lazarus

Not at all. Make the 3-4 game an elimination game, and give the 1's a bye in the region. All you lose is revenue from meaningless 1-4 games. Teams that belong in the state are capable of finishing better than 4th in the district. Even in the good districts.

So it is not losing games on purpose that is a problem. It just has to be done a bit more discreetly? Anyone who knows the game, and watches very many 3-4 games, has seen it done. And we know it is being done. That will not change as long as teams are put in games that they are better served to lose.

You are exactly right. If this is not consistently enforced, it is for nothing. How do you propose it be consistently enforced? Does the TSSAA suspend a team because it thinks they used the wrong substitutes? Do they evaluate the coach's game plan? Do they pull a team because they think the wrong player shot a technical free throw? Now that people will be a little more discreet, how does TSSAA determine whether a team is trying to win, or not? The answer is easy. Play no games that do not reward the winners, and this issue is gone. Keep going as it is, and these teams will be remembered as the only ones ever punished, for something that happens all the time.

So there are degrees of sin, even when it is the same sin? TSSAA can fix this any time. If this instance could lead to a change, it would be well worth it.

It happens on both sides. Any time there is one exceptionally powerful team in a region, there is every reason to want to avoid facing them in an elimination game, when you could play them instead, in the region finals, and still have a chance to win a substate game. Even if you are sure you have a game plan that could beat them once, why would you want to use it before the state?

The TSSAA is not god.

I watched a team play JV's most of the game, run the clock with a deficit, and make no attempt to catch up at the end of a 3-4 game just last year. There was no one in the stands who did not know what was happening by the time the game ended. (Well, maybe a couple of mothers)

Your example is extreme. But, ask anyone who handles internal controls if you should place a person in financial difficulty in a position where they handle cash. It is not right to place people in a position where they have to face temptation. TSAA has to know that this happens every year. This time it went to the extreme. The punishment may be appropriate, but TSSAA is not without blame.

He also stated this does not happen very often. It happens every year. The tournament bracket is what is broken. And I (for one) do not doubt that Riverdale wanted to see Blackman one more time. They wanted to see them in the State Tournament.

I'm sorry to disagree, but the fault is not with the teams. It is the governing body which has set up a tournament where there is every motivation to lose. Too many teams advance. This is far from the first time that teams have contended to lose a 3-4 matchup. Send 4 home, and give 1 a bye. Everyone has a reason to win. Dollars to donuts 90% of the coaches would agree.

I am not I am not one who thinks officials determine the outcome of games. In this case, player choices made the official's calls cruxial. Certainly I advise against trying to draw a charge or risking getting one called either one, if the player has 4 fouls. Charge/block is a coin toss every time. Obviously, had either call gone the other way, it would have been damaging to SS. Only one could have gone the other way, since both players had 4 fouls each time. However, the game would have played out differently from that point to the finish, and I would still like SS chances in a close game. This CPA team was adept at blowing people out, but it is a matter of record that they were not very successful in close games.

If that is what you choose to believe, you are welcome to it.

No one could have been happier than me to see CPA lose. And all kudos and credit go to SS for doing it when it counted. But it was a 2 point win, that really hinged on a couple of late calls. Not exactly a statement of dominance. You should enjoy it for what it is.

I have no argument that west tenn basketball is on the whole stronger than the other parts of the state. Lots of results over time show that to be true. To say SS is "better" than CPA because they win ONE game, with CPA playing poorly, SS on fire, and CPA's two best players not on the floor... by TWO points? That is more than a stretch. If it wasn't for a couple of missed free throws, SS doesn't even win the title over East. This is not from a CPA fan. I do not care much for how they get their gold balls. I would not call this year's version a great team. Great teams win close games. That said, I saw both teams playing at their best. CPA playing over 50% of capacity blows SS off the floor.

