SCPrepTalk

SCPrepTalk SCHSL 5A Playoff Projections after Week 9

BLACK - Locked In
RED- Projection

*These picks are organized using outcomes predicted by DOODLES Power Ratings from Week 9.
We'll see if there are any changes when the Doodle's Power Ratings for Week 10 come out later today.

-Give us some of your thoughts and we'll adjust the Brackets to reflect other possible outcomes......

I am color coding the bracket as I study the possible outcomes in each region.

BLACK - Locked In
RED- Projection

Any help is appreciated.

Region 1-3 is complete, working on Region 4.

All Regions complete.

Let me know if any other teams should be LOCKED IN.

How are "Upper State" and "Lower State" schools decided? If one went with latitude, West Florence would be Upper State. No?
Perhaps the taper of the state causes an issue with this.

There is muddy water there. I have never understood how Sumter is upper state, yet Durch Fork and that region in Lexington is lower state.

Colbyc36 wrote:How are "Upper State" and "Lower State" schools decided? If one went with latitude, West Florence would be Upper State. No?
Perhaps the taper of the state causes an issue with this.

As a general rule upper and lower state make more sense if you think in terms of elevation instead of latitude. Schools on the coast are lower state, those in the mountains are upper, the dividing line depends on the distribution of schools that fall within the classification and how they can be grouped into reasonably sized regions.

The HSL got very creative this last cycle. For some reason they swapped the two Columbia area 5A regions, calling the western one "5" and putting it in the lower state, calling the eastern one "4" and putting it in the Upper state. It seems that minimizing travel was a major concern, they ended up regions of various sizes with 26 school in upper state regions and 22 in lower. That imbalance required them to be additionally creative when creating the playoff brackets. Region 4 is an upper state region but the #3 team from region 4 gets seeded into the lower state half of the bracket.

Clear as mud, right? Here's a Map of 5A

Class 4A is even more goofy with only 7 regions, 4 & 5 are reversed and region 7 only has 4 teams. 4A region 4 is a hybrid, with teams being seeded in both upper and lower sides of the bracket.

Wow. Weakest brackets I've seen in a while. Looks like the lower bracket for the upstate is a cakewalk. Byrnes is the only team I do not want to play again for obvious reasons. The outcome was predetermined when they missed their first extra point.

SHUT UP VAMP

My hope is that somehow Berkeley makes it through the lower state bracket and faces Dorman in the title game so the Cavs can go deer hunting in Columbia once again and blow a few Stags full of holes just like they did on the basketball court last spring! But that’s just a fantasy because Berkeley will never make it that far...