Sullivan South/Cleveland Playoff issue

[Hoganknows]

Our school is a member of this district and to my knowledge the schools in this area were in favor of six classes and not five. Sounds like to me that you are just trying to stir something up and know nothing at all about it. Now come on!

 

So, the members of your football district favors a plan where Team A beats Team B and they both finish with 6-4 records, but team B goes to the playoffs over Team A cause they beat more teams winning 50% of their games. Head to Head means nothing....sounds like a crazy plan to Hogan.

[crawdad]

Final standing were released an Sullivan South was 27th. Walker Valley was 32 and Cleveland 33

TCS article states South was 27th seed and was deserving of the #6 seed in Quad 2 and should be playing #3 Ooltewah. Walker Valley and Anderson Co. were both supposed to be seeded lower than South. I was , like most , under the impression that South barely got in and was close with Cleveland for that 32nd spot. But the error was much bigger than just sending them to Quad 2 instead of Quad 1. It also cost them 2 rungs in the bracket seeding.

[ET1979]

TCS article states South was 27th seed and was deserving of the #6 seed in Quad 2 and should be playing #3 Ooltewah. Walker Valley and Anderson Co. were both supposed to be seeded lower than South. I was , like most , under the impression that South barely got in and was close with Cleveland for that 32nd spot. But the error was much bigger than just sending them to Quad 2 instead of Quad 1. It also cost them 2 rungs in the bracket seeding.

South Should actually be the 8 seed in quad 1. I know that based on their standing in quad 2 they look like the 6 but if they were seeded correctly then they would be the 8 in quad 1. Forgive me if this has been discussed but there are a lot of teams that are playing in the wrong place. for instance Anderson Co. is seeded to high in quad 2, West is to high if they were in quad 2 like they should be, Central is a spot to low if South was seeded correctly. What was the article saying? Can you provide a link?

[ET1979]

The seeding did not cost South any rungs in seeding because if seeded correctly that would be the 8 in Quad 1.

[Volunteer87]

Yep, the TSSAA should have correctly seeded Quads 1 & 2 instead of trying to cause the least disruptions. They compounded their second mistake even more than we realized.

 

 

mjuhb, can you post what the brackets should have looked like?

[ET1979]

How does this realization make it worse?

[Indian]

So, the members of your football district favors a plan where Team A beats Team B and they both finish with 6-4 records, but team B goes to the playoffs over Team A cause they beat more teams winning 50% of their games. Head to Head means nothing....sounds like a crazy plan to Hogan.

 

Head to head doesn't mean as much because each team is competing with every other team in their classification to be one of the top 32, not just to be one of the top four in their region and be a qualifier that way. If you put Cleveland ahead of WV because of their win, it throws out whatever WV did in the tiebreakers vs other teams across the state to be as high as they are, and it also places Cleveland ahead of such teams.

[Volunteer87]

Proper seeding matters since it determines who your opponent is, not just your rung. It also determines the home team and also affects attendance. A Knoxville area team should be playing in Quad 2 instead of an upper east Tennessee team. How many fans will not be traveling 300 miles one-way on Friday that would have traveled 100 miles one-way? The home field will be more of an advantage than it normally would be. It is not fair to the players and it is not fair to the fans.

 

If the TSSAA does not want to following its seeding guidelines at ALL times then they should scrap them. If proper seeding does not matter, how about basing the seeding on geography alone, like giving the #1 seed in Quad 1 to the easternmost team in the state and #8 to the next easternmost team. That would minimize travel. But would that be fair if that #8 seed was 9-1 and had to travel and the #1 seed was 5-5?

 

If proper seeding is important to begin with, then is it not just as important after they learned of their first mistake? Either proper seeding matters all the time or it doesn't.

[Hoganknows]

 

 

Head to head doesn't mean as much because each team is competing with every other team in their classification to be one of the top 32, not just to be one of the top four in their region and be a qualifier that way. If you put Cleveland ahead of WV because of their win, it throws out whatever WV did in the tiebreakers vs other teams across the state to be as high as they are, and it also places Cleveland ahead of such teams.

 

Most any playoff system or tournament I've ever been associated with-- head to head is the # 1 tie breaker!! This system is nuts!!!

[Indian]

They are not just competing with teams in their districts to make playoff spots.

[bradley86]

It looks like if TSSAA got Sullivan South correct the first time, then Knox Powell would have gone to Quad 2, and Sull South as a #8 would have travelled to Morristown West. Sending a highly ranked Powell to Q2 after the brackets were released would have created a huge uproar to the other Quad 2 teams (although it would be the right thing to do).

 

The person who has handled this with the most class is Cleveland coach Ron Crawford. Tonight's paper said it is the first time in 17 years he hasn't been in the playoffs, but he also said that they knew that they had to win one of their last two games, including week 10 vs. a 1-8 Rhea County team. He said he is already working to make sure that it doesn't happen again, and I believe it.

Edited October 31, 2012 by bradley86

[bradley86]

Most any playoff system or tournament I've ever been associated with-- head to head is the # 1 tie breaker!! This system is nuts!!!

 

I don't disagree if there were only the two 5-5 teams, but since there were multiple teams at 5-5 for the final spot(s), head to head for all those teams isn't possible. They had to follow the formula that was in place since before the season started, and Cleveland coaches knew they weren't in the playoffs after the loss to Rhea Co.