OSAA Championship Committee Update - Nov 23

The OSAA Championship Committee met on November 23rd.  Here's the current thinking :

6A Thurston, Sheldon and South Eugene will drive up I-5, past six teams in the Central Valley Conference, past six teams in the Metro League, and past eight teams in the Pacific conference to play Grant and Lincoln.  Redmond will also be in this 6A 'Hybrid' league.  Two teams are guaranteed playoff spots, with all others eligible for one of 14 at large spots based on 'power rankings'.  (Don't fret, it's hard not to make the 6A playoffs.  28 of 44 teams go to state.  Almost 2 out of every 3 teams.

5A  The new 5A MWL is guaranteed two playoff teams.  The 5A teams are Churchill, Marist, Marshfield, North Eugene, Springfield and Willamette.  The teams that don't make the one or two seed will be eligible for one of nine 'at large' berths based on power rankings.  It's likely that the 5A MWL will have three or four teams at state every year as 54 % of all 5A teams will make the playoffs.

All in all, I like the set up.  I just think it is weird that after all of the effort to set up leagues to 'play locally' that our 6A teams will drive past three leagues to play 'hybrid league' games.  I also think there are too many 'at large' berths.  But having 9 and 14 'at large' slots will make it harder for teams to say they got cheated than if there were just 4 or fewer 'at large' berths.  All the Power Rating Gods have to say is, "Man, you had a chance to make one of nine (or 14) slots.  It's not like we only had two slots and we gave them to Notre Dame and Texas because they have tradition."

I also like it that the Eugene-Springfield schools are not  driving over Sexton Pass to play games in the winter and early spring.  Over time, a lot of games would have been rescheduled, and that's a real hassle for players, officials, coaches, AD's and parents.  

My only other thought is that I think they should cut the playoffs down to 16 teams.  High school ball isn't the pros with TV income, and $10,000,000  in gate attendance for one game.  Cutting back to 16 teams at each level would put 800 student's minds and seats back in the classroom for another week which would be a good thing.  Even at 16 teams, almost 40 % of the teams at the 4A-5A-6A level would make the playoffs.  Let's see: in some schools 90% is an A, 80 % is a B, 70 % is a C, 60 % is a D, and 59% or less is an F.  We are sending D and F teams into the playoffs.

Note: The OSAA Championship Committee has not finalized this plan and is still taking input.  Here's the link to the document OSAA CC Meeting.  If you read the OSAA minutes different than I do, or if you have other comments, click on the 'comments' link below the line or email me at  mwlnow@yahoo.com