2008 Brackets are filled in now!!

Thats right cheeze. Winning percentage for Wild Cards. I assumed folks know that each conference has a pre-determined number of teams who qualify by where they place in their conference. Posters shouldn't pick on a team they should question the NCHSAA if they have a problem. Everybody knows the way it works when the first pitch is thrown so nothing but sour grapes complaining after the fact.

 

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You just made my case

Spelling out all the expenses U just made my case as first round games for the most part are blow outs especially when U have a 1 seed playing an 8 place finisher in a conference. If you had only 1 and 2 seeds, they could easily play the conferences closest to them in first round. Hey it would help U in some cases as CC, Butler, N. Meck. Hopewell, Providence, etc would all play each other pretty quick. Of course N Davidson, West Forsyth would be in mix as well. More people would attend and you would have much larger gate receipts! Why I agree there are some good fourth place finishers, U have to draw the line some where and take out politics by allowing performance to be the decider of who makes the playoffs. How about pitchers? Some HS teams only have one, others have three. More games can actually hurt quality teams with one pitcher.

In ASA Nationals, U must qualify by being top one or two teams in qualifiying tournaments, same here, top two teams in each conference make automatic, and tournament winner if different from the regular season qualifies! How much more fair could it be.

Last thought, how many third and fourth place teams have made the final four in Raleigh over the years? Just curious, could be large number but usually the best regular season performers will rise to top in playoffs as well unless injuries or just a hot pitcher changes a teams approach.

 

We used to have a 32 team playoff. Every year teams worthy of playoffs were randomly left out because they happened to be in a strong conference with not enough allotted playoff spots. NCHSAA fixed that problem by adding one more round which is our current 64 team playoff.

People complained about the old system and now they complain about the current system! Who cares if a few weak teams end up in the playoffs. After the first round of games are played those who don't deserve to be there will be eliminated anyway.

 

Too tempted not to jump in this...

The last two years Providence has faced Butler (same conference) in the second round while a lot of teams out there moved on and Providence and Freedom were arguably more talented then some of those squads. Providence met Freedom, whom was very good last year, in the first round and now Providence will meet N. Meck (another good team) in the first round this year. So those blowouts you guys talk about, it is not across the board, especially for the 2 & 3 seeds and so on. Off the bat you have a team that will be knocked out or was knocked that that should have advanced to the second round beyond many of the others that got a pass. The system will always be flawed and someone will always be unhappy, but speeding up the process of making a CC & Butler face off the bat is not the answer. Men's College B-Ball gets at least one Cinderella a year and while I am not a fan of some of these under .500 teams in HS Softball making it, it still lends a chance for the bubble teams to get hot and ride that fire. Maybe a team had a key injury or two mid season and those kids are just getting back? There are all kinds of things that can happen to a team, but the bottom line when it comes to sports is that it should NEVER be about the money. It should be about putting the best system in place to get a TRUE Champion. Division I college sports is the only one that truly goes about doing this by crossing regions, rewarding conference winners accordingly, implementing regionals & now super regionals for baseball and softball. I understand we cannot have a system in place like this for each state at the HS level, so dividing east - west and seeding the way they do gives a better chance of at least having the best out of the west represent & the best out of the east in double elimination. If east v. west could take place out of the gate, that would be better, but I do not see that happening anytime soon. Eliminating some of the WC numbers might help, but obviously by letting a four seed in then more WC's have to be added to make the numbers work. If the 1-3 seeds were automatic for each Conference, then winning %age and strength of schedule could be used to determine the remaining WC teams on a lessor scale. I have a feeling you would be seeing the WC teams come from just a few conferences then. Thad hit the nail on the head when pointing out the some of the stronger conferences arguing why the numbers should be kept. The SW4A & Meca alone have four teams that could contend as the Conference Champion in many many other conferences out there and we all kick the you know what out of one another just to hang in there (I'd rather be in a conference like that though....keeps our players from sitting on their heels as well as forcing them to become better). Now you have an Ardrey Kell, 4 seed who is probably better than many 2-3 seeds out there, playing ND in round one...that is tough, but it just fell that way this year. We have eaten crow for two years facing Butler in the second round (and we had to work hard to get to the 2nd round) and it is what it is, no sense in crying about it.

I just hope tomorrow we can find a way to get past a tough N. Meck squad which is the three seed out of Meca. If any of you want to see a good game, come by PHS at 6pm and watch N. Meck visit the Panthers in round one...I am pretty sure it will not be a blowout on either side, both teams have too many quality players & quality coaches to allow that to happen.

