Softball, Soccer, and Volleyball

-52 Teams – 28 in Upstate and 24 in Lowerstate
-17 teams from upstate (60.7%) 14 auto and 3 at large, 15 from lowerstate (62.5%) 12 auto and 3 at large
-50% of each region is an automatic qualifier for the playoffs – 14 in upper (4,4,3,3) and 12 in lower (3,3,3,3) – 26 automatic qualifiers
-Regions 1 and 2 would qualify 4 because of the 8 team region
-3 at large qualifiers from both the upper and lowerstate
-each sport will decide how the at large spots will be determined – football will be determined by a points system – other sports may choose a play in scenario
-3 upperstate qualifiers will come from 5th place teams in region 1 and 2 and 4th place teams from regions 3 and 4
-3 lowerstate qualifiers will come from 4th place teams from regions 5, 6, 7, and 8
-if 4th place team from region 4 qualifies, they will automatically be the 17th team and sent to the lowerstate bracket to save travel
-brackets will be determined just like before - 2011-12 had regions 1vs 2, 3 vs 4, 5 vs 6, and 7 vs 8
-if a team qualifies they will be placed in their region’s 4th place spot in the bracket- this will help to cut down chances of rematches in the first round – the 17th team from the upstate will be placed in the open spot for the lowerstate – 5th place teams that qualify can be put into any region’s open fourth place slot

Possible play in scenario for each sport other than football:
-4 teams for 3 spots in both upper and lower
-take 4 teams from the upperstate and break them into 2 games, how that is determined can be decided multiple ways (ex. drawing names out of a hat)
-do the exact same with the 4 4th place teams in the lowerstate
-winners of the 2 games are in as at large – the losers play each other for the final spot
-each team only has to win 1 game to receive an at large berth


AAA Playoff Proposal – Tennis
-lowerstate remains the same – top 2 in each region qualify
-upperstate – 10 teams qualify – top 3 from regions 1 and 2, top 2 from regions 3 and 4
-this provides a fairer balance with the 8 team regions in the upstate
-10 team upperstate bracket would need to be drawn up
-upperstate bracket would need to have 2 matches that would get the bracket to 8 teams like the lowerstate

If the idea is to take something relatively simple and complicate it, I say job well done...no offense.

The issue that we are having is equity. How can one region get "X" number of teams in while the other region gets "Y". The issue that we are having is 2 regions of 8 teams and 2 regions of 6 teams. Do we say each region gets 4. If that is the case, how is that fair to Region 1 and 2 that have 8 teams and region 3 and 4 which only have 6. That would give 50% for Region 1 and 2 and 66% for region 3 and 4. It is actually more confusing in 4A because they may go 30 teams in the upperstate and 22 teams in the lower state. This proposal is a way so that each region gets a fair number of teams in the playoffs.

Again, if there are any suggestions on how to simplify or improve, please let me know.

Here is simple. Everyone gets in. Have a seeding meeting the weekend before (this year would be April 28/29). Place 26 teams in upper/lower state before the season begins. Seed upper/lower state 1 through 26. There would be 12total byes. Six each. Start with 1. They can put themselves anywhere on there half. Top team on bracket is always home. Play two games a week for three weeks. Done! Yes you will have some bad games, but the state makes money for every ticket sold and you will allow teams to be "cinderella" like butler the last 2 years. IMHO

I am not opposed to that, however, I would truly doubt the HSL would allow that to happen. My question is how would you determine the seeding. I have been to seeding meeting in AA, and I know that discussions that go on there. Kevin mentioned to me via email an idea similar to that using the Massey Rankings. If we want something like that we can do it but we have to present it to the league through our administrators and AD's.

I agree we have some serious equity problems...region alignment has been...interesting...over the last several years. People cite geography, but then we still have region opponents who are 2-2 1/2 hours away. We've had 8-team regions, 6-team regions, 5-team regions. And yes, it's absolutely true that under the current system, depending on the level of competition within each region, weaker teams can make the playoffs while significantly stronger teams from other regions stay home. It's a problem found at almost every level of almost every sport, though. Massey Rankings? BCS?

Play-in games seem a fair way to duke it out for playoff spots, but that would require building in time for two play-in matches between the end of the regular season and the beginning of the playoffs. It would also incur extra travel/competition expense for the teams attempting to play in and give them an extra game or two to get banged up and fatigued while everyone else is recovering for playoffs.

Honestly, it's as good a solution as any I've seen in the name of equity...no offense to Massey, but deliver us from playoff brackets based on statistical data comparing teams that not only have never faced each other, but probably have never faced teams who have faced each other. Unless the League can come up with a way to more equally divide regions, we will have to either deal with the inequity or deal with the complications.

Simple, of course, would be 48 AAA teams divided into 8 regions of 6 teams each, with the top four teams from each region filling the 32 playoff berths. If we can travel from Moncks Corner to Hilton Head and Bluffton to play region opponents and vice versa, I don't think geography is a definitive limiting factor in dividing regions equally. 6 goes into 48 exactly 8 times, and somebody has to take a long bus drive...much like people do now. But I'm sure I'm oversimplifying things.

Many other state allow everyone into the playoffs. I used to live in Ohio and every school got in. Our district was 14 teams. There were 16 districts!!! Propose it to them by the fact they will raise extra funds through tickets without having to do anything else. To be honest, the state should get rid of regions and go to geographical conferences that are not based on school size. Let 3A and 4A schools be in the same conference then let everyone in for tourny. It would eliminate the up and down and changes every year that has had Rock Hill, South Point and NW in different regions for the last 4 years. ADs would like it because it would help minimize travel in the conference and you would always have your natural rivalry because school size wouldn't be a factor. Football could use the power rankings for all tournament spots.

Why not let the schools pick which level they want to participate in? This method seems to work at the club level between Classic and Challenge. If you feel you can compete in the top bracket then you choose the top bracket.