[MayfieldCardinal]

Everyone has to remember too that none of the teams were able to schedule for the new RPI System. Schedules were already set when "they" changed the system.

I think you have to wait till the next schedule cycle goes through to really see if this thing works or not.

That could be a significant issue moving forward unless they tweak the RPI. Say you are Pikeville for example, why in the world would any larger school take a chance placing you on the their schedule. If it is a 6A school and you beat Pikeville the reward is minimal but if you get beat by Pikeville it crushes your RPI. Playing anyone out of state is also problematic. The reward for beating a out of state team is minimal. A lot of schools on the states border play out of state teams. Ashland area, Louisville area, N KY area, Evansville area, ect..

[Rebel55]

I personally love the new RPI over the old system. I'm sure it will be tweaked in the future and improve to get better. The RPI is based on what type of season and a reward in the post season. 100% better than the old odd/even years. Even with that and the cross bracketing Boyle had to travel 2 straight years on the road in the playoffs.

How can the RPI not be better than if it's your year to host or travel for a playoff game in the old system? IMO to host a playoff game should be earned and not if it's your time or not.

[mysonis55]

The issue comes in when you are playing tougher teams than others in your class but, you get beat by a tough school while someone else in your class plays marshmallows and gets a win against someone in a higher class that is much weaker than the team you just barely got beat by.

[AtlPirateFan]

Out of state opponents need to be better considered or KHSAA needs to get into helping teams find in-state opponents because as much as I enjoyed Ashland getting their butts handed to them at the CAM they probably shouldn't have even been there.

[mysonis55]

I agree that the out of state needs to be weighted differently. Normally we play 1 out of state each year. They usually are one of the better teams from Tn. However, this system would punish us for this. But why would you not play a good team that is an hour or less or even 2 hours away, just because they are from another state.

[Boomer_Sooner]

I know this is the first year of the RPI, & the kinks need to be worked out. I also understand that they may not all be able to be worked out all at once, but I don't see the KHSAA doing everything that's necessary to make this the best playoff system even if they fix a little bit at a time!!

[Thrillex]

Kentucky has too many school districts, that would solve a lot of problems.

[WILDCAT NATION]

Please see the bracket included in this message for what most are lobbying for. I have heard several arguments from different parties as to what the KHSAA should do to make the later rounds more competitive and seeding the East and West (1-16) is the best way to do this. The regular season does not mean much if you don't do this. Award district championship trophies to regular season district winners, which rewards teams for a successful regular season. The top 4 from each district move on to the playoffs and they are seeded based on their RPI. The first trophy to be awarded in the playoffs should be the regional championship. I used this method in creating the bracket that is included with this message.

I picked 2A for my example because Class 2A had the most lopsided scores top to bottom of any class. In using this bracket, Kentucky's Class 2A Regional Championships, based on highest seeds moving forward would have been:

Lexington Christian v. Caldwell County (3 hours 11 min)
Somerset v. Mayfield (4 hr 4 min)
Breathitt County v. Lloyd Memorial (2 hours 15 min)
Beechwood v. Shelby Valley (3 hours 30 min)

The furthest distance traveled for Round 1 would have been Clinton County traveling to Murray (3 hours 50 min). The shortest distance traveled for Round 1 would have been Lloyd Memorial v. Cov. Holy Cross (13 min).

The state semi-finals would be re-seeded as is.

1 glaring issue I see with the RPI bracket is that (believe me I’m not a fan of either school in the example) you have Shelby Valley moving on b/c of the RPI after getting spanked TWICE by West Carter in real life. The RPI will never give some teams or regions a good number and it will penalize those teams even when they won head to head in this scenario.

[ColonelFan23]

1 glaring issue I see with the RPI bracket is that (believe me I’m not a fan of either school in the example) you have Shelby Valley moving on b/c of the RPI after getting spanked TWICE by West Carter in real life. The RPI will never give some teams or regions a good number and it will penalize those teams even when they won head to head in this scenario.

I noticed the same as I was putting this together. I just moved the highest RPI seed forward to the regional final for numbers sake. West Carter would have received the district championship trophy in my model for winning the regular season district title.

On another note, one huge argument people are making for keeping it intra-district in the first two rounds is that other sports do it. While sports like basketball have post-season district tournaments, the winner and runner-up both move on to the region tournament. In the region tournament, the two teams from the same district are placed on opposite sides of the region bracket with the only chance of them meeting being the championship. So playing sister districts in the first two rounds, if the RPI model is not used, is more similar to how other sports do it. People have failed to recognize this flaw in their argument. I have yet to see someone counter the other sports do it argument with this, which is the reality.

[WILDCAT NATION]

I noticed the same as I was putting this together. I just moved the highest RPI seed forward to the regional final for numbers sake. West Carter would have received the district championship trophy in my model for winning the regular season district title.

On another note, one huge argument people are making for keeping it intra-district in the first two rounds is that other sports do it. While sports like basketball have post-season district tournaments, the winner and runner-up both move on to the region tournament. In the region tournament, the two teams from the same district are placed on opposite sides of the region bracket with the only chance of them meeting being the championship. So playing sister districts in the first two rounds, if the RPI model is not used, is more similar to how other sports do it. People have failed to recognize this flaw in their argument. I have yet to see someone counter the other sports do it argument with this, which is the reality.

I like the sister district option as well as long as it stays east and west not the stupid cross bracketing crap we had for a couple of years. 2A D5 plays D6 and D7 plays D8. If you want to use RPI then use it for home field in the regional and semis. This would even be better with 5 classes as you would add more teams closer in geography than you do now.

[TheBear]

I am not a huge fan of the first two rounds being district play again. However looking at the final four of each class and how the brackets played out...I must say it appears to have played out well...
1A: 1,2,3,4
2A: 2,3,5,7
3A: 1,5,7,14
4A: 1,2,7,12
5A: 1,2,3,13
6A: 1,2,4,10
However, I would prefer to have East vs West with RPI determine seeding and home field till the Finals. I would be interested to see how RPI changes if continued through the playoffs.