ADVERTISEMENT

First Round Blowouts

I say this a lot, but everyone needs to remember that the IHSA doesnt care if the best two teams make it to a state championship. They're more concerned with geographic representation.
I feel they are attempting to crown a Champion. They dont care if the two best teams play in the Quarterfinals.
 
  • Like
Reactions: guerinfbfan
I feel they are attempting to crown a Champion. They dont care if the two best teams play in the Quarterfinals.
They've stated before they want equal representation from the north and south, ie they don't care about a true champion. If seeded 1-32 and the best two teams happen to matchup in the quarters then the winner would likely be a deserving champion. It happens quite a bit in other sports. If the two best teams happen to be near each other then they would meet in the regionals or secionals.
 
Because it's the 21st Century.

Frankly, I wish we had our own association - free from all those narrow-minded, small town politicians.
Have been wondering more and more what would this look like and who would it negatively effect more - public/private?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gene K.
I didn't say one way or the other, it just seems odd to me. Private schools operate totally different than public schools ie: budget, reach of enrollment
Tennessee has a system setup where the private schools compete in their own playoffs. I believe they have only 2 classes also based on enrollment
 
Tennessee has a system setup where the private schools compete in their own playoffs. I believe they have only 2 classes also based on enrollment
Not advocating for it at all, but there are lots of other states that have separate divisions for private/public.
 
Not advocating for it at all, but there are lots of other states that have separate divisions for private/public.
I think keeping them together is very unique for Illinois and to be honest, it works. If there was just a way to “level the playing field” to keep both sides happy, that would be great but it won’t ever happen. Then we would have endless debates about who would win between the public and private champions.
 
Texas has the public/private split. UIL and TAPPS.

However, at least two privates Dallas Jesuit and Houston Strake Jesuit play with the publics.
 
If 520 schools are playing 11 man in IL (with those numbers going down we realistically could have 8 classes of 64 teams where everyone makes the playoffs. Only 4 teams would miss out in that scenario and with the way teams are going to 8 man, I'd bet that number is under 520 im 2023.
 
Have been wondering more and more what would this look like and who would it negatively effect more - public/private?
Private long term. Look at the difficulty now in making football schedules in the CCL. Imagine having to set up a system where you have to go through the CCL Blue to win a title and not 4a/5a rural public schools many have to go through now. I think it would splinter and the private schools that are the only game in town would stay in the IHSA.
 
I greatly dislike the idea of not dividing the classes up by enrollment. It's rewarding losing and punishing winning. Two equally sized schools would be in different classes because one wins more? Nope, don't like that.
Show me the data that proves that enrollment equates to competitiveness. Nope, can't do it.

You can't do it in football because of 8A schools like Lane or Plainfield South. You can't do it because ESL knows it is more competitive than it's assigned classification, wants to move up, but the 7A and 8A schools in its conference voted to ban conference members from playing up SO THEY COULD AVOID GETTING BOUNCED FROM THE PLAYOFFS BY ESL!

Face it, the system you find so intriguing is flawed.
 
Solution: Districts.

Discuss.
Clearly the answer. Works in every other sport. Yeah, it might be “unfair” in the off chance that the top 2 teams are in the same district once in a while, but that’s how it goes sometimes. For instance, in wrestling there are years where there are more than 4 ranked wrestlers in a sectional weight class where only 4 make it to state. The next year there might not be anyone ranked at the same weight class.
 
  • Like
Reactions: guerinfbfan
Clearly the answer. Works in every other sport. Yeah, it might be “unfair” in the off chance that the top 2 teams are in the same district once in a while, but that’s how it goes sometimes. For instance, in wrestling there are years where there are more than 4 ranked wrestlers in a sectional weight class where only 4 make it to state. The next year there might not be anyone ranked at the same weight class.
Depending on what area of the state you're in districts is far from the answer. Being from Morris they're in a tough spot in terms of schools their size in what would likely be their district. Coal City would be the closest in size and 3 out of the last 4 matchups weren't that close. They are far bigger than Wilmington or Seneca. The closest schools to them are far bigger than they are now. They used to be in a conference with Minooka, Oswego, Plainfield, and Yorkville which are all 7A or 8A schools now

Where do you draw the lines for districts to include a fairly even number of teams? Chicago and collar counties would consist of several smaller districts but downstate districts would have to be much larger to include enough schools.

