Analyzing the impact of new playoff system
Those of us embedded in the high school sports scene in Louisiana are probably going to shudder at the sheer mention of select/non-select: the much debated playoff system used in football only for several years. In January, the LHSAA voted…
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Continue ReadingThose of us embedded in the high school sports scene in Louisiana are probably going to shudder at the sheer mention of select/non-select: the much debated playoff system used in football only for several years. In January, the LHSAA voted to expand it to boys and girls basketball, baseball and softball; in other words, the select/non-select split is our problem now.
Obviously, changing the makeup of each bracket – splitting the teams up so much that we go from seven brackets to 13 – is going to drastically change the race for state championships. That being the case, I’m going to take a look at those races here.
For those that are not aware of the story/brief history behind the select/non-select split, I’ll leave an explanation in italics here. Those of you that know all about it can skip the italicized portion and get to the good stuff.
(So, in a former life, the state of Louisiana’s football-playing schools were simply divided into five classes – 1A through 5A, 1A being the smallest and 5A being the largest – plus a Class B and a Class C, Class B for the bigger non-football playing schools and Class C for the smaller. Schools that were insanely good at sports had the option to play in the 5A classification regardless of size, but otherwise, it was very simple and reasonable.
Then, some public schools got tired of losing to private schools in the playoffs, primarily because those schools have the inherent advantage of recruiting players from outside their attendance zones. This is not uncommon everywhere in the U.S.: other states, Alabama being one that I know of for a fact, have ways of allowing these schools to compete against one another while accounting for that advantage private schools have. It is, by definition, a compromise, and they can work with one another happily for it.
Alas, that did not happen here in Louisiana. The powers-that-be at the time (at least, a majority of them) simply could not bring themselves to work with one another and voted to separate themselves entirely, essentially splitting the state’s high school football programs between two monikers: select and non-select. Select, in this case, basically means the ability to select your enrollment: fi more than 25 percent of your athletes come from outside of your attendance zone – as is commonly case for the entire population of most private schools – you’re classified as a select school. By this definition, all traditional public schools are non-select. Select schools can only compete for state championships amongst one another, and the same for non-select.
This system was in place for high school football in the state for a few years: it was constantly debated, often bashed by LHSAA outsiders, but remained in tact. That, friends, is the short history of the select/non-select split before it was voted to expand to our beloved basketball last January.)
5A
This class is largely unaffected by the move with the exception of Scotlandville, which is now a select school and thus in the Division I bracket. There were a few other schools in this bracket last year that won’t be in it this year – Catholic (Baton Rouge), St. Paul’s and John Curtis being a few examples – but in terms of the race for the state championship, Scotlandville is the only key player there that is no longer present.
What this does is open the door wide open for teams like Natchitoches Central, Landry-Walker and even some of the longer shots like Ruston, East Ascension, West Jefferson and Ouachita to make a run at a state title without Scotlandville in the way. (It also makes Scotlandville a massive favorite for the Division I title: giving Javonte Smart a smaller pool of contenders to work against just sounds too deadly to believe.)
4A
Don’t let the fact that last year’s state title game – Bossier over Washington-Marion – did not include a select school fool you: the other two semifinalists, St. Thomas More and Karr, were select schools that aren’t in the bracket anymore. McDonogh 35, another select school, made the quarterfinals last year.
That opens the door for several teams to basically push their preseason projections forward by a round: Plaquemine for example, suddenly looks like a lock for the quarterfinalist and as good a candidate as any for a semifinals appearance.
What this also means: the semifinals and state title game in Division II is going to be incredible. If the classification numbers/playoff results fall right, we could have Karr, St. Thomas More and McDonogh 35 (plus one more) all duking it out against one another in the final two games of the season. Sign me up.
3A
That living, breathing buzzsaw in Baton Rouge – University Lab – is out of the way for the non-select schools sticking around in the 3A bracket. Not only that, but the departure of other select schools like St. Louis Catholic, De La Salle and Parkview Baptist should supply the Division III bracket with some pretty good championship contenders.
As for the 3A schools on the non-select side, that makes the road all that much easier for schools like Peabody, Wossman, Carroll and Patterson: after all, it was a select school (St. Louis Catholic) that kept Carroll out of the Top 28 last year.
All of that to say, this might be the one classification bracket where the split isn’t all that bad in terms of basketball: we’re just getting even more outstanding hoops in the Top 28, since so many of these Top 28-worthy teams were kept out with just four spots in Lake Charles.
2A
This is probably where the most drastic change is going to occur: I think most of the public schools were rooting for Madison Prep to get out of the non-select group, which did not happen, but there’s still a significant amount of schools heading for the Division III bracket: Riverside, Metairie Park Country Day, Episcopal and Hannan, just to name a few. Schools like Rayville and North Caddo have to be foaming at the mouth at the possibilities here; a state championship is closer to their grasp than ever before for them.
The flip side of that: good luck winning a state championship in Division III. There may not be much depth, but once you get into the semifinals, that field is going to be deadly.
1A
In these early stages, it looks like contenders in both brackets (1A for non-select schools, Division IV for select schools) benefit equally here. Select schools like Lafayette Christian, Southern Lab, Lincoln Prep, and Hamilton Christian don’t have to deal with troublesome non-select schools like Arcadia, Sicily Island, Delhi and Varnado, and vice versa.
Class B/C
While championships won overall may offer a slightly different narrative, there is a lot of Class B and Class C dominance in your classic small town, public high schools. There are obvious outliers – New Living Word and Grace Christian being two solid basketball programs – but for the most part, the Class B and Class C playoff races will look pretty similar.
I’m fascinated by what’s going to happen in the new select championship created for these schools. We rarely get to see some of these great programs that have been consistent championship contenders in Class B and Class C come together, but they’re likely going to have to meet now in these Division V playoffs. My best guess for now: the path to the top 28 may have gotten easier for schools like New Living Word, but it’s possible the resistance once getting there is just as tough, if not tougher than before.