Writing this topic from the 1st Region perspective.

I would most definitely call myself a traditionalist.  PTown Wife might even say I'm sort of set in my ways.  But lately I've been thinking about the idea of a Super Regional for the 1st Region, and I'm wondering if it would be a good fit for other regions too.  Here are the issues that I've seen in recent seasons:

• The 1st Region has districts that are not similar from a competitiveness standpoint.  The obvious outlier is the 1st District which has Carlisle who typically is very solid, but then three small schools with basketball programs that have not seen much recent success - Fulton Co, Fulton City and Hickman Co.  I went back five years, and those three teams have lost by an average of more than 34 points in the quarters of the regional tournament.
• Some years there is a district that seems to have three teams that are in the Top Five of the region.  In recent years the biggest example is the 4th District where Marshall, Murray and Calloway have all had strong teams.  Recently, the 2nd District has also been very strong with the Vikings improving to match up with McCracken and Tilghman.   It's tough to see one of those three teams sitting at home for regionals after very successful seasons.
• The regional draw is pretty exciting, but it often doesn't separate the top two teams on different sides of the bracket.  Let's be honest - we should have been watching the Marshals and Mustangs battling it out in the finals this year, but they instead met in the semifinals based on the draw.

Yes, I realize that the KHSAA RPI isn't perfect, and they need to do something different for out-of-state games.  However, it's better than nothing and it would have put together a pretty decent 1st Region Super Regional this year.  Here is what the bracket with everyone would have looked like:

1-McCracken vs BYE

8-Mayfield vs 9-Tilghman

 

4-Carlisle vs 13-Ballard Mem.

5-Graves vs 12-Hickman

 

2-Marshall vs 15-Fulton City

7-St. Mary vs 10-CCA

 

3-Murray vs 14-Fulton Co.

6-Christian Fellowship vs 11-Calloway

 

I know the majority of you are NCAA Tourney fans so you know how it would flow from here.  I think there are a few of those First Round matchups that would be very intriguing.  The 8v9, 4v13, and 6v11 games would be exciting.  I would say for the 1st round the better seed could host and then the quarters would move to the CFSB Center.

What do you think?  Do other regions do this currently?  And the biggest question - will it ever happen???

29 minutes ago, PTown Dad said:

Writing this topic from the 1st Region perspective.

I would most definitely call myself a traditionalist.  PTown Wife might even say I'm sort of set in my ways.  But lately I've been thinking about the idea of a Super Regional for the 1st Region, and I'm wondering if it would be a good fit for other regions too.  Here are the issues that I've seen in recent seasons:

• The 1st Region has districts that are not similar from a competitiveness standpoint.  The obvious outlier is the 1st District which has Carlisle who typically is very solid, but then three small schools with basketball programs that have not seen much recent success - Fulton Co, Fulton City and Hickman Co.  I went back five years, and those three teams have lost by an average of more than 34 points in the quarters of the regional tournament.
• Some years there is a district that seems to have three teams that are in the Top Five of the region.  In recent years the biggest example is the 4th District where Marshall, Murray and Calloway have all had strong teams.  Recently, the 2nd District has also been very strong with the Vikings improving to match up with McCracken and Tilghman.   It's tough to see one of those three teams sitting at home for regionals after very successful seasons.
• The regional draw is pretty exciting, but it often doesn't separate the top two teams on different sides of the bracket.  Let's be honest - we should have been watching the Marshals and Mustangs battling it out in the finals this year, but they instead met in the semifinals based on the draw.

Yes, I realize that the KHSAA RPI isn't perfect, and they need to do something different for out-of-state games.  However, it's better than nothing and it would have put together a pretty decent 1st Region Super Regional this year.  Here is what the bracket with everyone would have looked like:

1-McCracken vs BYE

8-Mayfield vs 9-Tilghman

 

4-Carlisle vs 13-Ballard Mem.

5-Graves vs 12-Hickman

 

2-Marshall vs 15-Fulton City

7-St. Mary vs 10-CCA

 

3-Murray vs 14-Fulton Co.

6-Christian Fellowship vs 11-Calloway

 

I know the majority of you are NCAA Tourney fans so you know how it would flow from here.  I think there are a few of those First Round matchups that would be very intriguing.  The 8v9, 4v13, and 6v11 games would be exciting.  I would say for the 1st round the better seed could host and then the quarters would move to the CFSB Center.

What do you think?  Do other regions do this currently?  And the biggest question - will it ever happen???

The 15th has done some type of Super Regional for 2 or 3 years .

Personally, I love the idea of a Super Region and move away from the district tournaments. 

