For example, AHSTW and Valley, WDM are both 7-0. AHSTW plays in Class A, the smallest 11-man class, while Valley plays in 4A, the largest. A 14-13 win over AHSTW counts the same as a 63-0 win over Valley. That might be an extreme example, but it is what it is. The old postseason format emphasized point differential (in that case, the magic number was 17).
It is also worth noting, that any team that ties for a district title also receives an automatic playoff berth, unless the total amount of district champions exceeds 16. For example, in Class A, there are 10-districts. If seven of those districts have more than one champion, tiebreakers will be applied to determine the qualifiers.
At this moment, I count 21 out of the 52-possible districts that currently have co-champions, however, all but one of them are ties between teams that are unbeaten in their district and have yet to play each other. This means that there are at least 20-instances where a trip to the postseason will be decided in the next two weeks. I'm certain there will be a handful of districts that have co-champions (there were five last year), but that number will certainly not be-20. Which means some of these teams that are currently projected to be in the playoffs would not get in due to their RPI not being high enough and some teams that are on the outside looking in would qualify.
It's not perfect, but it is what it is.
Anyway, here are the 96-teams that would have an opportunity to win a state title if the postseason started this weekend.
In the event of co-champions, ties are broken by head-to-head competition, if the two teams have not met yet, then ties are broken by RPI ranking.
CLASS 4A
District Champions (11)
1. Dowling Catholic
2. Ankeny Centennial
3. Cedar Falls & Cedar Rapids Prairie (Cedar Falls has tie-breaker via RPI)
4. Iowa City West
5. Bettendorf & Davenport Central (Bettendorf has tiebreaker via RPI)
6. Johnston & Waukee (Johnston has tiebreaker via RPI)
7. WDM Valley & Ames (Valley has tiebreaker via RPI)
Teams that qualify via RPI Ranking (5) (Ranking in parentheses)
1. Indianola (8)
2. Fort Dodge (10)
3. Davenport North (13)
4. Pleasant Valley (15)
5. Muscatine (16)
Top 5 Teams by RPI rankings that miss playoffs
1. Urbandale (17)
2. Cedar Rapids Kennedy (18)
3. Sioux City East (19)
4. Ankeny (20)
5. Marshalltown (21)
Since there are seven districts, one non-district champion will get to host a first-round game. That is determined by RPI Ranking, as things stand right now, Cedar Rapids Prairie has that privilege.
CLASS 3A
District Champions (12)
1. Sergeant Bluff-Luton
2. Carroll
3. Independence & Decorah (Decorah has tiebreaker via RPI)
4. Cedar Rapids Xavier & Marion (CR Xavier has tiebreaker via RPI)
5. North Scott & Clear Creek (Clear Creek has tiebreaker via RPI)
6. Solon
7. Oskaloosa
8. Norwalk
9. Lewis Central
Teams that qualify via RPI Rankings (4)
1. Bishop Heelan (7)
2. Waverly-Shell Rock (9)
3. Harlan (11)
4. Spencer (12)
Top 5 teams by RPI rankings that miss playoffs
1. Pella (13)
2. Epworth, Western Dubuque (15)
3. Storm Lake (16)
4. Denison-Schleswig (17)
5. Glenwood (18)
CLASS 2A
District Champions (12)
1. Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley
2. Algona & Southeast Valley (Algona has tiebreaker via RPI)
3. Crestwood-Cresco
4. Waukon
5. West Liberty
6. Williamsburg & Albia (Williamsburg has tiebreaker via RPI)
7. Union & West Marshall (West Marshall has tiebreaker via RPI)
8. PCM, Monroe
9. Kuemper Catholic
Teams that qualify via RPI Rankings (4)
1. Chariton (4)
2. Benton (6)
3. Spirit Lake (8)
4. OABCIG (9)
Top 5 teams by RPI rankings that miss playoffs.