If we're just talking playoffs the "Quads" experiment has already failed.
 
Depending on what area of the state you're in districts is far from the answer. Being from Morris they're in a tough spot in terms of schools their size in what would likely be their district. Coal City would be the closest in size and 3 out of the last 4 matchups weren't that close. They are far bigger than Wilmington or Seneca. The closest schools to them are far bigger than they are now. They used to be in a conference with Minooka, Oswego, Plainfield, and Yorkville which are all 7A or 8A schools now

Where do you draw the lines for districts to include a fairly even number of teams? Chicago and collar counties would consist of several smaller districts but downstate districts would have to be much larger to include enough schools.

If we're just talking playoffs the "Quads" experiment has already failed.
So, what would be Morris' district? Roughly. Gotta believe you could find similarly sized schools that are closer than Woodstock.
 
Last edited:
Clearly the answer. Works in every other sport. Yeah, it might be “unfair” in the off chance that the top 2 teams are in the same district once in a while, but that’s how it goes sometimes. For instance, in wrestling there are years where there are more than 4 ranked wrestlers in a sectional weight class where only 4 make it to state. The next year there might not be anyone ranked at the same weight class.
Most people would be in favor of districts if it improved their chances of doing well. Most would be against if their conference gives them a better chance of doing well.
 
  • Like
Reactions: GhostOfTheGhhost
So, what would be Morris' district? Roughly.
That's a hell of a question. It would depend on how they draw the districts, how many teams per district, and in what direction or how big of a radius. If they go east of Morris it would likely include JCA, Provi, maybe Lemont and Crete(?) If they go north they could stick with the existing conference with teams like Sycamore, Kaneland, and not sure who else. Again it would depend on how far the district lines would reach. As it is Sycamore is a solid hour north of Morris.

Assuming they would try to keep the districts close in terms of size of schools take a look at the 4A-6A maps for playoff teams on the IHSA site and Morris is kind of on an island. Using those maps the closest schools to form a district would potentially be Morris, LaSalle-Peru, Ottawa, Coal City, JCA, and Provi. As you can see this creates a huge spectrum in terms of competitiveness, at least as far as football goes. I would say you could throw in Lemont and Crete as well but both of them are in much closer proximity to so many other schools that they wouldn't be likely.

Morris would most likely get put in a district that stretches to the west to include Sterling and Geneseo as they've played in a conference with them as well. This makes the most sense as far as size goes but far from fair if we're talking travel.
 
This was back in 2019. In sure there’s been some enrollments shifts and other things that would impact these 2.5 years later.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4Afan
That's a hell of a question. It would depend on how they draw the districts, how many teams per district, and in what direction or how big of a radius. If they go east of Morris it would likely include JCA, Provi, maybe Lemont and Crete(?) If they go north they could stick with the existing conference with teams like Sycamore, Kaneland, and not sure who else. Again it would depend on how far the district lines would reach. As it is Sycamore is a solid hour north of Morris.

Assuming they would try to keep the districts close in terms of size of schools take a look at the 4A-6A maps for playoff teams on the IHSA site and Morris is kind of on an island. Using those maps the closest schools to form a district would potentially be Morris, LaSalle-Peru, Ottawa, Coal City, JCA, and Provi. As you can see this creates a huge spectrum in terms of competitiveness, at least as far as football goes. I would say you could throw in Lemont and Crete as well but both of them are in much closer proximity to so many other schools that they wouldn't be likely.

Morris would most likely get put in a district that stretches to the west to include Sterling and Geneseo as they've played in a conference with them as well. This makes the most sense as far as size goes but far from fair if we're talking travel.
There's a pretty huge spectrum of competition within your current conference. Weren't you folks on the giving end of some pretty serious conference beatdowns this year?

