In almost any scenario, Newport would have to play one or the other to reach the region, but under the blind draw the possibility, as this year, to avoid both and assuring a good chance at the region. That's not to say they couldn't or wouldn't have beaten one or both this year, but not seeding benefits them in any year.

 

I expect Highlands to beat NCC in this year's district. Dayton will fight hard in the first round matchup and this should benefit the Birds a few nights later.

 

Everyone talks about Newport not seeding. No one ever says nothing about Bellevue and Dayton not in favor of seeding. Newport is getting smaller every year. The luck of the draw is good for all and if your team is good enough then they have to beat the best anyway.

Speaking of dates, last year the 36th Championship game was on a Saturday night while the 33rd, 34th, & 35th was on a Friday night. I think they should all be played on the same night so the teams in the 36th don't have any other motives about the game than to just win. For example, if by some freak of nature Holmes in the 35th loses and ends up a runner-up, do you think that it might be worth it to a team from the 36th to throw their game to avoid playing the Bulldogs in the 1st round of the Regional? Just a thought. :idunno:

 

Really? Someone might throw a game so they play Holmes in round two instead of round one at the regional? I don't think so. Far fetched to say the least. Anyway, wouldn't you rather say you are District Champion than say we won a first round game at the regional?

Everyone talks about Newport not seeding. No one ever says nothing about Bellevue and Dayton not in favor of seeding. Newport is getting smaller every year. The luck of the draw is good for all and if your team is good enough then they have to beat the best anyway.

 

So I guess your in favor of only one winner going to the Region then? I mean if you have to beat the best anyway, then do it in the District and only send one team to the Region from each District.

 

The KHSAA should either have everyone seed or have everyone blind draw but only one team per District moves on to the Region if it's a blind draw. There is no reason to allow a team (example in the girls 36th) to have a poor team win and get to attend the Region because of a lucky draw!

Really? Someone might throw a game so they play Holmes in round two instead of round one at the regional? I don't think so. Far fetched to say the least. Anyway, wouldn't you rather say you are District Champion than say we won a first round game at the regional?

 

I don't think it's that far fetched. Sure, if you wanna be the best you have to beat the best, but a little luck goes along way sometimes too. Tourney time is all about survive and advance. With a district championship game you're gonna advance anyhow. Sure it's nice to hang a banner in your gym boasting that you're a district champ, but basically this game is a formality to seed the regional tournament. Say you avoid Holmes in the 1st round and another team freakishly beats them in the 1st round, then your worries of having to face them are over. Outside of talk about throwing a district championship game, in the history of basketball tournaments there have been many times where the favorite gets beat, evening the playing field for the remaining teams within a tourney, allowing a non-favorite to advance. I'm guessing that ultimately a team would be more interested in increasing their chances to advance further into the Regional tournament than to win their district, if throwing the game helps increase their chances of ultimately getting to Rupp. Personally, If I was a coach with a team in the district championship game, and already knew that the big favorite of another district lost their championship game, it would be hard for me not to think long and hard about what to do.

 

Still, to avoid any possibility for this kind of thing happening, all district championship games within a region should be played on the same night at the same time.

Edited February 5, 201016 yr by B-Ball-fan

So I guess your in favor of only one winner going to the Region then? I mean if you have to beat the best anyway, then do it in the District and only send one team to the Region from each District.

 

The KHSAA should either have everyone seed or have everyone blind draw but only one team per District moves on to the Region if it's a blind draw. There is no reason to allow a team (example in the girls 36th) to have a poor team win and get to attend the Region because of a lucky draw!

 

This was one of the things that actually shocked me about Kentucky basketball when I first moved to the state. The district winner AND runner-up both advance to the regional? And to top it all off, many of the districts had blind draws to set up the tournament!?!?!?!

 

I agree...if you're going to have a blind draw, then only the district winner should advance. The old addage of "to be the best, you have to beat the best" would apply here.

 

Why so many schools prefer to leave their fate up to a draw is beyond me. I actually had a serious discussion with one coach about this. He was at a small, Class-A school that has that good team once every 8-10 years or so. And, at the time, he had a "Goliath" inside his district...not only the best team in the district, but maybe the region, and possibly the state. I couldn't see why he would rather have the chance to take a very average to below average team to the regional and get their lunch handed to them (by going with a draw)...than to be assured of the #2 seed and have a legit chance at making some noise at the region, when he DID have that good team (and have the district seeded).

 

And, I should mention, in a true act of Karma for this coach, his son's senior year, his team was clearly the #2 team in the district. And fittingly drew the #1 team in the opening round. And while they gave them a good game, they still lost...and never even got a sniff of the regional.

 

I would have thought the KHSAA would've stepped in and said "Hey, we want everybody playing under the same system. We don't want any waterred down regions, with some Little Sisters of the Poor backing their way in, just because of the luck of the draw."

This was one of the things that actually shocked me about Kentucky basketball when I first moved to the state. The district winner AND runner-up both advance to the regional? And to top it all off, many of the districts had blind draws to set up the tournament!?!?!?!

 

I agree...if you're going to have a blind draw, then only the district winner should advance. The old addage of "to be the best, you have to beat the best" would apply here.

 

Why so many schools prefer to leave their fate up to a draw is beyond me. I actually had a serious discussion with one coach about this. He was at a small, Class-A school that has that good team once every 8-10 years or so. And, at the time, he had a "Goliath" inside his district...not only the best team in the district, but maybe the region, and possibly the state. I couldn't see why he would rather have the chance to take a very average to below average team to the regional and get their lunch handed to them (by going with a draw)...than to be assured of the #2 seed and have a legit chance at making some noise at the region, when he DID have that good team (and have the district seeded).

