I don't have a problem with 6 classes. I kind of like them to be honest. I do understand that blowouts in the final game are frustrating, boring, uncalled for, etc. My solution is to restructure the playoffs and the way they are played. IMO alignment is the issue not the 6 classes. This season in 1A the West was strong. In 4A the East is strong. In 5A the West seems stronger. In 6A it's the East.

 

I say that the KHSAA could come up with a ranking system. Just one ranking system and each team is seeded in their class prior to the playoffs and then we have at it. It may seem simple and not thought out entirely but if people are so caught up in having a competitive final game then this seems like a simple solution to me.

 

 

Am I wrong? Am I naive? Would it work?

I don't have a problem with 6 classes. I kind of like them to be honest. I do understand that blowouts in the final game are frustrating, boring, uncalled for, etc. My solution is to restructure the playoffs and the way they are played. IMO alignment is the issue not the 6 classes. This season in 1A the West was strong. In 4A the East is strong. In 5A the West seems stronger. In 6A it's the East.

 

I say that the KHSAA could come up with a ranking system. Just one ranking system and each team is seeded in their class prior to the playoffs and the we have at it. It may seem simple and not thought out entirely but if people are so caught up in having a competitive final game then this seems like a simple solution to me.

 

 

Am I wrong? Am I naive? Would it work?

 

Then we get even less competitive round 1 - 4 games, right?

I say that the KHSAA could come up with a ranking system.

Careful what you ask for. You may just get it.

Then we get even less competitive round 1 - 4 games, right?

 

Not necessarily. Take the top 32 teams of each class and seed them in two 16 team brackets March Madness style. Competitive games should increase each round and round 2 this way would be more competitive than how it is now.

I would like to see them swicth regions that play each other.

 

Example 1v2 - 3v4

Next year 1v4 - 2v3

I would like to see them swicth regions that play each other.

 

Example 1v2 - 3v4

Next year 1v4 - 2v3

 

That would shake things up but it's still not getting us closer to having two of the top teams in the finals.

That would shake things up but it's still not getting us closer to having two of the top teams in the finals.

 

I think it would more often than current set up.

 

Seeding is only other way.

My Mistaken-Laden Idea That Will NEver Happen:

 

- Four Classes Broken Down Evenly Based on Enrollment:A , AA, AAA, AAAA... Two Open Classes, one small, one big.. for the best of the best to compete

- AA-Open Division: This Contains any Private in A or AA who properly falls into the class due to enrollment...placement of elite schools with historical Finals success. There are 16 teams allowed to compete.

 

For example, teams who could be in AA-Open (Based off the old 4 class system): Mayfield, NewCath, Danville, Beechwood, Belfry, Owensboro Catholic, Cov. Holy Cross, Somerset, Russell, DeSales, CAL, LCA, Breathitt County, Corbin, Ft. Campbell, Pikeville, Russellville

 

- AAAA- Open Division. Same principle, but now you stand the reason to crown "The Best Team in KY" whereas AA-Open crowns "The Best Small School in KY".

 

TeamsWhich Could Be Included In AAAA-Open (Based off old 4 class system): LexCath, Boyle County, Bell County, CovCath, Highlands, Bowling Green, Male, X, T, Central, Tilghman, Scott County, Owensboro, Manual, PRP, Collins.

 

Teams competing in the Open Division are still assigned to their appropriate District during the regular season and District Games are used two fold... create seeding for the open teams.. and District Standings determine order of which teams in the non-open divisions enter their playoff as only wo teams can advance per district (Say Middlesboro finished 3rd in their District and Jackson County was 4th, but Somerset and Danville competed in the Open Division... Middlesboro enters playoff as the 1 and Jackson as the 2.

 

- Open Divisions are re-evaluated every 4 years with teams being moved up or down evenly. Say for example Corbin was not competitive but Raceland wins 3 State Titles...Raceland moves up to Open and Corbin moves down back to AA and the lowest enrollment AA is dropped to A.

Increased travel is the problem that will keep this otherwise good idea from happening.