Even tho "yankees" will label me as not knowing anything about basketball, that was an upset. Both because CPA was favored, and because CPA playing at their best would have blown SS off the floor. I saw CPA at different points during the year, and coming off the meat of their schedule after christmas, they were a different team than the one that finished the season. Two months of cupcakes would make anyone soft. I have to take issue with a couple of other points. CPA is not playing who they are forced to play. I am confident that they could take the high road and move up to AAA or D-II and still be competitive (in terms that any reasonable person would consider competitive) they just would not be sending every decent team to the state in every sport, every year. Second, Maddux blamed his opponents for how they were playing when they lost to Ballard. Now, I see the same finger pointed because of the loss to SS. Well, the district they played in was neither the weakest in AA this year, nor the strongest. It was just an average AA district. By choosing the AA road, that is what CPA is going to get. On their path to the State; Waverly, Creekwood, East, and Cheatham were as good opponents as they would have seen anywhere. East certainly proved that.

I appreciate the updates, but I was supposed to be getting some work done. CPA ended the year 1-3 in games where they did not lead by 20 or more in the 4th quarter. There is a difference between a great team and a greatly talented team.

Almost makes me wish i could have gone today. If SS can keep it close to the end... CPA has been pretty mediocre at finishing in competitive games.

It would be tempting to go. CPA's play has really deteriorated in the second half of the season. But it has to be boring to play so many "games" where you simply cannot lose. They only had one chance to lose since christmas, and they lost. I don't know that Southside exactly matches up with athletes, but they will probably be the closest CPA will see. And CPA put out an execrable performance yesterday. But we can't forget Cheatham County had a very good team for AA, and CPA managed to bring it enough to dispatch Cheatham with no difficulty. Seeing the complaints about 4th quarter ally-oops and such, with the game decided, it sounded sort of like the real CPA. Nothing against the other semi-finalists, who have good AA teams, but Southside is probably the only time CPA will have to do a little more than just show up.

CPA looked flat, listless, and bored. I did not check the stats, but it seemed like they didn't shoot particularly well. Southside has some good athletes; certainly more speed than upperman. CPA will have to make more than a token effort, or it might be a game. As Maddux said after Ballard, they don't have a lot of experience at being in a competitive game. East looked pretty good. Assuming they win tomorrow, East and Southside would make an interesting match in the finals. If CPA wakes up and plays, the finals won't be worth the price of admission.

It is all about the business model. There are a lot of daddies who would pay for little Johnny's guaranteed trip to a state championship. Football and Basketball might be the showpieces, but the minor sports are where the money is. With virtually no competition from the publics, how many private kids have to graduate without "going to the state?" On the flip side, I think TSSAA has to wonder how viable a lot of those A-AA "championships" are without the privates.

Whose trophy case is filled with awards won by scheduling cupcakes?

The schools you guys want to "compete" with have precious few athletes you want. Nobody is gullible enough to think that those schools are not already doing as much as they are willing to do in recruiting.

Brentwood made them work a little, but they walked all over Kenwood and Oak Ridge. CPA would win AAA, and it might not even be competitive. They just aren't as sharp right now, as they have not had but one competitive game since christmas. If they were playing AAA teams they would be playing better.

I am probably not in the majority on here, since I go back to before classifications. I would readily vote to eliminate classifications all together. It sounded like a good idea at the time, but the reality is that all you have are people looking to game the system, by building the most powerful team possible, while doing anything on their power to play the weakest opponents they can get away with playing. I see discussion on here about whether CPA (and I only choose them, since they are currently the most egregious case) has "violated" any rules. Such discussion is really moot, depending on your stage of moral development (see piaget). Whether they are able to evade detection or skate around on technicalities, certainly the CPA model violates the intent of the rules. The classification concept was not conceived with the idea that it would enable a private school to make a business model out of pitting all their sports teams against inferior competition, and declaring that to demonstrate "excellence." Get rid of classifications, get rid of assigned districts, and go back to the days of self administering conferences. These issues would take care of themselves.

Why even bother to play it? Maybe just to see which of the 4 lucky draws doesn't get slaughtered until the finals? The only thing CPA is in danger of is boredom. They have had to play a lot of cupcakes.