The 2019-2020 MSHSAA State Basketball Playoffs

We've talked a lot about the MSHSAA Basketball Playoffs on here. I laid out my plan in an article here on the site over a month ago. This is a plan that I've ran by several coaches over the years. Everybody loves it. This plan, in part, is based off of conversations I've had with MSHSAA officials, who acknowledge that the state tournament isn't really designed for the best teams to be at the Final Four.

MSHSAA is right, Missouri is a huge state. It would take 9 hours to drive from one corner to another, making a truly "seeded" playoff system impossible. So I sat down with Coach Matt Baker of Fatima and did this podcast (listen or you can keep reading).

Here is Coach Baker's idea in a nutshell... Some districts have 3-4 really good teams, and some districts don't have any good teams at all. I agree with him. The thinking behind my idea for the state tournament is the same. I just slightly disagree with Coach Baker on how to get there.

His idea is to create a formula that would allow 8 "extra" teams, teams that were knocked out of their district tournament, to enter the playoff system. My idea is to take the 1st and 2nd place teams from each district and have them enter the playoff system.

I just think his idea, no matter how good our intentions are, will reward weak scheduling. It's going to let the wrong team in every now and then. My idea settles it on the court. To knock you out, somebody has to actually beat you. BUT (big but), I do think his idea has a lot of merit. I think it's part of the bigger idea.

Quick side note*** Old school coaches (I consider myself one of these coaches) will say, "Just quit whining and win your district." I agree with that thinking. I love competition. I just think my idea would actually make the state tournament harder and more competitive. Keep reading.

So if we go back and pick a year... 2010-2011, Class 1 Boys Basketball... we can see how this would work.

Scott County Central knocked Risco out of the state tournament several years in a row. They'd always meet in the Sectionals.

In this new pretend tournament, Risco (the D1 winner, now the D1 #1 seed) enters and plays the C2 #2 seed (Oak Ridge). Those two would play in Round 1 of the playoffs. Right after that game, SCC (D2 #1) would play Clarkton (D1 #1). In this scenario Risco and SCC both advance to Round 2 of the playoffs. This same scenario would play out all over the state, with Round 1 (color coded, same locations) advancing two teams to the next round.

In Round 2, Risco now plays Leopold (D3 #1), who knocked out Chadwick (D4 #1), which would be a mild upset. Leopold was good that year. Chadwick (no offense) had a weaker district that year. Here we see D3 with two teams (Leopold and South Iron) making it to Round 2 of the playoffs, which is kind of the point - some districts have stronger teams than others. No matter, in our pretend tournament (and I think in real life it would have happened ) Risco and SCC both win and advance. This happens all around the state and sets up the Elite 8.

Quick Side Note*** At this point is where I think Coach Baker's idea makes a lot of sense. Use some type of RPI, Stength of Schedule, and coaches vote (a seed meeting) to determine your 8 team bracket. This would allow the best teams to possibly face off in the state finals. So if you had a year where Portageville (31-0 entering the Final Four) and Bernie (would have been 29-2 entering the Final Four, their only two losses CLOSE GAMES to Portageville) could have potentially been the #1 and #2 seeds OUT OF THE SAME DISTRICT!

I think Coach Baker's RPI could maybe even be used in Round 2 of the Tournament, where you tried to keep the two best 1 seeds from knocking each other out. More on this in a moment.

But just look at that Elite 8. This is where the "math" of the RPI doesn't add up. An undefeated team gets a 1 based on schedule, where SCC would get a 0.9. If SCC's oppenents didn't win as much, they'd get penalized again. Their two losses were to Dallas Lincoln (TX) and Chicago Simeon (IL), two national powerhouse programs. Can you imagine SCC, with Otto Porter Jr, not being the #1 seed? Really?

So the Elite 8 has to be seeded on the combination of RPI, Strength of Schedule, and a coaches seed meeting. It just has to have a human element for some common sense. I do think the math is important though, because it would eliminate coaches trying to manipulate the bracket to set up match ups that favor their team.

But just look at that Elite 8. You have a handful of really good teams. All of them had a great season. All of them had to win some tough games to get there. Line 'em up and play at 2:00, 3:30, 5:00, and 6:30 on a Thursday. Turn around and do it again on Friday with semifinals at 5:00 and 6:30. Then play the state championship on Saturday at 8:00 pm. Something like that. I would love to sit and watch that entire tournament. It would be awesome.

Now let's take a look at the Class 3 Girls tournament from this year to see what Coach Baker was talking about.

You can look around the state and find over 20 teams with 20 wins. HOWEVER, notice that Whitfield (19-6 entering the district finals) was not one of them. Whitfield was hands down the #2 team in the state. They played a brutal schedule. Bottom line, 20 wins doesn't mean you had a great team.

But for those teams that got to their district final, they know they're in the tournament. Winning that championship is crucial because that gives you the #1 seed in the next round.

Looking around the state, Round 1 had some good games. I do think we'd see some #2's upset some #1's (Monroe City, Trenton). Most of the time, however, the district winners would march on in Round 1.

in Round 2, can you imagine buying a ticket to see Metro vs. Monroe City followed by Lutheran North vs. Clark County. That would be two AWESOME GAMES, followed by two more AWESOME GAMES played by the boys teams at that site. That is the key point I want to make here - by doubling the number of teams in the playoffs, there would be two boys and two girls games at each site. Double the crowd. Double the environment and enthusiasm. Double the gate for MSHSAA. We're all winners here.

** Side Note - This is where I was saying Coach Baker's RPI and some kind of seeding might be good in Round 2. Take a look at the South Calloway, Strafford, Licking, Herman, Mt. Vernon, Clever area of the state.... Let's say Strafford and Herman were the best two teams there, hypothetically. Well you could have Strafford (1) vs. Licking (4) and South Calloway (2) vs. Mt. Vernon (3), hypothetically. This might set up Strafford and South Calloway moving on. It's just a thought, but each little "regional" of Round 2 could be seeded somehow.

But just look at that Elite 8. What a day of basketball. Again, line those teams up and play at 2:00, 3:30, 5:00, and 6:30 on a Thursday. Come back and play the semifinals on a Friday night. Come back and play the state championship on a Saturday.

You could sit and watch all of this play out in one weekend. What an atmosphere for basketball. for the people who want more kids to "have a shot at state," we are doubling the number of kids that get that experience. For the coaches who love the competition (me), this sets up a Round 1 (4 girls teams and 4 boys teams) huge crowd, awesome atmosphere. It sets up a Round 2 with an even bigger crowd and better atmosphere. It sets up an incredible final weekend with 8 schools sitting there watching awesome basketball games.

I think it would be cool. It's just an idea. I love the state tournament the way it is, but if I were put in charge for one day, and I could make a change, this is what I would do. Share this 1,000 times and maybe we can make this the real 2019-2020 playoff bracket.

Thanks for reading. #JWT