Did the TSSAA do the right thing in disqualify Riverdale and Smyrna from

[Ace1]

Lost revenue is not a factor. No...I'm not kidding.

And lost revenue is not a factor to struggling schools and athletic programs in smaller counties of Tennessee?  

 

These two coaches are a disgrace to the sport, girls athletics, and the state of Tennessee.  This is going to put a black eye on all three of the above.

 

Any coach or teacher that does not do more to provide a better example than this needs to look for a different line of work. JMOH.

 

Working on different X's and O's is one thing but this was a disgrace to not only high school girls basketball, but all high school sports.  You should know better.

[Oledad]

In Rutherford Co. is there any consequences when a coach knows he has a player out of zone?? Its a pretty well known fact that this is the case at a particular school. Stewart's Creek had one last year and they had to forfeit all their games. But this particular school got away with it.

In regards to the punishment for Riverdale & Smyrna, we are just a few years removed from Riverdale Girls Bball being punished for other violations. In my opinion they got off way too easy..

[Talisman]

And its time for the TSSAA to tear down the region playoff format and make it like Kentucky. 1 through 16 seeds. 64 teams. Lose and you are finished.

Not sure where you got your info. Kentucky has 48 districts in B/G basketball. Each district tournament game is an elimination game except for the championship game. Both the winner and loser of the district advance to the Region tournament. There are 16 Region tournaments. In the first round of the tournament, district winners are paired against the losing team from another district. All games in this tournament are elimination games. Only the regional champion advances to the state tournament. The state tournament is a 16 team affair held at Rupp Arena. The teams are paired by a blind draw. This part of the tourney is, of course, single elimination. In addition, this is a non-classified tournament. All schools, no matter what size, participate.

[BasketballInsider37604]

Don't blame the TSSAA. They did not tell people to be dishonest and ruin the spirt of competition. That was the schools involved SOLEY and no one else. The girls knew exactly what was going and went with it so there punishment was just. I think both coaches should be fired, just as ESPN analysts suggested. These men are there to help young people be successful, not cheat.

[10W40]

Well, if ESPN says, "It's so", that's the the gospel truth! Not!

Edited February 25, 2015 by 10W40

[osunut2]

It's hindsight if it never happened before.

 

Happens in baseball every Wednesday of region finals every year.  The non elimination seed game.

 

Happens in basketball too.  Just not so blatantly.  It's easy:

 

1.  Take a look at the bracket and see who you're going to play win or lose

2.  Take steps to play the team with the most favorable matchup for your team.

 

In baseball, you just throw off.  Send in your #4 or #5 pitcher that never saw a district inning.  See how he fares.  Save your #1 or #2 for the elimination game in the next round.

 

In basketball, you have to miss free throws, play JV players and otherwise limit your opportunities to win.

 

This isn't the first time this has happened.  This is just the most obvious.

You totally missed my point. The hindsight I'm talking about is directed at all of the finger-pointing for the way the basketball postseason is set up.

Edited February 25, 2015 by osunut2

[cocheese]

It funny… as I read these comments, most of you’ve seen a short clip or read the papers, but hardly none of you was actually at the game.

As a Riverdale parent I will say repeatedly the girls didn’t know! I can’t vouch for Smyrna, but Riverdale girls didn't have a clue they were going to be coached not to win. Riverdale starters had 4 3’s the first quarter! There were steal attempts and everything. When Smyrna cleared its bench at the beginning of the second quarter, Riverdale followed suit. That’s where it all went downhill. Middleton wants to lie and save face by telling the news he only cleared his bench because Riverdale wasn’t scoring. The score was 21-22!

The girls should not have been punished. They were simply obeying their coach’s orders. I know if my daughter was told that (to lose) out right she would’ve had an issue with it……but they didn’t know. Anyone on here who blames the girls or states that they should have done something is unrealistic that girls were going to come together and overrule the coach in the middle of a game situation.

The girls have bared the brunt of this punishment, especially the seniors. If T$$AA can judge these girls so harshly and swiftly, I want to see what they do to fix the situation. YES THIS HAPPEN EVERY YEAR! If you say it don’t you lie!

Is the T$$AA responsible? Yes, because they know it’s been going on for years

Are the coaches, AD, and principals responsible? Yes, because they are the adult we chose to be the administrators over our children and advise them on right and wrong. NO ONE STOPPED THE GAME

Are the girls responsible? No, innocent bystanders. Their season should not have ended. It’s not fair to them.

Btw both teams had two girls each make all district…..Riverdale should’ve had at least three placing second in the regular season. But that’s another coaches integrity issue!

