Best Classification

[WesVLT]

Which classification is Tennessee's best, team-for-team?

 

My vote goes to the Super Seven, DII-AAA. Each squad knocks off key 4A and 5A teams every year and possesses the tradition, talent, and coaching to overcome lower enrollment figures.

[gtowngrad04]

***Disclaimer: not insulting any private school in any way (e.g. no insinuation of recruiting)---so don't go there***

 

Public schools in TN have consistently made names for themselves despite poor funding...5A gets my vote (namely Riverdale, DB, Gallatin, Germantown, Brentwood, although at different times).

 

P.S. I will not discuss funding for public schools---I refuse to start an argument. If you disagree with me, and you are a plus member, try this:

click "message boards" at the top of this page and scroll down to the discussion forums...have fun!!!

[FHSrebel27]

Westopher... Westopher... let's just shout "fire!" in a movie theatre!

 

5A... period. Not going to argue it again as we have done it numerous times in the past.

[Lions4ever]

How can you even have a poll like this...the teams are broken down into different classes for one simple reason...they are different....is it fair to compare class 1a to class 5a???....or class 2a to Div II AAA...if it were there wouldn't be separate classes to begin with....it might almost be fair to compare class 5a to Div II AAA just because each has its own advantage over the others but why bring in the other classes?...no one will even think of putting up 1a or 2a...now if you wanted to make a poll of which class has the most competitive teams within their class now that might be a fair poll...

[Antwan]

Last year I watched several II-AAA programs scrimmage some of the more respectable 5A teams in the State.  It was plainly obvious that the DII teams, though outsized, were better disciplined, better coached, and better prepared (physically and mentally).  I saw several frustrated players from different 5A teams leave the field in anger, mid-scrimmage.  I saw a 6'7", 300+ lbs. lineman cry in frustration and pain.  I'm not trying to bash public schools at all, but what I saw on the field in head-to-head competition is proof, in my mind, of II-AAA being more competitive than 5A.  Just me.

 

By the way, I would again like to say that I'm not bashing the public schools in anyway.  None of the events that I have recounted above were fictionalized with or without the intent of slandering any schools or players.  I witnessed all of them firsthand.

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Who were these teams? Obviously not the best 5a teams. This season there are 61 teams in 5a and 8 in DII-AAA. Take the top 8 in 5a and it would be very close between them.

Edited July 13, 2005 by Antwan

[cbg]

Antwan,

 

You are correct in that the top 8 teams in D2AAA & the top 8 teams in D1AAAAA would compete quite nicely with each other. But why did the leader of D15A lead the charges to form D2? I would like to see just one of the big D1 schools join D2 and watch how they would do over the course of a season. With the travel of D2 and the time demands placed on the athletic teams I think it would be more of a mental grind than a physical one. It's easy to drive 15 minutes down the road to play, try taking a 4 hour bus trip with high school kids every other week and see what happens. Your team has to be very mature to handle the rigors of a D2 schedule.

Edited July 13, 2005 by cbg

[mcallister1479]

Who were these teams? Obviously not the best 5a teams.  This season there are 61 teams in 5a and 8 in DII-AAA. Take the top 8 in 5a and it would be very close between them.

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Two of them were mentioned in this very topic as being among the 5A elite.

[Antwan]

Antwan,

 

You are correct in that the top 8 teams in D2AAA & the top 8 teams in D1AAAAA would compete quite nicely with each other.  But why did the leader of D15A lead the charges to form D2?  I would like to see just one of the big D1 schools join D2 and watch how they would do over the course of a season.  With the travel of D2 and the time demands placed on the athletic teams I think it would be more of a mental grind than a physical one. It's easy to drive 15 minutes down the road to play, try taking a 4 hour bus trip with high school kids every other week and see what happens.  Your team has to be very mature to handle the rigors of a D2 schedule.

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I don't think DI public schools can play in DII. DII is for aid giving schools. DI teams do not fall under that...nor do they want to. I don't want to get into a public/private debate on this board...because it would be moved. One big reason is the 4 hour bus trips you mentioned.

[Antwan]

Two of them were mentioned in this very topic as being among the 5A elite.

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It's not difficult to figure out you are talking about Brentwood and Gallatin. It has to be midstate teams you are referring to...because I doubt anyone would travel out of one area to see a scrimmage. You can't be referring to Riverdale...because they beat MBA handily in their annual scrimmage. I beg to differ on your assessment of those fine programs.

Edited July 13, 2005 by Antwan

[fromthetop2]

The sheer disparity in numbers of schools renders this poll kind of moot. How can you compare just 8 teams in DII to the numbers of schools in any of the other classifications? Those schools have just as much tradition in many cases, although their coaching resumes might not be as flashy, nor are they paid as much or have as much economic resources as their private counterparts. Is DII competitive because it has so few teams, or is it competitive because of the eight teams it has? If you added another 50 teams to DII, how competitive would it be? Conversely, if you took a representative "eight" from any other division, I would say it would be very competitive.

 

I would argue that DII is not as competitive as the other divisions for the sheer fact that the overwhelming majority of the teams will qualify for the playoffs-and then play an abbreviated playoff schedule. Isn't it more competitive to have to play more games to win a championship?

[rollredroll]

If you added another 50 teams to DII, how competitive would it be?  Conversely, if you took a representative "eight" from any other division, I would say it would be very competitive.

 

I would argue that DII is not as competitive as the other divisions for the sheer fact that the overwhelming majority of the teams will qualify for the playoffs-and then play an abbreviated playoff schedule.  Isn't it more competitive to have to play more games to win a championship?

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There seems to be some contradiction here. If "you took a representative eight from any other division" (I presume you mean a DI division), why would those teams be "very competitive"? Wouldn't those eight teams (assuming you are talking about a new eight-league team) be subjected to the same abbreviated playoff schedule that you contend makes DII "not as competitive"? Or, are you saying to take the existing DII, add a "representative eight from any other division" to it, and then it (the new DII) becomes "very competitive"? If so, is the league any less competitive if the eight teams added are perennial DI cellar dwellars (for isn't your theory of competitiveness based on the number of playoff games played and not the quality of the teams playing those playoff games)?

 

If it's "more competitive" to have to play more games to win a championship, would you argue there's no difference in competitiveness amongst the five DI classes? Under this theory, shouldn't there be only one DI classification?

Edited July 14, 2005 by rollredroll

[fromthetop2]

My argument is the process of having more games to win a championship makes D1 more competitive. It is not the teams.

 

To point: If the argument is that DII is better competitively, solely because you have eight teams , then in theory you could take eight teams from Class 5A (or make a class of just 4A, or 3A, etc.) and have the same comparables. For example, a Riverdale, Oak Ridge, DB, Germantown, then throw in Jeff Co, Antioch, and say Overton and Houston. You would have eight rather competitive teams, with a natural breakdown of some teams being on the bottom and having a losing record, and some being at the top with a better record. In this postulation, the random sample of the small group of numbers will make it inherently more comptetitive than a larger sample. This group of 5A would be just as competitive as the existing DII group of eight

 

I think that is wrong.

 

My contention is that because you have just eight teams in DII, and you don't have to win as many games to qualify for a playoff, nor do you have to even play as many games to be a champion, it can't be as competitive as having to win more games (as D1). I contend that in the D1 playoff format, where you play teams you more than likely haven't faced all year, potentially have to go back and play someone you know, then face two more teams you've never seen-all of whom have gone through the same process-makes it a more competitive situation.

 

If I haven't clarified my argument, I beg forgiveness for a very long day.