5A set up questions

[Rebel-Fan-74]

Some 5A questions:
No points system so the first question has to be with three Regions in the Lower State, how to you fill a four section bracket? In the Upper State, four Regions, you take a Region Champ from Region 1, the runner up from Region 2, third place from Region 3 and the fourth place team from Region 4 and you continue with that process (1,2,3,4) in each bracket section. How do you do that with 3 Regions?

Now let’s move on to the next question, who gets in? You have a 6 team Region, a 7 team Region and an 8 team Region, so is it five teams from the 6 & 7 team regions and 6 from the 8 team Region? I’ve heard five from each and an at-large team…. but what is the at-large based on?

Now, what do we do about Tie breakers? Again, no points system, so after Head-to-Head, what is next? Let’s say in Region One this is the final standings and the 2-2 teams all beat J L Mann and lost to Westside and were 1-1 against each other. How do you break the tie?
Region One W L
Westside 4 0
T L Hanna 2 2
Easley 2 2
Woodmont 2 2
J L Mann 0 4

Even more muddy, let’s say in Region Four, all the home teams win Region Games:
Spartanburg 2 2
Byrnes 2 2
Dorman 2 2
Gaffney 2 2
Boiling Springs 2 2

Now you really have a mess.

Hey SF Band Dad and EHSMeanGreen, we may still need the magic spreadsheets afterall..........

[EHSMeanGreen]

Hey SF Band Dad and EHSMeanGreen, we may still need the magic spreadsheets afterall..........

I spoke with SF Band dad about these very things a few weeks back.

How many teams from each Region?

Since we seem to know that the brackets will be filled by Region finish positions.
The question for me (also) is how will the tie-breakers be determined.
Will each Region in 5A get to decide on its own tie-breakers or will it be one tie-breaking system for all 7 regions?

This season I played around with the 3A and 2A systems.
In 3A, each region maintained the right to determine its own tie-breakers but I think all of them used the one drawn out in the 3A handbook.

In 2A, each of the 8 regions determined its own tie-breaking procedure for Region finish.
I think I received the tie-breaking procedure from 6 out of the 8 AA Regions.
All six of them were different! Every Region had a little different spin on it.

So we may not have to retire the spreadsheets....
They might just require some serious re-programming, especially if there are 7 different tie-breaking procedures involved.

[SF Band dad]

I've been toying around with the lower state scenarios, I've come up with a couple that would work, but none that I like.

[GoBigGreen]

With 4 out of 5 teams making the playoffs in 5 team regions (80%), I believe the most fair approach would be to have 6 of the teams in an 8 team region (75%) automatically qualify, and then 5 of 6 (83%) and 5 of 7 (71%) in the other two regions. This would give you the 16 lower state qualifiers and eliminate trying to figure out who 1 at large team would be in the lower state.

[SF Band dad]

With 4 out of 5 teams making the playoffs in 5 team regions (80%), I believe the most fair approach would be to have 6 of the teams in an 8 team region (75%) automatically qualify, and then 5 of 6 (83%) and 5 of 7 (71%) in the other two regions. This would give you the 16 lower state qualifiers and eliminate trying to figure out who 1 at large team would be in the lower state.

Region 7 has 8
Region 5 has 7
Region 6 has 6

[Rebel-Fan-74]

With 4 out of 5 teams making the playoffs in 5 team regions (80%), I believe the most fair approach would be to have 6 of the teams in an 8 team region (75%) automatically qualify, and then 5 of 6 (83%) and 5 of 7 (71%) in the other two regions. This would give you the 16 lower state qualifiers and eliminate trying to figure out who 1 at large team would be in the lower state.

I can be OK with this...

But how do you fit three Region Champions in to a four section bracket? See how they do the 1, 2, 3, 4 in the bracket...
http://www.schsl.org/2015Brackets/fb3.pdf" target="_blank

Hard to do that with only three

[SF Band dad]

With 4 out of 5 teams making the playoffs in 5 team regions (80%), I believe the most fair approach would be to have 6 of the teams in an 8 team region (75%) automatically qualify, and then 5 of 6 (83%) and 5 of 7 (71%) in the other two regions. This would give you the 16 lower state qualifiers and eliminate trying to figure out who 1 at large team would be in the lower state.

I can be OK with this...

But how do you fit three Region Champions in to a four section bracket? See how they do the 1, 2, 3, 4 in the bracket...
http://www.schsl.org/2015Brackets/fb3.pdf" target="_blank

Hard to do that with only three

It's probably not "simple" enough for SCHSL but I would seed champions first, runner-ups 2nd, ect... The top runner up gets a bracket. That would require some kind of seeding and tie-breaking process. My first thought: Head-to-Head, most wins against 5A opponents, fewest losses against 5A opponents, Most wins overall, fewest losses overall, coin-flip. When a team is eliminated at any step, start over at the top.

My other thought is that the first week can all be region match-ups. (The 1 team from region 5 would get the at-large opponent.) That would minimize travel, increase gate and reduce the number of awful teams getting out of the region in the next round.

[Rebel-Fan-74]

Upper State - 4 regions and 4 sections of the bracket... easy to fill. Region 1 winner, Region 2 Runner Up, Region 3 Third Place and Region 4 fourth place, etc etc and etc (now you may have to swap out which region goese where, but it is still a 1, 2, 3 and 4 from each region)



Lower State, 4 bracket sections and 3 regions... here is a shot in the dark....



Still have no idea how ties will be broken.

And my favorite thing about this set up.... a Region 7 team that wins three region games may not make the playoffs while a 3 region wins from a team in Region one and they could have home field advantage until Columbia! Yeah, this was well thought out.....

[likeitRnot]

Wow that means a team like Boiling Springs could be left out?
Heck any team from that region !! Seen this year 3rd place team made it to state!!!

[Rebel-Fan-74]

Wow that means a team like Boiling Springs could be left out?
Heck any team from that region !! Seen this year 3rd place team made it to state!!!

Boiling Springs
Byrnes
Dorman
Gaffney
Spartanburg

One of those teams will not make the playoffs, guaranteed!