 

And, I should mention, in a true act of Karma for this coach, his son's senior year, his team was clearly the #2 team in the district. And fittingly drew the #1 team in the opening round. And while they gave them a good game, they still lost...and never even got a sniff of the regional.

 

I would have thought the KHSAA would've stepped in and said "Hey, we want everybody playing under the same system. We don't want any waterred down regions, with some Little Sisters of the Poor backing their way in, just because of the luck of the draw."

 

You would think. This has never made any sense to me either. A system that appears to have, for the most part, uniformity (4 districts per region - 16 regions advancing to the Sweet 16) really doesn't as long as some seed and some don't. I know that some feel that KY should go to classes, but as Indiana has shown by doing so, it stole away the magic of the state tournament. I think that the 'All A Classic' has been a great addition to help keep the magic of the Sweet 16 alive and valid. The deal where the district runner-up still advances has always confused me as well, put I guess that I'm o.k. with it simply because it's been a tradition for so long. Also, I've seen where the district runner-up ended up going to Rupp which I typically find exciting and interesting.

When was the last time Newport made the region tournament?

When was the last time Newport made the region tournament?

 

Maybe 1998?

 

That's off the top of my head, I could be wrong.

Tourney at Newport? Dates?

 

So does anyone know?

So I guess your in favor of only one winner going to the Region then? I mean if you have to beat the best anyway, then do it in the District and only send one team to the Region from each District.

 

The KHSAA should either have everyone seed or have everyone blind draw but only one team per District moves on to the Region if it's a blind draw. There is no reason to allow a team (example in the girls 36th) to have a poor team win and get to attend the Region because of a lucky draw!

 

I agree but i think it should be only one team from each district whether you seed or not. Dayton ,Bellevue and even Newport thinks this is the only way to have a shot at the region. Normally they cant compete with Highlands and Newport Catholic but only once in while (Newport) has a good team.

As usual when NCC and Highlands draw into the same bracket in the 36th we have the outcry for seeding. Where was all the crying last year when NCC and Highlands drew into opposite sides of the bracket? I'll tell you, it was non-existent. It's all well and good for folks to use the idea of "earning" ones way into the regional as long as it only applies to the smaller, less populated schools. "Earning" your way apparently doesn't apply to those fans of schools who feel their team has some divine right to reach the Regional tournament. For those who haven't been around as long as some of us, seeding in the districts is a relatively new phenomenon in Ky. basketball. I apologize for not knowing exactly when the idea was first imposed, but for the vast majority of the life of the state tournament, blind draws were the norm state-wide. Also understand that even had any of those schools mentioned voted for seeding this year, it would not come into play until the following season. Until all sports are classed, yes even basketball, any district which is controlled by smaller schools competing with larger and/or private institutions is going to continue to avoid seeding. I agree wholeheartedly that we should return to the days of only the District Champion moving onto the Regional. Perhaps we could reduce the length of the season by a few days, reduce costs, etc. I also find it incredibly interesting that there is such an outcry about seeding in the first round of a tournament that is a blind draw (or semi-controlled blind draw in the case of the Regional) the rest of the way out. I will also agree that it should be universally one way or the other for consistency, but as long as the option is there I can see no reason for the majority of the schools in the 36th to vote to seed.

As usual when NCC and Highlands draw into the same bracket in the 36th we have the outcry for seeding. Where was all the crying last year when NCC and Highlands drew into opposite sides of the bracket? I'll tell you, it was non-existent. It's all well and good for folks to use the idea of "earning" ones way into the regional as long as it only applies to the smaller, less populated schools. "Earning" your way apparently doesn't apply to those fans of schools who feel their team has some divine right to reach the Regional tournament. For those who haven't been around as long as some of us, seeding in the districts is a relatively new phenomenon in Ky. basketball. I apologize for not knowing exactly when the idea was first imposed, but for the vast majority of the life of the state tournament, blind draws were the norm state-wide. Also understand that even had any of those schools mentioned voted for seeding this year, it would not come into play until the following season. Until all sports are classed, yes even basketball, any district which is controlled by smaller schools competing with larger and/or private institutions is going to continue to avoid seeding. I agree wholeheartedly that we should return to the days of only the District Champion moving onto the Regional. Perhaps we could reduce the length of the season by a few days, reduce costs, etc. I also find it incredibly interesting that there is such an outcry about seeding in the first round of a tournament that is a blind draw (or semi-controlled blind draw in the case of the Regional) the rest of the way out. I will also agree that it should be universally one way or the other for consistency, but as long as the option is there I can see no reason for the majority of the schools in the 36th to vote to seed.

 

 

What's funny about your post is that I only see a couple of "Highlands" fans posting in this thread and not one of them has really said anything negative about the seeding/blind draw issue.

Maybe now that Newport has finally made it to the All A State they can see that there are alternatives for smaller schools to show success in the program.

Once you get a winning program it breeds success. hopefully for a school like Newport they continue to grow their program and will soon be the ones complaining when they have a good team and blindly draw into the tough side of the bracket. At that point let's see how they vote.

If you can't get out of your district, did you really deserve to go to the region?

I'm a fan of the small schools and see both sides of this argument every year.:idunno:

As a former small school athlete I always liked the blind draw but now that I have a son at Highlands I wish they would seed and let the schools play each other during the season. In the end though I am a firm believer that you still have to win games to go anywhere so everyone needs to stop bellyaching and go out and play hard each night.

What's funny about your post is that I only see a couple of "Highlands" fans posting in this thread and not one of them has really said anything negative about the seeding/blind draw issue.

 

Exactly where do you see that I singled out Highlands fans or any other particular schools as far as who exactly is complaining? It is as much from people outside the 36th District boundaries as it is from within. However, that said, the complaints about the bracket doesn't seem to happen when Highlands and NCC draw opposite of one another. No accusation there, simply an observation from years and years of watching.