Believe they should keep district tournaments. Mainly because having them provides an opportunity for teams year in and year out who may not be region title contenders a chance to win a championship. Will use the 4th region for example. The region champion the last 25 years has been either Warren Central or Bowling Green, besides the 1 time occurrence that Greenwood won it. So that means 2 teams out of like 17 in a region have a favorable chance to really win a championship that year if you did away with districts. 

No. don't mess with the district tournaments. The crowds provide a lot of electricity with huge crowds. don't see these crowds in regional tourneys for the most part. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

33 minutes ago, ACfan4 said:

Believe they should keep district tournaments. Mainly because having them provides an opportunity for teams year in and year out who may not be region title contenders a chance to win a championship. Will use the 4th region for example. The region champion the last 25 years has been either Warren Central or Bowling Green, besides the 1 time occurrence that Greenwood won it. So that means 2 teams out of like 17 in a region have a favorable chance to really win a championship that year if you did away with districts. 

Agree.  The 15th Region is set up in a way where they keep their district tournaments.  If you lose in the semi-finals, you get put in a play back in bracket.

Lawerence Co. lost in the district semis in 2025, and played their way back to the Sweet Sixteen at Rupp.  I think the case for the super regional is district equity.  Not all districts are created equally, and some good teams may be loaded up with superior teams and never have a shot to make a regional tournament.  

I did a deep dive last year into the 15th region super-regional it is an extremely different format. You still have the district tournament, and the district runner-up/champ are on opposite sides of the bracket. All of the district champions make the regional quarterfinals and then the remaining teams have a chance to play their way into the quarterfinals. A theoretical here that has played out in the 15th a few times, Murray beats Calloway County in 1st round of district but loses to Marshall County in the championship. Calloway County, could then play their way into the quarterfinal matchup with Marshall County.

100% totally against the Super Regional format.

5 hours ago, nikeman49 said:

100% totally against the Super Regional format.

Care to explain why?

 

10 hours ago, ACfan4 said:

Believe they should keep district tournaments. Mainly because having them provides an opportunity for teams year in and year out who may not be region title contenders a chance to win a championship. Will use the 4th region for example. The region champion the last 25 years has been either Warren Central or Bowling Green, besides the 1 time occurrence that Greenwood won it. So that means 2 teams out of like 17 in a region have a favorable chance to really win a championship that year if you did away with districts. 

Oh, I see, we want participation trophies, got it. 

11 hours ago, ACfan4 said:

Believe they should keep district tournaments. Mainly because having them provides an opportunity for teams year in and year out who may not be region title contenders a chance to win a championship. Will use the 4th region for example. The region champion the last 25 years has been either Warren Central or Bowling Green, besides the 1 time occurrence that Greenwood won it. So that means 2 teams out of like 17 in a region have a favorable chance to really win a championship that year if you did away with districts. 

The 14th District would absolutely maul the region even more than they already do if they all got in.  Warren Central's stunning loss to Barren County in 2025 is the only loss by a 14th District team in the region tournament since 2017 - outside of the games they play against each other in the finals, of course.  In the last 100 region tournament games where a 14th District team played a team from one of the other districts, the 14th District is 93-7.

I've always said that having to play the other Bowling Green/Warren County teams in the district tournament and potentially miss the region is the price those teams pay for being located in the largest city/county in the region by a wide margin.  The five Bowling Green/Warren County teams (I'm not counting FCA) are all in the top six by size in the region.  Only Barren County is in that mix.  They've got a huge advantage, and fighting through the others to get there is justifiable.

9 hours ago, Big East Zebra said:

Care to explain why?

 

Tradition should still be worth a little something in the high school ranks, nothing wrong with the current process.

6 hours ago, nikeman49 said:

Tradition should still be worth a little something in the high school ranks, nothing wrong with the current process.

That’s a fair point.

I think what the 15th does, still have Districts and let District winners have byes out to the Quarter Finals is a good alternative. 

My thought process is based on the Louisville and Oldham area. This year you had CAL lose in first round of District to Eastern where CAL had already beaten the eventual region champ. 
The Oldham County District in the future is always going to leave out a good team.

Fun discussion.

Edited April 29Apr 29 by theguru

14 hours ago, nikeman49 said:

Tradition should still be worth a little something in the high school ranks, nothing wrong with the current process.

I get the tradition part of it, but still not a fan. I know several districts across the state that you leave out a team, that could potentially win the region but was upset in the district. You look at the 9th district, you have four teams that can beat most of the other teams in the region, but because you have to go through, Owensboro, Daviess County, Apollo, or Owensboro Catholic on a given year, 2 of your better teams in the district are left out in the cold. 

Same can be said of the 5th region, 6th and 7th and 11 and NKY as well.