[Bigblue78]

Believe me when I say that we have fielded your questions several times over the past 2 weeks, Redhoundnation.

First of all, like I said in an earlier post, there are still Regions (the state is divided into 8 in middle school) that do not have that much participation. We are working to change that. This is only the second year our association has existed. Last year, the complaint was that there weren't enough slots (8 8th grade teams made it and 8 7th grade teams made it). This year, we created 2 divisions for 8th grade so that enrollment would allow for some determination on who folks played. We basically TRIPLED the size of the tournament.

As for why some sides of the bracket have more games, the main reason is travel considerations. Playing on Saturday it isn't that big of a deal, but after the first round, the travel distances will most likely get farther away for these teams. Playing during the week (since we can't play on Friday nights) makes it necessary to consider geography more than high school playoffs do. Again, you have to understand that while we do have some similarities in some of our rules, we are not the KHSAA. We can't run this the same way as high school playoffs are run. We don't have enough teams (yet). Also, teams who had played one another in the regular season were supposed to be separated in the first round, if possible.

Am I the only one who finds this a contradiction?
On one hand the Association claims to be worried about "travel considerations" and they claim to be
trying to group the games geographically.

Then on the other hand they admit that
teams which played each other in the regular season are supposed to be seperated in the first round.
Why do we have to seperate teams which already played in the reg season?
Common sense would tell you these ARE teams which are close georgraphically, so if your main goal is reducing travel times,
then why complicate this with not allowing regular season opponents to play in the first round?

This contradiction is indicative of the larger problem with this whole system. There is very little planning or forethought involved. And there is no effort to inform people as to what the criteria is for the decisions which were made.

That is why we have the uneven brackets
with 4 on one side, 9 on the other.
That is why we have some teams getting two byes.
And that is why we have some teams being forced to play on 2 days rest when their opponent has been off for three weeks.

This whole process appears to be arbitrary and mysterious,
at least to someone looking in from the outside.
I have asked three times now for someone to explain how the bye games were awarded, and so far no one has replied.
Once again, how is it that Graves gets 2 byes and Bowling Green gets only one, when BG stomped Graves in the reg season?

I know this whole system is new and the powers that be are probably learning as thet go. And I am sure that they are making an effort to run this playoff as they believe is correct.
But unless they are more transparent as to how certain teams are awarded byes, home field advantage, and bizarre bracket placements,
then people are not going to continue to believe that this system is fair and unbiased, and teams will not want to continue to participate.