About 5 years ago I was sitting around the house one weekend (this story starts much the same as how the QRF started in about 2002) thinking about how to make things better for kids playing basketball in Minnesota. You see, I'm not the type of guy that complains about things unless I have an idea of how to make it better first. I figure if I can't figure out how to make an improvement I have no right to complain about how things are being done now because it must not be able to be done better.
There were a couple things that didn't make sense to me about the AAAA scenario.
- Why is Maple Grove forced to play a playoff game at Moorhead (219 miles) and Osseo gets to go to Anoka or Blaine because they are 3 miles further away?
- What is it like for Minnetonka and Hopkins (boys) to have to play what amounts to a State Championship game in their Section Final?
Back in about 2007 the NCAA was making changes to how they placed teams into pods...they weren't making teams in the "West Region" all play at the same place because it hurt attendance to send Connecticut to Los Angeles or Phoenix every year. They allowed a "West" first two rounds playoffs be played in New Jersey or Hartford. That's when it hit me - if the NCAA can manipulate where it sends teams to play and against who to balance both COMPETITIVENESS and GEOGRAPHY, why can't the MSHSL?
So I went online to find out how they did it - and low and behold the NCAA published their Principles and Procedures for the exact process. I downloaded it, changed a few things so the language would fit a "Minnesota Version" and created the MSHSL Principles and Procedures for Establishing the Bracket.
But I couldn't find anybody that would listen, and didn't know what channels it should go through to get it setup. Then I got an email from a AAAA school girls coach thru the site and the subject got turned on how hard their Section was. Ironically, an assistant coach for another girls AAAA team and I got into the same conversation about the same time. I ended up sending each of them a copy of the P&P, and they sent me the contact people in the coaches associations. From there Tom Critchley (boys) and Pat Barrett (girls) have been instrumental in trying to get this idea passed.
I know some people think the QRF got rushed thru for seeding, I don't know for sure about that....but I do know that making changes at this level takes a long time...but for the 64-team proposal...we're finally at the doorstep after 5 long years.
Below is the documentation that was provided to each committee member. Note: The yellow shading on the Conference Standings meant they tied and split regular season matchups, yellow shading on the Team Reports means the game went into at least one OT.
So now I suppose you want the results? I'll have a post on Tuesday that goes into all the details...
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