Imagine these Hypthetical Open Division Playoffs This Year..obviously travel becomes a huge issue...but the playoffs would be epic and you could forseeably do neutral sites because you would have your best travelling fanbses:

 

AA-Open:

1. DeSales vs. 16. LCA 8. Russellville vs. 9. Danville 4. Mayfield vs. 13.OCath 5. NewCath vs. 12. Ft. Campbell

2. Belfry vs. 15. Russell 7. Corbin vs. 10. Somerset 3. CAL vs. 14. Breathitt Co 6. Beechwood vs. 11. Pikeville

 

AAAA-Open:

1. Bowling Green vs. 16. Bell County 8. Manual vs. 9. Collins 4. Male vs. 13. Tilghman 5. Trinity vs. 12. Central

2. Scott County vs. 15. PRP 7. CovCath vs. 10. LexCath 3. Highlands vs. 14. Owensboro 6. StX vs. 11. Boyle County

My Mistaken-Laden Idea That Will NEver Happen:

 

- Four Classes Broken Down Evenly Based on Enrollment:A , AA, AAA, AAAA... Two Open Classes, one small, one big.. for the best of the best to compete

- AA-Open Division: This Contains any Private in A or AA who properly falls into the class due to enrollment...placement of elite schools with historical Finals success. There are 16 teams allowed to compete.

 

For example, teams who could be in AA-Open (Based off the old 4 class system): Mayfield, NewCath, Danville, Beechwood, Belfry, Owensboro Catholic, Cov. Holy Cross, Somerset, Russell, DeSales, CAL, LCA, Breathitt County, Corbin, Ft. Campbell, Pikeville, Russellville

 

- AAAA- Open Division. Same principle, but now you stand the reason to crown "The Best Team in KY" whereas AA-Open crowns "The Best Small School in KY".

 

TeamsWhich Could Be Included In AAAA-Open (Based off old 4 class system): LexCath, Boyle County, Bell County, CovCath, Highlands, Bowling Green, Male, X, T, Central, Tilghman, Scott County, Owensboro, Manual, PRP, Collins.

 

Teams competing in the Open Division are still assigned to their appropriate District during the regular season and District Games are used two fold... create seeding for the open teams.. and District Standings determine order of which teams in the non-open divisions enter their playoff as only wo teams can advance per district (Say Middlesboro finished 3rd in their District and Jackson County was 4th, but Somerset and Danville competed in the Open Division... Middlesboro enters playoff as the 1 and Jackson as the 2.

 

- Open Divisions are re-evaluated every 4 years with teams being moved up or down evenly. Say for example Corbin was not competitive but Raceland wins 3 State Titles...Raceland moves up to Open and Corbin moves down back to AA and the lowest enrollment AA is dropped to A.

This is my thinking, too. Have three classes based on size with an "elite" and "regular" division in each class. Successful teams in "regular" (based on a point system) would automatically get bumped into "elite" every so often, with the reverse also occurring. Also allow some flexibility for teams to move up one class in elite.

I like both PP92 and CoachBuckett's ideas. They would be pretty easy to implement.

Increased travel is the problem that will keep this otherwise good idea from happening.

 

I like the seeding idea as well, but I do think the travel thing hurts the idea. Which is shouldn't in my opinion. If you have to travel, you have to travel. Everyone may have a nightmare travel story, but the benefit would outweigh the exceptions of the travel occasionally. And if you don't like travel, play yourself into a higher seed so the likelihood of travel is minimized...or at least postponed to later rounds.

 

I like some kind of overall seeding. The other issue I see is uncommon opponents. For example, Johnson Central would have probably been seeded high. Where Cov Cath would of been lower, but was clearly the better team. You would have to find ways to include SOS. Which means then you have to look at your opponents shedule as well. I'm sure there is a formula for that, but I really like it if they could figure it out.

Also, in classes with more than 32 teams, how you determine which teams actually advance. Stick with the same district rules or do you play out the entire season and then punch everything into a computer to determine who makes it? I kinda like the computer idea because we all know that there are some 5 seeds in some districts that are much better than some 3 and 4 seeds from other districts. And you are still going to have winless teams make it if you take that many teams, so how do you determine if one winless team is better than the other? Although, just taking the top 32, regardless of district, may help eliminate winless teams too. It kinda makes the district games meanignless, except for adding them to your over all record. But really, district games are meaningless today in the majority of the districts anyway.

How about just seeding the two sides of the bracket (east and west). This would supposedly get the top 2 seeds on each side of the bracket and limit travel somewhat. I don't think we will ever break up the Louisville area to travel all over the state and as they hope end up in the final four as an all Louisville final. The seeding system would work for each side of the bracket.