1. Greene County (12)
2. Des Moines Christian (14)
3. Tipton (15)
4. Columbus Catholic (16)
5. Clear Lake & Red Oak (17)
Since there are nine districts, the district champion with the lowest RPI-ranking will travel in the first round, at the moment, Williamsburg, who has an RPI ranking of 23rd, would be the district champion forced to do so.
CLASS 1A
District Champions (13)
1. West Sioux
2. South Central Calhoun
3. Osage
4. Bellevue & Cascade (Bellevue has tiebreaker via RPI)
5. Wilton
6. Dike-New Hartford & Iowa City, Regina (Dike-New Hartford has tiebreaker via RPI)
7. Pella Christian & Interstate-35 (I-35 has tiebreaker via RPI)
8. Van Meter & Mount Ayr (Van Meter has tiebreaker via RPI)
9. Treynor
Teams that qualify via RPI Rankings (3)
1. West Branch (6)
2. Sumner-Fredericksburg (11)
3. Mediapolis (14)
Top 5 teams by RPI rankings that miss playoffs
1. Sigourney-Keota (16)
2. West Lyon (17)
3. Woodward-Granger (18)
4. South Hamilton (19)
5. Underwood (20)
Since there are nine districts, the champion with the lowest RPI-ranking will play on the road to begin the playoffs, at the moment, Osage is that team.
CLASS A
District Champions (15)
1. South O'Brien
2. Sioux Central & IKM-Manning (Sioux Central has tiebreaker via RPI)
3. Bishop Garrigan
4. Newman Catholic & St. Ansgar (Newman Catholic has tiebreaker via RPI)
5. Edgewood-Colesburg
6. Durant & BGM (BGM has tiebreaker via RPI)
7. Hudson
8. Lynnville-Sully
9 AHSTW & St. Albert (AHSTW has tiebreaker via RPI)
10. Westwood & Lawton-Bronson (Westwood has tiebreaker via RPI)
Teams that qualify via RPI Rankings
1. Grundy Center (7)
Top 5 teams by RPI rankings that miss playoffs
1. North Tama (9)
2. Belmond-Klemme (10)
3. Hinton (11)
4. Akron-Westfield (12)
5. Highland, Riverside (14)
Since there are 10-districts, the two champions with the lowest RPI will be forced to travel for the first round. As of right now, those teams are; South O'Brien & Lynnville-Sully.
CLASS 8-MAN
District Champions (11)
1. Ar-We-Va
2. Northwood-Kensett
3. Central City
4. Iowa Valley
5. AGSWR & Gladbrook-Reinbeck (Gladbrook-Reinbeck has tiebreaker via RPI)
6. Southeast Warren
7. Fremont-Mills & Stanton (Fremont-Mills has tiebreaker via RPI)
8. Exira-EHK & Audubon (Exira-EHK has the tiebreaker via head-to-head win)
Teams that qualify via RPI Rankings
1. Turkey Valley (7)
2. Don Bosco (8)
3. New London (9)
4. Newell-Fonda (11)
5. Rockford (12)
Top 5 teams by RPI rankings that miss playoffs
1. HLV, Victor (14)
2. Midland, Wyoming (15)
3. Lamoni (16)
4. St. Mary's Remsen (18)
5. Lenox (19)
This class only has eight districts, so winning your district title ensures at least one home playoff game. It's also worth mentioning that 8-Man District 8 is the only district that currently has co-champions, who have played each other.
As I mentioned earlier, 20-games in the next two weeks will feature two teams that are tied for first-place in their respective districts. How these games turn out will shake up what teams qualify and what teams do not. For example, in Class 2A District 6, Williamsburg and Albia are tied for the lead, have yet to play each other and have RPI Rankings of 23 and 24 respectively, it is most likely that the loser of that game does not make the postseason and one of the teams currently on the outside will find themselves in the postseason.
The RPI formula is not perfect or maybe even close, but the way things are shaping up, a lot is going to be on the line in the next two weeks.
Regardless of what you think of the RPI, excitement in the final two weeks of the season cannot be a bad thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment