Bottom line, why is it a problem that everyone gets in?

 

Its a problem when you are 0-10 and still get to travel 3 hours and get your brains beat in. Or another example would be like my Raiders. They have been through a lot this year and finished the season 6-4 which is a respectable record for them. They even "won in" as their district is 5 teams, however, they have no business going to Caldwell Co and taking what they are about to get. 4 seeds can not compete with the 1s.

As crazy as winless teams making the playoffs is....

 

Only KHSAA could devise a system where a winless team is a 3 seed in a 4 team district set-up. ( See Boone Co HS )

 

Um ... what?

 

2015 Football District Standings | Kentucky High School Athletic Association

 

Class 6A, District 5 Overall District

(1)Cooper 8 - 2 2 - 0

(2)Ryle 8 - 2 1 - 1

(3)Conner 7 - 3 0 - 2

 

Class 6A, District 6 Overall District

(1)Simon Kenton 10 - 0 2 - 0

(2)Campbell County 1 - 9 1 - 1

(3)Boone County 0 -10 0 - 2

 

Class 6A, District 7 Overall District

(1)Scott County 9 - 1 3 - 0

(2)Henry Clay 6 - 4 2 - 1

(3)Bryan Station 6 - 4 1 - 2

(4)Paul Laurence Dunbar 3 - 7 0 - 3

 

Boone County is in Class 6A, District 6.

There are THREE (3) teams in 6A, D6.

So how, exactly, Boone third in a FOUR-team district like you said?

Um ... what?

 

2015 Football District Standings | Kentucky High School Athletic Association

 

Class 6A, District 5 Overall District

(1)Cooper 8 - 2 2 - 0

(2)Ryle 8 - 2 1 - 1

(3)Conner 7 - 3 0 - 2

 

Class 6A, District 6 Overall District

(1)Simon Kenton 10 - 0 2 - 0

(2)Campbell County 1 - 9 1 - 1

(3)Boone County 0 -10 0 - 2

 

Class 6A, District 7 Overall District

(1)Scott County 9 - 1 3 - 0

(2)Henry Clay 6 - 4 2 - 1

(3)Bryan Station 6 - 4 1 - 2

(4)Paul Laurence Dunbar 3 - 7 0 - 3

 

Boone County is in Class 6A, District 6.

There are THREE (3) teams in 6A, D6.

So how, exactly, Boone third in a FOUR-team district like you said?

 

Yes that's much better. 2 of the 3 playoff teams in District 6 is a combined 1-19. Definitely screams awarded for a great season.

All the 6As and all the 1As go to post-season. Period. There are only 32 teams in each class.

 

The other 4 classes have 39 or 40 teams in them and it is only from these classes that the 29 or 30 teams that do not make the playoffs come from.

 

At most basic level KHSAA creates different circumstances for similarly situated teams/players/schools in a arbitrary and capricious manner with its setup. It get somewhat worse with the 6 team districts in the 4 classes that are not 'guaranteed' to get all their teams in. So even in the 4 middle classes if you play on a team in a 4 team district - you are in the playoffs - just like classes 1A and 6A. If you are in a 6 team district your pure mathematical odds drop to 67% to make the playoffs. If you are 0 - 10 in a 5 or 6 team district you are definitely not going to the playoffs. But a 0 - 10 in a 4 team district - which includes all of 1A and 6A. 0 - 10 gets you in.

 

No one really wants to acknowledge why there are 6 team districts but the answer is distance. And the distrance factor is driven by the 6 class factor. Going from 4 to 6 classes stretches district and region physical distances. Mathematically there should be no 6 team districts. There should only be 4 or 5 team districts.

 

Along with the inequity above it seems if you can get 192 of 220 teams in you should get them all in. If an 'expanded' playoff format improved participation then a 'universal playoff' format should be the goal. Why leave some out of this great experience if it actually improves participation rates?