 

Truly spoken from an elitist viewpoint. Why would you deny a HS softball player the opportunity to live out a dream of possibly winning that one big game against an elite team. Here's what happened in the first round last year:

#4 E Rowan beat the #3 seed
#4 J Robinson beat a #2 seed
WC S Rowan beat a #1 seed
#4 Watauga beat a #2 seed
#3 Providence Beat a #2 seed

#3 N Meck made it to District Round

Then there is your line about pitching.
"How about pitchers? Some HS teams only have one, others have three. More games can actually hurt quality teams with one pitcher."
Certainly you cannot be serious. Perhaps it is the better team that has developed more than one pitcher and the journey through the playoffs truly provides us with the best team not the best pitcher.

HS sports is about all of the HS softball players not just the elite. It amazes me that anyone would want to take away the opportunity for the underdog to be victorious and create a memory for a group of girls. Save the elite approach for travel ball.

 

Only one pitcher???? What?!!!!!

.....If I was a coach in HS, and had 10 pitchers, I'd put the ball in my Aces hand in every playoff game unless she was hurt. OHHH and I remember somewhere on TBR something like...."the pitchers work harder than anyone else on the team". OK, so now its OK to be tired. I know one kid who pitched every cotten picking game she could, back to back to back, and never gave up or complained. Nor did her coaches, hell, its hard to bitch when your Ace is mowing 'em down in her 4th game of the 95 degree summer day! Red Bird, I mean Fishman!

 

It doesn't add up

While I agree that some # 4's,#5,#6, #7,etc. desrve to make the playoffs but there are several that don't. Each team that has made the field feel they deserve to be in the mix and there will always be some that are left out that do also. Point is the line has to drawn somewhere. Of the teams you mentioned how many made it to "the Creek"? Not to knock any of these teams because I have seen a couple of them play this year and they are very good programs. But is this tourny about making every player feel good about themselves or find out who is NC's best at every division?
Next your point about developing a pitcher through a program at the HS level. So you saying at the HS should "develope" multiple pitchers if they want to stay in the playoffs. Certainly You can't be serious. I don't know of anyone that came to HS and decided then to pitch and could carry thier team through to the playoffs. You should know that this process starts well before one gets to HS. So you think that the top schools decide they need another pitcher and within the 4 years "develope" one out of the blue. Most "ride the same horse" all the way to the Championship.
I too cheer for the underdog, and hope there are several upsets. But to try and open the playoffs to every one that needs to feel better about themselves I don't agree. Good luck and safe play for all.

 

how about this info

32 teams, 64 teams, the system is flawed. But let me throw this idea out there; should college go back to the top three or four out of each region playing in the post season? When I played in college is was the top three in each region go to the regional championships & we had over 30 programs competing for three spots. Even when coaching in Div II, we had it jump to four, then six teams & now you have eight teams that can move onto the NCAA Regional Tournament competing and guess what...this past weekend #5 seed Francis Marion won the South Atlantic Regional to earn a spot among the final eight in Texas this week at the Division II National Tournament! Our senior CF from last season plays for FMU and she never dreamed her freshman year she'd be playing in a National Tournament. Some of us NEVER get there and she did because a five seed defeated a #4 seed, then defeated the #1 seed...oh but they then FMU lost to the #6 seed so they had to come back and beat the #7 seed and then the #6 seed twice to win it all. Confused? Good cause all that matters is they won it and seeding was thrown out the window. I know we are talking about a higher level of play here, but even in college a Cinderella (or FMU's case was more like an experienced princess at the ball) can win a tournament and get to the post season where they otherwise would not. FMU can likely rival a Providence, Ardrey Kell, Weddington and so on in the HS post season.

Now I am not defending some of the teams that are in the HS playoffs by default or their placement in a poor conference, but I am defending the AK's, Weddington's, North Meck's & heck, even us at some point, etc. We are all good and we are all between a 2-4 seed and all of these teams are better than most all of the three and four seeds. I know we cannot include everyone, but wouldn't you rather see a true champion by seeing all the best teams compete? The ones not up to snow will be eliminated anyway and that will be that. Teams should be rewarded on their accomplishments and there still may be a better way to do the seeding at some point, but for now it is better than two years ago and that is progress. Trust me, the teams that made it in and should really not be there already know it, none of us need to remind them. Dawgswood was simply defending those same higher caliber teams, I do not think he was attempting to make an argument to teams playing less than 10 games on the year with a losing record, that is the flaw and those flaws will remain because those conferences are not competitive in softball right now whether we have 32 or 64 teams; somewhere a team like that will always get in because of the rules. You will hurt the better programs more than help the process by ridding the numbers.

Our take on pitching always is this: you better have more then one that can win you a game because when injury comes calling, it does not care or show preferential treatment to anyone. If your pitcher is struck, then you jeopardize eight other kids on the clay and the other role players in your dugout and that is not fair to them. I know because I speak from much experience in this position past and present season. Fortunately for us our horse is back to full strength and 100% ready after needed rest and rehab. We too will ride the best for our game plan and program, but sometimes the best need a break from time to time.