Seeded District Tournaments or Blind Draw?

[DragonFire]

The reason you can seed at the district level is that all the teams can play each other twice during the regular season - so there is no voting - it is strictly based on the team's record against the other schools in the district. You can't play every school in the region twice to get a true seeding for the regional tournament without some sort of vote - same for the state tournament.

 

Made the response before I could. There is no comparison between seeding the district and seeding the Sweet 16. With the district typically you have played every team in the district at least once, usually twice. There is basis for the seeding from the record within the district. In the Sweet 16 most of those teams have not played one another, and you're really just going by what the perceptions of those teams are. And really, who would be qualified to do the seeding? The media? They do so well with the joke of an AP Poll. The coaches? I'm sure that wouldn't lead to conflicts of interest. The fact is that there is just no basis for seeding at that level. Seeding for the region could have some basis, as generally teams play a good amount of games within their region.

[ladiesbballcoach]

Made the response before I could. There is no comparison between seeding the district and seeding the Sweet 16. With the district typically you have played every team in the district at least once, usually twice. There is basis for the seeding from the record within the district. In the Sweet 16 most of those teams have not played one another, and you're really just going by what the perceptions of those teams are. And really, who would be qualified to do the seeding? The media? They do so well with the joke of an AP Poll. The coaches? I'm sure that wouldn't lead to conflicts of interest. The fact is that there is just no basis for seeding at that level. Seeding for the region could have some basis, as generally teams play a good amount of games within their region.

 

So the mentality you are taking is that we are going to start the tournament one way and change it 1/3 of the way through. Doesn't it make sense to run the tournament the same way the whole way through?

[scooterbob]

I agree with ladiesbballcoach. Either you seed it all or you don't seed any of it. It would not be difficult to rank the sixteen teams advancing to the state tournament. However, the suspense of the draw creates excitement and is part of the uniqueness of the tournament.

[Hoops Yoda]

It does make sense to seed the part of the tournament that can be seeded strictly based on head to head competition. It doesn't make sense to seed any other way because opinion enters into the process.

[ladiesbballcoach]

I agree with ladiesbballcoach. Either you seed it all or you don't seed any of it. It would not be difficult to rank the sixteen teams advancing to the state tournament. However, the suspense of the draw creates excitement and is part of the uniqueness of the tournament.

I agree. In a seeding, I would say it wouldn't be long till we had a thread or two or 100 on here about how the 16th is always getting seeded against a Louisville region.

[The Professor]

Those of you who are for seeding are, I'm sure, consistent in your positions. Therefore, I will assume that you support seeding the state tournament. You don't seed at one level and abandon it at another level because, by doing so, your argument loses much of its credibility.

This is not a valid argument. In a district seed, the teams play their way into their 'seed'. A state tournament seed would have to be determined by some type of committee selecting who plays who. Big difference.

District seeding makes the season's district games mean something (almost a tournament atmosphere), and gives each team the chance to earn their good (or bad) seed.

Beyond the district, I don't see any reason to seed. However, the regular season district games lends merit to a district seed.

[crimedoc]

Professor, good point. Great agrument.

[Lightning]

What I don't like is how in some regions, you have one or two great distrcits and a weak district that will get two teams in the region that couldn't beat two or three of the teams who don't make it to the region because of the tough district they are in.

[SMOKEANDMIRRORS]

It should be the same in all districts whether seeding or a blind draw.

[Master of the Hardwood]

What I don't like is how in some regions, you have one or two great distrcits and a weak district that will get two teams in the region that couldn't beat two or three of the teams who don't make it to the region because of the tough district they are in.

 

That is why I think they should all make the regional tourney! Would make for some great basketball.

[Hoops Yoda]

Even if they made it one big regional tournament, to seed it all the teams in the region would have to play each other or else the "rankings" would have to come from someone's opinion rather than what the teams actually did on the court.

[Son of Bear]

The 44th district (Richmond/Berea) does a blind draw they need to change this. More times than not, you have Berea and Model playing each other in the 1st round, and the winner of that game getting blown out in the district finals by Madison Central then the same in the 1st round regional game by 50+ points.

[funtowatch]

Not only should the districts be seeded the higher seeded team should host the game. Gathering in one gym is fun but giving a lower see the home court makes no more sense than not seeding.

[DragonFire]

So the mentality you are taking is that we are going to start the tournament one way and change it 1/3 of the way through. Doesn't it make sense to run the tournament the same way the whole way through?

 

No, it doesn't. As I explained, there is basis for seeding in the district. Each team has played the other teams and therefore you seed by your district record. Everyone in the region hasn't played every other team usually. Every team in the Sweet 16 CERTAINLY hasn't played every other team. So then you leave it up to either an incomplete record (region), or a commitee (Sweet 16). It's not the same thing as it is in the district.

 

A blind draw is therefore the only viable option at those levels, but it is not so at the district level. Furthermore, why penalize a team that did well in the regular season by drawing them into a more difficult matchup while rewarding lower programs? It makes the regular season action virtually worthless, and one would think a better coaching strategy would be to show absolutely nothing in the first two games to save it for the district matchup.

[Catdaddy]

I agree with ladiesbballcoach. Either you seed it all or you don't seed any of it. It would not be difficult to rank the sixteen teams advancing to the state tournament. However, the suspense of the draw creates excitement and is part of the uniqueness of the tournament.

Since the district teams face each other during the season, it should be pretty easy to seed the district. Beyond that, the teams don't have common opponents or head to head records, making it more of a guess than a science. I do think it should be the same in every district.