What if the state tournament was a 16 team format?

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hawkhockey
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Post by hawkhockey » Mon Mar 02, 2015 6:44 pm

hammer99 wrote:Why not just have the A and AA winners play each other?

Seems simple enough, but it seems like the concept is never really taken seriously by anyone. The tourney ends on Saturday, so why not play it on Sunday night?

The ratings for this game would be off the chart every year, and the stories of upsets would be retold for years to come.
Is there not a rule about organized gatherings on Sunday from the MSHSL? I thought I remember being restricted from any team activities on Sunday only a few years ago, but maybe that was a team thing. But I made the point in my other post in this thread that asking a team to play 4 games in 4 days against the best competition does not seem like the proper way to crown a champion, especially if any game goes into OT. The AA team in this situation wouldn't have much to gain in this game. If they win, they did what they were supposed to. If the AA team loses they hear about it all year. Seems like a lose-lose situation.

This other part is just me but I wouldn't want to have to spend another night in a hotel, spend another full day in St. Paul, eat another day's worth of expensive food. That's just me though. I love the tournament but after 3 or 3.5 days I'm ready to go home.

team22tank
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Post by team22tank » Mon Mar 02, 2015 7:48 pm

hammer99 wrote:Why not just have the A and AA winners play each other?

Seems simple enough, but it seems like the concept is never really taken seriously by anyone. The tourney ends on Saturday, so why not play it on Sunday night?

The ratings for this game would be off the chart every year, and the stories of upsets would be retold for years to come.
So the team coming out of the A tournament while probably very good gets a much, much easier road while the AA has to fight through sections and state?

Should the A team win which might be possible they are the Champs? Sounds horrible to me.

Nothing will ever match the old tourney. Section finals use to be quite the spectacle, the Met use to sell out and it would be chaotic. Making the section final use to be a very big deal.

HockeyBum
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Post by HockeyBum » Mon Mar 02, 2015 8:27 pm

Excuse me if I missed someone else's post, because I read part way thru the first page and picked up n a common theme. MSHSL cares about regional representation at state. This is the biggest BS ignorant comment I have ever read on this post. If this was even close to being true the out state sections would not have metro teams in their playoffs. Also if regional respect was a concern the MSHSL would consider private schools a regin and keep all of them in their own section to play for a shot at state. This would allow teams like white bear to be competitive with other U pic schools and not compete against private to go to state that cherry picked talent from their program.

It is a well know fact the tourney is a money maker and metro teams provide the possibility to fill more fans into to stands vs small out state teams. Some student bodies are larger than some out state communities.

The tourney is just fine as it is as long as they tweak regions to be regional representation and privates to be their own section.

HockeyBum
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Post by HockeyBum » Mon Mar 02, 2015 8:43 pm

Two notes after reading the rest of the post:
- 2yrs ago st Thomas as A would have beaten the AA hornets
- Why not have a well performing A team opt up for playoffs as a wild card team if they have had a successful season. They use to force youth programs without A programs to play A's the following year if they blow the league apart the previous year. Why make opting up a choice?

mulefarm
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Post by mulefarm » Mon Mar 02, 2015 8:48 pm

HockeyBum wrote:Two notes after reading the rest of the post:
- 2yrs ago st Thomas as A would have beaten the AA hornets
- Why not have a well performing A team opt up for playoffs as a wild card team if they have had a successful season. They use to force youth programs without A programs to play A's the following year if they blow the league apart the previous year. Why make opting up a choice?
Might want to put a little more thought into these comments?

Sparlimb
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Re: What if the state tournament was a 16 team format?

Post by Sparlimb » Mon Mar 02, 2015 10:42 pm

hermantown2000 wrote:If the MSHSL ever decides to go back to a single tournament format I would love to see a "Sweet 16" type of tournament. How does everyone think that this years matchups would look if a 16 team format was in place? Obivously I would assume that Lakeville North and Edina would be 1 and 2. How would seeds 3-16 look?
They did, it was called section finals. 16 teams, every year.

hammer99
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Post by hammer99 » Tue Mar 03, 2015 12:19 am

team22tank wrote:
hammer99 wrote:Why not just have the A and AA winners play each other?

Seems simple enough, but it seems like the concept is never really taken seriously by anyone. The tourney ends on Saturday, so why not play it on Sunday night?

The ratings for this game would be off the chart every year, and the stories of upsets would be retold for years to come.
So the team coming out of the A tournament while probably very good gets a much, much easier road while the AA has to fight through sections and state?

Should the A team win which might be possible they are the Champs? Sounds horrible to me.

Nothing will ever match the old tourney. Section finals use to be quite the spectacle, the Met use to sell out and it would be chaotic. Making the section final use to be a very big deal.
Simply trying to find some middle ground here. In my opinion, this concept, while flawed, would still be better than the current system in place simply because it A) gives smaller schools their bid into the tourney B)crowns a single champion without changing much of what is already in place.

If it were up to me, I'd go with the 16 team single class structure. Much like the NCAA basketball tournament, 6 these spots would be reserved for the winners of 6 separate sections made up of Single A sized schools. On top of that, slot 6 more sections for AA sized schools, and then select the remaining four teams from the remaining field as at-large bids. Then rank the top 8 seeds, and randomize their opponents out of the bottom 8 seeds. 16 team, bracket-play, four day event.

Again, that's just my opinion. The bottom line is returning the tournament to a single class format.

team22tank
Posts: 74
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Re: What if the state tournament was a 16 team format?

Post by team22tank » Tue Mar 03, 2015 9:34 am

Sparlimb wrote:
hermantown2000 wrote:If the MSHSL ever decides to go back to a single tournament format I would love to see a "Sweet 16" type of tournament. How does everyone think that this years matchups would look if a 16 team format was in place? Obivously I would assume that Lakeville North and Edina would be 1 and 2. How would seeds 3-16 look?
They did, it was called section finals. 16 teams, every year.
Exactly. And it was a thing of beauty.

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