 

To do this the class make would likely have to back to 4 classes and the playoffs would need to go to 6 weeks. Both unlikely.

 

But if they did.... the math is easy - and interesting if you bracket the playoffs to leverage the number of teams.

 

4 classes x 8 regions x 7 teams (districts would go away). This provides a 2 level playoff system that would support up to 224 teams (4 x 8 x 7). Kentucky has 220 or 221 teams right now.

 

Regional playoff seeding - 1/Bye, 6/7 and 2/5, 3/4. Region champions named in first 3 weeks, State tournament would be blind draw of regions (eliminate East-West prefixed bracketing).

 

- Alll teams are in post season

- Two bottom teams have play-in game giving them a shot at post season win and something to build on. Just having a potentially winnable first round game would probably be good.

- Winning regular season region gets the winning team a bye in week one, the winner of 6/7 game in round two. So basically an easy right into the Championship. Other side of bracket is tough road. So winning regular season region would be something of value.

- Random draw takes away the predictability of the brackets. Adds some excitement to process.

 

So that's it. My annual appeal for an all inclusive system. Its DOA....but mathematically - it works and creates some interesting dynamics.

 

Berea didn't make the playoffs in 1A!

All the 6As and all the 1As go to post-season. Period. There are only 32 teams in each class.

 

The other 4 classes have 39 or 40 teams in them and it is only from these classes that the 29 or 30 teams that do not make the playoffs come from.

 

At most basic level KHSAA creates different circumstances for similarly situated teams/players/schools in a arbitrary and capricious manner with its setup. It get somewhat worse with the 6 team districts in the 4 classes that are not 'guaranteed' to get all their teams in. So even in the 4 middle classes if you play on a team in a 4 team district - you are in the playoffs - just like classes 1A and 6A. If you are in a 6 team district your pure mathematical odds drop to 67% to make the playoffs. If you are 0 - 10 in a 5 or 6 team district you are definitely not going to the playoffs. But a 0 - 10 in a 4 team district - which includes all of 1A and 6A. 0 - 10 gets you in.

 

No one really wants to acknowledge why there are 6 team districts but the answer is distance. And the distrance factor is driven by the 6 class factor. Going from 4 to 6 classes stretches district and region physical distances. Mathematically there should be no 6 team districts. There should only be 4 or 5 team districts.

 

Along with the inequity above it seems if you can get 192 of 220 teams in you should get them all in. If an 'expanded' playoff format improved participation then a 'universal playoff' format should be the goal. Why leave some out of this great experience if it actually improves participation rates?

 

To do this the class make would likely have to back to 4 classes and the playoffs would need to go to 6 weeks. Both unlikely.

 

But if they did.... the math is easy - and interesting if you bracket the playoffs to leverage the number of teams.

 

4 classes x 8 regions x 7 teams (districts would go away). This provides a 2 level playoff system that would support up to 224 teams (4 x 8 x 7). Kentucky has 220 or 221 teams right now.

 

Regional playoff seeding - 1/Bye, 6/7 and 2/5, 3/4. Region champions named in first 3 weeks, State tournament would be blind draw of regions (eliminate East-West prefixed bracketing).

 

- Alll teams are in post season

- Two bottom teams have play-in game giving them a shot at post season win and something to build on. Just having a potentially winnable first round game would probably be good.

- Winning regular season region gets the winning team a bye in week one, the winner of 6/7 game in round two. So basically an easy right into the Championship. Other side of bracket is tough road. So winning regular season region would be something of value.

- Random draw takes away the predictability of the brackets. Adds some excitement to process.

 

So that's it. My annual appeal for an all inclusive system. Its DOA....but mathematically - it works and creates some interesting dynamics.

 

You can have 6 play 7 as a play-in (and have 2 have a bye with the 6-7 winner playing 3) but there is NO way 6v7 in the same round as 2/5 or 3/4. Why should 6 and 7 have a better shot to make it to the second round (because 7 plays 6 and 6 plays 7) but higher-seeded 5 and 4 have TOUGHER matches in the same round? What? Um, no.