As for travel, heck, you guys travel far currently to play the Woodstock schools in your conference. You chose to play non-con games at Antioch and R-B this year, which are probably about as far from Morris as are Sterling and Geneseo.
 
There's a pretty huge spectrum of competition within your current conference. Weren't you folks on the giving end of some pretty serious conference beatdowns this year?

As for travel, heck, you guys travel far currently to play the Woodstock schools in your conference. You chose to play non-con games at Antioch and R-B this year, which are probably about as far from Morris as are Sterling and Geneseo.
Agree and I don't know what went into deciding the non conference games. Maybe they wanted the competition with RB and maybe Antioch was the only other game they could find. The district I came up with was purely based on location. Look at the above post by gw86 with Edgy's proposed districts and it has Morris going as far west as Geneseo and as far north as Rockford. That's a hell of a district in terms of area. Morris is just in a weired spot where all the schools around them blew up and they stayed the same size.
 
Show me the data that proves that enrollment equates to competitiveness. Nope, can't do it.

You can't do it in football because of 8A schools like Lane or Plainfield South. You can't do it because ESL knows it is more competitive than it's assigned classification, wants to move up, but the 7A and 8A schools in its conference voted to ban conference members from playing up SO THEY COULD AVOID GETTING BOUNCED FROM THE PLAYOFFS BY ESL!

Face it, the system you find so intriguing is flawed.
I didn’t say that.

I don’t like school #1 w 1000 kids being in 8a because they are consistently 9-0/8/1 while school #2 w 1000 kids being 2A because they are 1-8/2-7 every year.

Its rewarding failure.

Youre program is 8a and one of the best in the state. You want the best of the best in 8a to play them…I get it. But it’s not fair to the lower classes.
 
I didn’t say that.

I don’t like school #1 w 1000 kids being in 8a because they are consistently 9-0/8/1 while school #2 w 1000 kids being 2A because they are 1-8/2-7 every year.

Its rewarding failure.

Youre program is 8a and one of the best in the state. You want the best of the best in 8a to play them…I get it. But it’s not fair to the lower classes.
So, was it fair to all those 4A schools when Rochester won five straight titles? Why do people think it's a punishment instead of a badge of honor to be moved up because a school has proven over and over that it can dominate the same class?
 
  • Like
Reactions: stonedlizard
I don’t like school #1 w 1000 kids being in 8a because they are consistently 9-0/8/1 while school #2 w 1000 kids being 2A because they are 1-8/2-7 every year.
You don't have to worry about the 1-8 or 2-7 school of 1000 being in 2A since they won't be playing in week 10 and beyond with that kind of record.
 
  • Like
Reactions: stonedlizard
You don't have to worry about the 1-8 or 2-7 school of 1000 being in 2A since they won't be playing in week 10 and beyond with that kind of record.
True but you could see a 5-4 Providence drop down to 3A/2A.
 
So, was it fair to all those 4A schools when Rochester won five straight titles? Why do people think it's a punishment instead of a badge of honor to be moved up because a school has proven over and over that it can dominate the same class?
This is why if we’re going to have a success factor it should apply to publics as well.
 
True but you could see a 5-4 Providence drop down to 3A/2A.
Says who?

If SOS is included as an influencing criterion in a revised playoff classification formula, what you suggest would be highly unlikely given current CCL/ESCC scheduling and PC's current enrollment.

Furthermore, I think enrollment should be an influencing criterion in playoff classification such that, except in very rare circumstances, a school could not move up or down more than one class from where they would be classed in a solely enrollment based system. That should mollify all the Henny Pennies who claim the sky is falling and pointing to Lane Tech moving to 1A or that a school of 1,000 students is moved to 8A.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: stonedlizard
Enrollment and/or geographical location may be corollary to competitive equity, but that doesn’t mean they are the best method for balancing classes towards a competitive equity-based objective.
 
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT