Rule changes for sectionals
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- August
- 27
Section 1 has changed its requirements for teams to qualify for sectionals. This was motivated by the new league alignments, which I detailed in the previous post.
Now that league schedules are no longer motivated by school size, you will see a lot of big schools beating up on little schools. Teams that would have gone 8-8 in a normal league against comparable schools might now go 5-11 because they have to play tougher, bigger competition.
Take Lourdes, which went 13-3-2 last year. It’s now got to play Arlington, Fishkill, and Ketcham a total of six times. Is that six losses right there? Could be.
To compensate, Section 1 lowered the standard for making the playoffs. Teams now only have to win 25% of their games to get in. Or 25% of their league games. Or 25% of their class games. Or 25% of games against their class and above. Basically every team is in the playoffs. It is almost impossible to not qualify at this point. I know the system is designed to help little schools that got shafted by the league alignments but jeez, do we really need 4-12 clubs in the playoffs?
How about 1-15 clubs? Could happen. Take Sleepy Hollow for example. Sleepy, a Class A team, plays just four games against Class A competition this season. Two vs Ardsley, one vs Eastchester, and one vs Pelham. That’s it. All Sleepy needs to do is win one of those games and it would be 1-3 (25%) against its own class, which is good enough to get in the playoffs. So yes, its possible to get a 1-15 team in the playoffs.
The other rule change for the playoffs regards seeding. The Harbin point system, which was used the last few years to determine seeding, is no more. Playoff teams are now given a point score at the end of the season according to the following stipulations.
- Four points for every win, regardless of class
- Two points for every tie, regardless of class
- No deduction of points for losses
- Two bonus points for playing a team who has a winning percentage of .750 or above; teams receive this if they win or lose
- One bonus point for playing a team who has a winning percentage between .500 and .749; teams receive this if they win or lose
The latter two awards are given to reward teams that play tough schedules, even if they lose those games. So a 9-7 team that played three great (.750 or better) opponents and three good (.500-.749) opponents will be seeded higher than an 11-5 team that beat up on cupcakes.
For the purposes of awarding bonus points, opponent winning percentage is determined at season’s end, not when you play them.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, August 27th, 2009 at 10:22 pm by Jake Thomases. 
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The problem will be when small schools (class C) end up in Section I Class Championship, you will have a 9-9 team vs a 7-11 team. Will look odd, Haldane and Croton got tough leagues.
Wait until basketball starts, we will see a lot more 40 point games
When will you be posting the class favorites and teams to watch out for?
When does the schedule come out?
guest…I’ll be working on that stuff over the next few days. It will be posted on Wednesday or Thursday.
Lohud…If you mean the schedule for Section 1 teams, those are already out. You can find them at http://www.section1athletics.org
And I thought .500 was a low winning percentage to make the play-offs. There are gonna be so many play-in games, and breaks that last too long for the good teams that will have byes for the first 12 rounds.
Its saturday! When do you think theyll be done!?