 

If you're going to do eight-team regions, it will work like this (based on seeding):

 

1 gets a bye (in 7-team region); 1 vs. 8 (in 8-team region)

4 plays 5 no matter what (7-team or 8 team)

3 plays 6-7 winner (in 7-team region); 3 plays 6 (in 8-team region)

2 plays 7 (in 7-team region; or 2 gets a bye and 6 plays 7 with winner playing 3).

 

As far as blind draw once regions are over? Eh. Won't happen. Volleyball, baseball and softball essentially already do that (granted the blind draw is before state ever begins, but at the same time, you wouldn't have the same fourth-round opponent every year either).

 

As the KHSAA never reseeds/redraws anything, the tournament setup will be done once postseason starts.

 

Plus, with the "random draw" of regions, theoretically a team could somehow/someway luck into hosting every game until the state final (depending on how the draw played out). At least in current setup, you'd have to play away in the state semis every other year.

 

As far as 7-team or 8-team regions, there are at least three issues:

One: Schools do not like regions/districts that big because of scheduling issues. If you force 7 games upon someone (especially in Louisville or NKY), you're killing a lot of rivalries with only 3 non-district/region games to pick from)

Two: By having that many teams in a district, while you'll have some closer games, you'll STILL end up with one or two "black sheep" teams in a district/region (if you have too many Louisville teams to break it up nicely, you'll have some Jefferson County teams ticked they have to play teams outside of the Ville instead of staying home)

Three: Teams/schools have already said they do NOT like doing inter-district postseason games in football in opening rounds. It was tried less than 10 years ago. It failed.

 

A 6-week postseason and an 11-week regular season (including the bye) is going to take forever to play out.

And:

- If you kill the bye week, many schools, especially smaller ones, will complain.

- If you start the season a week earlier, you run the risk of massive heat delays (and players playing meaningful games with LESS practice/heat acclimation)

- If you extend it another week, many basketball teams won't be happy. Plus, you run the risk of some cold/ice making the state final miserable

 

In THEORY, you have a nice plan.

In REALITY, well, there's some kinks.

 

 

FWIW: I'm not a fan of 6 classes.

Yes that's much better. 2 of the 3 playoff teams in District 6 is a combined 1-19. Definitely screams awarded for a great season.

 

Did NOT say it was better.

 

Just pointing out there is NO way a winless team could be third in a four-team district (because the fourth-place team would have had to be winless and how were BOTH teams winless when they would have had to play each other and have a winner since district games CAN'T end in ties).

It's a joke. Everyone in 1A and 6A gets in while there are TWO teams in 3A District 5 sitting at home this week because it is a six team district. Ridiculous.

I don't have a problem with every team making it in. But I must say I also have no problem with a dozen or so teams left at home. If you can't finish 4th out of 6 teams then you probably need to turn those helmets in anyway. Regardless of whether or not anyone else had beat anyone else out or got in by default.

Bottom line, why is it a problem that everyone gets in?

 

The problem is that these Schools that can't win a regular season game against often times similar size/talent schools are forced to play another game thatthey have no chance of competing in. It's another week of headaches, unwanted travel, unmotivated participants, and a needless game. When was the last time an 0-10 team went to the playoffs and actually won?????

You have a 1 win team hosting a 6A playoff game, that is a joke. And they are hosting a team that whopped them in the regular season.

You have a 1 win team hosting a 6A playoff game, that is a joke. And they are hosting a team that whopped them in the regular season.

 

There are some that think the 1 win team will win the matchup this Friday. I guess you are not one of them.

 

Of note, the offensive statistics were pretty close in comparison:

 

160 Rushing 1 win team

96 Rushing Whopping team

147 Passing 1 win team

247 Passing Whopping team

 

Total yards: Just a 46 yard difference, even though they got whopped