Just because something has been done a certain way for a number of years doesn’t mean it can’t be improved right?
While I’m on that topic, I think the Mississippi High School Activities Association should look into transitioning to some sort of a power rating system to determine playoff seeding as opposed to just relying on district records. If not a power rating system, just another way to determine which teams qualify for the postseason.
I believe that the district record should be important, but it definitely shouldn’t have as much weight as it does. In fact, it has all the weight.
A suggestion I would give would be to implement a power rating system and hold district winners in higher regard and give them a boost in the power ratings, not let the being a district champion in a weak division allow you to host a playoff game over a team that is clearly better, but was in a tougher district.
Of course with every system, there are flaws. In the power rating system in Louisiana, some schools load easy teams on their schedules so that they have a good-looking record and sometimes the school’s power rating doesn’t reflect how weak the team’s schedule actually was.
However, I think the power rating system does a better job of getting the best teams in the playoffs as opposed to the current system where no matter what, four and sometimes three teams from each district must make the playoffs.
All that does is lead to teams in a naturally weak district to enter the postseason as the No. 4 team in their district and play a No. 1 seed and get blasted. In some situations, such as this year’s South Pike boys basketball team, the seeding didn’t matter as the Eagles finished as the No. 4 seed, but won two road games to punch themselves a ticket to Jackson.
A situation like that seems to be the outlier. I can’t say how many times over the last year, I’ve heard coaches from all over the state say the only games that matter are the district ones. This is true because of the rules, but let’s put that into some perspective.
Most football districts have either five or six teams and the number varies in other sports, but let’s take football for example.
Many teams play a 10-game schedule and if five actually matter, that means the first half of the season doesn’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things. Of course it’s nice to win, but it truly doesn’t matter. That is the case in every sport.
This year’s McComb Tigers were a prime example of a team that took care of business only in district play and advanced to the postseason. McComb went 0-5 against non-district opponents, and 4-1 against the teams in their district to finish the regular season with a 4-6 overall record. Their district record was good enough to earn them second place and they hosted a playoff game against a St. Stanislaus team that had a 5-5 record but finished third in their district.
With the way the rules are the teams who take care of business in district play when the games matter deserve to be in the postseason, but I think a look at another system couldn’t hurt.