That's not what Coach Barrett is telling the TSSAA. He's saying all he did was discuss bracketology with the girls before the game. He says all he told them is who they would play if they won and who they would play if they lose. I read this in an article this morning on USA Today. I'll correct myself, a Riverdale administrator told the TSSAA this is what Barret told him. Either Barrett is throwing the girls under the bus or they took on themselves to do this, at least to some extent.

[cocheese]

I could have wrong information here, but I was told by a TSSAA old timer a few years back that the reason the tourney is set up this way is because powerhouse schools pitched a fit about getting knock out after only losing one game. I don't recall which schools he said raised the fuss, but said there were some schools that went undefeated all year and then lost a close game in the postseason and ended their season. So, the coaches lobbied the TSSAA to change the format so an undeated team's season wouldn't end because of one bad game in district, regionals, etc.. He could have had dementia, anyone remember?

[hardtackle]

Both Coaches should be ban from coaching any T$$AA sanctioned sport. School systems should fire head coaches from coaching. Nothing is worse than throwing an athletic contest. Agree what was done but not enough was done to coaches.

This has happened before in basketball. Maybe not as bad, but games have been lost to avoid playing a higher seeded team. Should baseball not allow a pitcher to walk a batter on purpose to avoid a real good batter? Infield fly rule was installed to avoid a team from gaining an advantage. In football a player or team punished for knocking down a pass on fourth down and not making the interception. Allowing a team to score to get the ball back because of time on clock. . A wrestler letting a guy escape and get one point and then taking him down for two points and repeating this over and over so the score ends up 16-8.There are ways to use the system to one's advantage in most every sport. This may have been an extreme example, but it happens all the time

[ecu]

I could have wrong information here, but I was told by a TSSAA old timer a few years back that the reason the tourney is set up this way is because powerhouse schools pitched a fit about getting knock out after only losing one game. I don't recall which schools he said raised the fuss, but said there were some schools that went undefeated all year and then lost a close game in the postseason and ended their season. So, the coaches lobbied the TSSAA to change the format so an undeated team's season wouldn't end because of one bad game in district, regionals, etc.. He could have had dementia, anyone remember?

NCAA is one and done but no #1 seed has ever lost. If you can't beat a lower seed then go home, you have a big advantage to start with.

[cbg]

Why disqualify the teams when they were only playing by the rules the T$$AA established? Once teams reach the tournament it should be single elimination for everyone to advance just like the NCAA. Maybe the T$$AA could just form another division so teams that are not quite good enough to compete with Blackman have an opportunity to win a state championship. We all know that it damages kids self confidence if they are told they are not winners so by forming another division we will have more kids leaving as state champions.

[lazarus]

We are not talking about the T$$AA's integrity we all know they have none because they are about money and not kids, but we are talking about the coaches and players that intentionally threw a tournament game.  You clearly have little integrity as well as you continue to defend the wrong thing.

 

Spare me the strident piety.

By the time the girls reach this stage in their career, they have seen it all;

They have seen Jr Pro drafts rigged to stack teams, grown adults (whose kids are on the same team) fighting in the bleachers, inter-school recruiting, grown adults screaming at children, parents instructing their kids and over-riding the coaches, meetings with school administrators and parents over playing time, the wild-west no-rules AAU, "Christian" schools that do anything to win gold balls, and on and on.

These kids are fully aware that grown adults have blown a kids' game entirely out of proportion. They have seen excesses and abuses. They gave seen the misbehavior of gifted athletes overlooked and swept under the rug. They have seen the system gamed and the rules bent and would be hard pressed to believe that we answer to any moral standard except winning at all costs.

 

And yet, I am supposed to believe that they have been damaged beyond repair by coaches who choose to play the tournaments the way they are set up?

 

Even in this situation, it seems that most of the complaints are not over the game being thrown, but over it not being done more surreptitiously.

 

As far as I am concerned guilt or innocence is not a matter of getting caught. If these coaches should be fired, or given a lethal injection at center court in Murphy Center, then so should all the dozens of other coaches who have done the same thing since this cockamamie bracketing system was put into place. It does not matter that it was done more discreetly.

And so should the officials from the TSSAA, who have described this as "one incident" or "a rare occurence." At worst, they are outright lyiing, at best they are absolutely clueless about what is going on under their watch.

 

FIX THE SYSTEM. This would all be worth it, if we took the simple steps necessary to remove the incentive to lose. Send 4 home. Give the 3-4 winner a choice of brackets. This is not rocket science. If all we do with this is crucify the coaches that got caught, and fluff our sense of righteousness by expounding about the "integrity" of the game, then nothing is gained by this unfortunate incident.

 

Do you honestly think anyone who has devoted their life to coaching *wants* to lose a game on purpose? There is no reason for them to be placed in that position.