By CHRIS HOBBS
HobbsDailyReport.com
CHAPEL HILL – Here’s a look at the changes regarding high school playoffs that will begin with the postseason berths next school year, as approved by a vote of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) board of directors on Wednesday.
New conferences in statewide realignment, covering four years, begin in August. In the latest realignment, the NCHSAA revised the percentage of schools in each classification – 20 percent are in 1A and 4A and 2A and 3A have 30 percent each.
Because there are now fewer schools in 1A and 4A, the board decided to trim those brackets from 64 qualifiers to 48, and these measures cover football, basketball, baseball, soccer, softball and volleyball.
The board voted to return to using brackets with pre-determined matchups in other sports.
Postseason tournament brackets in 2A and 3A will continue to field 64 teams.
The subdivided football playoffs – two champions in each of four classifications (1A, 1AA, 2A, 2AA, 3A, 3AA, 4A and 4AA – will continue.
A major unknown, to a degree, will be the impact – if any – of moving to the use of MaxPreps rankings in the seeding process.
The NCHSAA phased in requiring a school/coaches to have their correct records and game results listed in MaxPreps in order to be eligible for reaching postseason play, and that gave NCHSAA staff the ability to review more detailed specifics when breaking ties.
The board has now approved using state rankings in the equation rather than using conference record/finish of teams (as listed on MaxPreps) to break ties for slots by winning percentages. The state ranking will now be used rather than overall winning percentage.
A report by HighSchool OT, an online leader in statewide high school coverage, says MaxPreps doesn’t release information on how it develops computerized rankings. Those rankings, the story said, do include factors like strength of schedule.
The board approved MaxPreps-related rankings becoming part of the information NCHSAA staff uses when developing seeds for playoff brackets, the first such move into that realm by the NCHSAA when it comes to filling its postseason brackets. Traditionally, the NCHSAA has stuck to raw numbers, like records/winning percentage, and not used anything like a ranking as a factor.
For instance, the NCHSAA has never taken into consideration a state Associated Press football poll — or any media or online poll — when developing its state playoff brackets.
The HighSchoolOT story cited an example of a team with a losing record advancing to the state playoffs over a team with a winning record because, in part, of strength of schedule.
See the attached documents to review how the NCHSAA will address the playoffs, how teams qualify, etc., beginning with the 2017-18 school year.
EPSON MFP image
EPSON MFP image