Fixing the State Basketball Tournament

I wrote an article about the new idea for this "Championship Factor" yesterday. It almost broke the internet. Not really. But a lot of people did read it. Most people's reaction was somewhere between "this might be the worst idea I've ever heard" and "I want to fight whoever thought of this nonsense."

Nobody liked it, which means it will probably be in place by 2020.

The biggest complaint several coaches, administrators, and MSHSAA members have is the idea that "MSHSAA is run by it's member schools." That's what they like to say. That's true on the surface, but not really. I'll explain.

There are basically three ways a rule can change with MSHSAA:

1. It comes from some place inside of MSHSAA... a committee, a MSHSAA employee, who knows... and gets placed on the annual ballot.

2. The MSHSAA Board just creates a new policy. Member schools don't have any input. There are actually a couple of these board policies that contradict actual by-laws.

3. A member school can add an item by petitioning the rest of the membership. If it gets enough signatures, then it's placed on the annual ballot.

Sounds simple enough, right? Not so fast. Getting an item on by petition is like trying to get all the Democrats and Republicans to vote the same way. It almost never happens. The reason? It takes 10% of member schools (the principal or superintendent) signing the petition. That sounds simple, but it's way more complicated than that.

You have to get AT LEAST 10% of the signatures from EVERY region of the state. So St. Louis has to get 10% to sign, and SEMO has to get 10% to sign, and KC has to get 10% to sign, and SWMO has to get 10% to sign, etc... you get the point.

This almost never, ever happens. Most recently there was a petition put forward to split public schools into their own 4 classes, and private/charter schools into their own 2 classes. I've seen the results of this petition. It got enough signatures in several parts of the state - well more than it needed. It didn't get any consideration at all in Kansas City or St. Louis (where all of the charter schools and most of the private schools are located), so it was thrown out. It won't even be on the ballot.

Here's the point: It's really, really, really hard for any rule change to happen unless that rule change comes from inside of MSHSAA headquarters. So I'm going to talk about changes I'd like to see in our state basketball tournament, but these changes will probably never happen!

---

Step 1 - Forget about splitting public, private, and charter schools.

There is actually a law being proposed right now that would make splitting this illegal (public schools wouldn't be allowed to join MSHSAA if it passes). With all of the political drama surrounding the Governor, the Commissioner of Education, the State Board of Education, and public/private/charter schools in general, splitting public/private/charter is NOT going to happen anytime soon. It will happen one day, just not anytime soon.

Step 2 - Forget about going from 5 to 6 classes. Let's go back to 4 classes.

Keep reading! I know there are a lot of coaches and parents out there that want to see us give a trophy to everybody, have 128 classes, etc. Just keep reading...

The state tournament is watered down. Instead of reducing competition (like the ridiculous Championship Factor), we need to increase competition. This will make basketball better in our state. It will make teams better. Period. That's my opinion, and I think I'm right.

Look at the history of every state tournament in America, most notably Indiana, where they had one class basketball for a long time. Basketball was better, their state tournament was legendary (Hoosiers) and the competition was better compared to when they expanded classes and watered down basketball in that state.

Step 3 - Bring 8 teams to the last weekend instead of only 4.

We have 5 classes now, and the Final 4 in each class (20 total boys teams, 20 total girls teams) go to the last weekend. By going back to 4 classes, and bringing 8 teams instead of 4, we would be bringing 32 boys teams and 32 girls teams to the final weekend. That's giving 24 more teams, 24 more communities, and 24 more groups of kids and parents and fans to the state tournament.

Step 4 - The final weekend is an 8 team bracket, single elimination, which means we no longer play for 3rd place.

I was blessed to coach 2 teams that won a state championship. I also coached a really young group that made a miracle run to state, only to lose our semifinal game to the #1 team in the state and then lose the 3rd place game in double overtime. It was a terrible end to a fantastic season.

Every other round of the post season is "lose and you're out." I don't like the 3rd place game. It means one team - who had a phenomenal season - is going to lose their last 2 games. I don't like it. That's my own personal opinion.

But we can't have an 8 team bracket (takes 3 days to play) and a 3rd place game. It doesn't work. So to bring 8 teams, the 3rd place game has to go.

Step 5 - The coaches of those 8 teams would seed the bracket at the state tournament.

I think this is really interesting. I think you have to seed the bracket. This sets up two possibilities.

One, what if the #5 upsets the #4 (a mild upset) in Round 1 and then upsets the #1 (a huge upset) in Round 2. Can you imagine the arena if that happened? That would be so awesome to watch, so much excitement for the fans, and would truly be March Madness.

Two, what if there are no upsets, and we really, truly get the #1 and #2 teams in the state finals? How awesome would that be, especially considering it would be "Championship Saturday" with a packed house (keep reading, you'll see what I mean).

Step 6 - Take the 1st and 2nd place team from every district to the next round of the playoffs

This is what they do in Arkansas. When I proposed this idea to a MSHSAA official, he made a great point about the "one and done" format of the tournament. What if you upset a great team (like Scott County Central back in the day) in the district finals? That is a once in a lifetime win. Would you want to have to beat them again to win state?

I get his point. Having said that, I think doing this the way they do in Arkansas makes a lot of sense. One, it's really, really going to make coaches seed their own district right, or at least put pressure on them to. Because making the district finals will at least guarantee you make it to the next round of the state playoffs.

So how would this play out? You play the championship game, and the winner gets the trophy. They also get the "1" in the next round, while the loser gets the "2." The "1" from District 1 would play the "2" from District "2," and the "2" from District "1" would play the "1" from District "2."

