ACHTUNG: This is not a “fair and balanced” story. It is an editorial by the editor.
The Michigan High School Athletic Association should seriously consider seeding for post-season basketball tournaments.
This assertion comes in the wake of the awful news that two of the state’s top five Class B basketball teams, Wayland and Wyoming Godwin Heights, will have to face off in the first round of the district tournament at Grand Rapids South Christian Monday, March 7. The winner of that ballgame very likely will have clear sailing for the rest of the district tourney, turning the spectacle into a crashing bore.
This isn’t a radical idea. Ohio uses the seeding system for high school hoops. The NCAA basketball tournament, one of the most popular and successful competitions in all of sports, has been employing seeds for a really long time. Wrestling tournaments are all about seeds.
It shouldn’t be a difficult process. Athletic directors from all of the schools in the district could gather on the Saturday after the regular season ends and begin the work of seeding the teams with the main purpose to make it very easy for the best two teams to meet in the finals, thereby attracting more interest in the championship game.
Of course, if one of the top two teams stumbles along the way, so be it.
But the Class B tourney at South Christian will include what easily would be the top two seeds in the opener, with the winner moving on to play South Christian and its 3-9 record in the semifinals and then choose among 9-5 Grand River Prep, 6-6 West Michigan Aviation Academy and 3-12 Kelloggsville for the finals.
Wayland is 13-1 and ranked No. 4 in the state. Godwin is 14-1 and ranked No. 1. After these two titans clash, the two chances for a quality close contest will be slim and none.
It was bad enough a year ago when Wayland lost to eventual state champ Godwin in the district finals by six points. But this is even worse, and something should be done about it. There have to be many other instances of these unjust “luck of the pre-determined draw” abominations across the state.
I hereby urge the MHSAA to initiate a seeding system for all basketball tournaments in order to make the best possible effort that the best teams meet in the championship games.
There has to be some reason for teams to want to put together their best possible record in the regular season. Seeding would be a modest and workable reward.
I agree with your logic, and wonder if you published the appropriate phone #’s for the MHSAA, how many people that agree with you would call and make the request that seeding be initiated for MHS basketball.
The MHSAA more or less leaves each sport to run its own tournament. Which is why even the tournaments look different from sport to sport.
https://www.mhsaa.com/about-the-mhsaa/coaches-associations
The above is the list of the various organizations that oversee the various sports. Bcam.org is site for hoops.
The MHSAA site listed can take you to other info sources. Somewhere on the site you can find the minutes of the MHSAA meetings where such things are discussed – but usually proposals are developed elsewhere. AD’s of various Leagues have also brought proposals.