6A is skewed toward the West

[Red Rebels]

6A Football has 49 teams. 26 of the 6A teams are in Middle Tennessee. 
East Tennessee has 14 6A teams, spread out from Northeast Tennessee down
into Hamilton County. The nine remaining are all in Shelby County. 
The 6A Class is divided up into eight regions from east to west. 
Regions 1, 2, and 3 all have seven teams and Region 4 has six teams. 
This puts 27 teams on the east side of the bracket. Region 5 has seven teams. 
Region 6 has six teams. Region 7 has five teams, and Region 8 has 4 teams. 
This puts 22 teams on the west side of the bracket. 

32 teams make the playoffs. 
The way the playoffs are now 16 teams out of 27 from the east make the playoffs 
and 16 out of 22 make the playoffs from the west. I believe a ratio should be used 
which would put 18 teams out of 27 in the playoffs from the east and 14 out of 22 
in the playoffs from the west.

EAST (27)
Region 1 (7)
Bearden High School (Knoxville, TN)
Dobyns Bennett High School (Kingsport, TN)
Farragut High School (Knoxville, TN)
Hardin Valley Academy (Knoxville, TN)
Jefferson Co. High School (Dandridge, TN)
Morristown-Hamblen High School West (Morristown, TN)
Science Hill High School (Johnson City, TN)
Region 2 (7)
Bradley Central High School (Cleveland, TN)
Cleveland High School (Cleveland, TN)
Heritage High School (Maryville, TN)
Maryville High School (Maryville, TN)
McMinn Co. High School (Athens, TN)
Ooltewah High School (Ooltewah, TN)
William Blount High School (Maryville, TN)
Region 3 (7)
Blackman High School (Murfreesboro, TN)
Coffee Co. Central High School (Manchester, TN)
Cookeville High School (Cookeville, TN)
Oakland High School (Murfreesboro, TN)
Riverdale High School (Murfreesboro, TN)
Siegel High School (Murfreesboro, TN)
Warren Co. High School (McMinnville, TN)
Region 4 (6)
Hendersonville High School (Hendersonville, TN)
Lebanon High School (Lebanon, TN)
Mt. Juliet High School (Mt. Juliet, TN)
Rossview High School (Clarksville, TN)
Station Camp High School (Gallatin, TN)
Wilson Central High School (Lebanon, TN)

WEST (22)
Region 5 (7)
Antioch High School (Antioch, TN)
Cane Ridge High School (Antioch, TN)
John Overton High School (Nashville, TN)
LaVergne High School (Lavergne, TN)
McGavock High School (Nashville, TN)
Smyrna High School (Smyrna, TN)
Stewarts Creek High School (Smyrna, TN)
Region 6 (6)
Brentwood High School (Brentwood, TN)
Centennial High School (Franklin, TN)
Dickson Co. High School (Dickson, TN)
Franklin High School (Franklin, TN)
Independence High School (Thompson's Station, TN)
Ravenwood High School (Brentwood, TN)
Region 7 (5)
Arlington High School (Arlington, TN)
Bartlett High School (Bartlett, TN)
Collierville High School (Collierville, TN)
Cordova High School (Cordova, TN)
Houston High School (Germantown, TN)
Region 8 (4)
Germantown High School (Germantown, TN)
Memphis Central High School (Memphis, TN)
White Station High School (Memphis, TN)
Whitehaven High School (Memphis, TN)

 

[kwc]

1 hour ago, Red Rebels said:

I believe a ratio should be used which would put 18 teams out of 27 in the playoffs from the east and 14 out of 22  in the playoffs from the west.

LOL ... good luck with that one.

I do agree that the geographical demographics is what make creating a playoff system in TN so difficult.,Its that a majority can't agree on how to do it. A fair and equitable system is what everybody wants, but nobody can agree on how to do it. To me, It has to be the same across the board or someone is going to feel cheated. The current system has a set amount per region. You don't get more in one region and less in another. That won't fly and it's why they won't do it. 

 

Edited September 14, 2018 by kwc

[RebelAtHeart]

Agree 6A is skewed.  However, the first two rounds are typically a waste of time.  I suggest they only advance 2 teams per region and break it down to 8 or 12 regions geographically.  Has any 4th seed ever made it past round 3?  I know T$$AA loves the extra gate money, but the current system is too broad to pick the best teams in the state.  Ridiculous to play 3 games in August to make sure more than half the teams are in the playoffs.  Too many losing teams are playing in the post-season.  I would rather see an extra two weeks on the back end to let each team that wins a gold ball in their division play for a Platinum ball to name THE truly best team in the state! 

[CU06]

8 out of 9 teams in Memphis make the playoffs.  Meaning that Memphis is assured a semifinal spot every year. 

[Red Rebels]

1 hour ago, kwc said:

LOL ... good luck with that one.

I do agree that the geographical demographics is what make creating a playoff system in TN so difficult.,Its that a majority can't agree on how to do it. A fair and equitable system is what everybody wants, but nobody can agree on how to do it. To me, It has to be the same across the board or someone is going to feel cheated. The current system has a set amount per region. You don't get more in one region and less in another. That won't fly and it's why they won't do it. 

 

Actually, I wish they would increase 6A to about 60-64 teams and hope that process would fix the problem.

[kwc]

9 minutes ago, Red Rebels said:

Actually, I wish they would increase 6A to about 60-64 teams and hope that process would fix the problem.

The problem is the huge void of 6A schools between the west Nashville area and the east Memphis area. Even if the 5 to 6 5A programs here in Memphis were sucked into 6A, when you hit that part of the state, the number of 6A schools would still be sparse. 

I see the problems ... what I don't see is a solution that would get at least 50% of the state to agree upon.

I don't envy the TSSAA in this regard. Solving this delima has always been a problem, since the inception of the agency.

Edited September 14, 2018 by kwc

[Indian]

Seed west 1-16 and east 1-16. Region champs first, in order by overall record/strength of schedule  then so on. 

[CHSAlum04]

I think it's important to consider where the denser populated portions of the State are. Middle and West are more densely populated; therefore, have larger schools. imo.

[midtnmale]

1 minute ago, Indian said:

Seed west 1-16 and east 1-16. Region champs first, in order by overall record/strength of schedule  then so on. 

Seeding is a very subjective thing.  In NCAA basketball seeding has to be implemented because their is no standardize conferences that makes pairing all teams easy. That not the case in the TSSAA.

[kwc]

2 minutes ago, Indian said:

Seed west 1-16 and east 1-16. Region champs first, in order by overall record/strength of schedule  then so on. 

Overall records and strength schedule are not good measuring sticks. They can be easily manipulated. The interpretation of those wins will vary regionally and will be subject to bias.

My #1 rule in any of this is to remove any and every decision, data, or method of selection, that has bias or the potentail for bias to be a part of the process.

Currenly, that's what the TSSAA has in place. It's why they use this system. You come up with a fair and equitable system that has NO bias ... I'll listen.

 

[Red Rebels]

2 minutes ago, Indian said:

Seed west 1-16 and east 1-16. Region champs first, in order by overall record/strength of schedule  then so on. 

The problem is, where is the East West dividing line? Do you seed 1-32 and then cut it in half geographically? I hated the Z-Plan because of the wildcards, and we are complaining about polls in another thread. And seeding invites bias.  I didn't have all the kinks worked out when I posted this. There isn't an easy answer. I am in favor of constriction to 5 classes.

[kwc]

2 minutes ago, midtnmale said:

Seeding is a very subjective thing.  In NCAA basketball seeding has to be implemented because their is no standardize conferences that makes pairing all teams easy. That not the case in the TSSAA.

Agreed.