If you had two GREAT teams from the same district, they might both keep advancing!

The girls would play their 2 games (1 vs 2, and 2 vs 1), and then the boys would play their two games (1 vs 2, and 2 vs 1). This would mean FOUR GAMES at the Sectional Round instead of TWO GAMES, meaning double the gate and double the attendance (hello... MSHSAA, this would increase revenue, and maybe you could actually start paying some schools' expenses at the state tournament?).

The 2 winners wouldn't play each other. They just advance to the next round, the quarterfinals. Each team would advance as a "1" or "2" and we would do the same thing at the quarterfinals (double attendance, double gate, bigger crowds, better atmosphere, etc).

What if all the "1's" advance? Well then you could have it set where District 1 plays District 4, something like that. We already do that. But the point is, you'd at least have a chance to have a situation like 1993 Portageville Bulldogs (33-0) and Bernie Mules (28-2, both losses were nail biters to Portageville).

So hypothetically, say Portageville beat Bernie in the district finals. They're the 1 moving forward, Bernie is the 2. They both win at Sectionals and advance. They both win at Quarterfinals and advance. The coaches seed the 8 team bracket. Portageville gets the overall 1 seed, and Bernie gets the seeded 3rd. They're on opposite sides of the bracket. They both advance to the state finals, and we get Portageville vs. Bernie, Part 3, as the state championship game.

This completely solves the "Competitive Equity" issue that MSHSAA is proposing with the ridiculous "Championship Factor." If you were a team getting beat by SCC over and over back in the day, you'd at least have a chance to make it to state. If you are a girls team in southwest Missouri right now that can't get past Walnut Grove or Strafford or Crane or some other dominant girls program, this would give you a chance to go to state. If you're getting beat by some private school or charter school, here's your shot.

Step 7 - Bring everybody to the final weekend, all classes, boys and girls.

Can we do this in one arena, like Mizzou Arena? Probably not. But if we do this in Springfield or in Columbia, there are enough colleges and big high schools to pull off the first day. We already play the quarterfinal at some neutral location anyway, right? Just bring all the girls and boys teams together and let's play it all in one weekend.

Here is how it would play out. Let's pretend this is in Springfield. Here is how Day 1 plays out...

Class 1 girls and boys, games at 10:00, 11:30, 1:00 pm, 2:30, 4:00, 5:30, 7:00, 8:30 at Kickapoo High School. Class 2 girls and boys, same setup at Glendale. Class 3 girls and boys, same setup at Drury. Class 4 boys and girls, same setup at Missouri State. Every other year you could switch up the gyms or something like that. But there are plenty of schools out there that could host this.

On Day 2, now we have Class 1 and 2 boys and girls (only the Final 4 left in each group), same setup as before, playing at Missouri State. Class 3 and 4 playing at Drury or somewhere else.

On Day 3, "CHAMPIONSHIP SATURDAY," same setup, games at Missouri State. Who plays first and all those details could change every year. But for the sake of argument, it might look something like this.

Class 1 Girls Finals, 10:00 am

Class 1 Boys Finals, 11:30 am

Class 2 Girls Finals, 1 pm

Class 2 Boys Finals, 2:30 pm

Class 3 Girls Finals, 4 pm

Class 3 Boys Finals, 5:30 pm

Class 4 Girls Finals, 7:00 pm

Class 4 Boys Finals, 8:30 pm

Now I know, I know.... even reading that, just imagine if I'm a Class 1 Girls team that played at 10 am and won, then played at Noon the next day and won, and then at 10 am for the championship. That's a quick turnaround. That's a lot of basketball in 72 hours. I'm just saying, we used to play the semifinals and finals on back-to-back days. This can be done. Somebody always plays early anyway. This can be done.

Imagine 2011. Instead of BJ Yound and Brad Beal knocking each other out in the quarterfinals, they might have both been there on Championship Saturday. We could have watched that matchup, and then watched Otto Porter Jr and the SCC Braves, and then the undefeated Sikeston Bulldogs, and then Incarnate Word's girls, and then Marion County's undefeated girls, and then Stockton's girls dynasty, and Hogan Prep and Charleston....

I'd buy a ticket for that. I think a lot of people would. I think it would be a packed house. Some fans might go home after their team lost. Some might stay all weekend. It would be an incredible boost to the local economy and an incredible environment for 32 boys teams and 32 girls teams, compared to only 20 boys teams and 20 girls teams right now.

More kids get the experience, and the experience is better.

Step 8 - *Optional* Have the girls season start a week sooner

If that final weekend is too crowded, we could try what they do in Illinois. They start the girls season - 1st official practice, 1st game, the start of districts, etc - a week sooner than the boys. So the girls have their own championship weekend, with all the attention on them, and then the boys have their own weekend, with all the attention on them.

I'm torn on this idea. It could be great. It could also be really tough on fans with a really good girls and boys team, like Oran and Walnut Grove and some schools have right now. I grew up at Scott County Central, and our boys and girls both went to state several times. I wouldn't want to pick which game I was going to.

---

In conclusion, like I said earlier, it's nearly impossible for a rule change to come outside of MSHSAA headquarters. So this will probably never happen. Either way, it's a heckuva lot better idea than the "Championship Factor." Thanks for reading.

#JWT

#Basketball #coachingbasketball #ottoporter #bradbeal #scottcountycentral #charleston #walnutgrove #strafford #mshsaa