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DEL.ICIO.USSeeding process needs to be reviewed
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It seems like there’s always something to talk about in the sport of wrestling. One of the more debatable topics is the pre-determined seeding of the traditional state tournament. Before each area tournament is completed, the spots at the state level are already set up. A certain area champion will wrestle a certain area’s No. 4 seed; the area’s No. 2 against the No. 3, and so on. The imbalance creates problems in the brackets, sometimes forcing the top two wrestlers in a certain weight class to matchup in the quarterfinals or the semifinals, instead of the finals. We talked with three coaches — Cliff Ramos of Class AAAAA’s Collins Hill, Ed Bland of Class AAA’s West Laurens and Doug Thurmond of Class A Jefferson — to get their opinions on what’s working, what isn’t and what can be done differently.
Q: What do you like/dislike about pre-determining the seeds in the individual tournament?
Ramos: “I’ve been on that bandwagon for years. We seed every tournament all year long, but the most important tournament of the year, we don’t seed. All the No. 1 seeds in the eight regions wrestle the No. 4 placer in the first round. It sounds like it’s fair and sometimes it is. But the two best kids in the weight class will sometimes meet in the quarter finals; it happens a lot.”
Bland:“The problem is, you may have two of the best kids in the state in the same area — one of them will get a lower seed. It really is a luck of the draw. But the [current] understanding is, the cream will rise to the top.”
Thurmond:“It works OK for us. Class A’s a little different because in Class AAAAA there’s a lot more kids. A lot of cases in Class A, those eight who qualify are pretty doggone good.”
Q: Give an example of the current system not working.
Bland: “A perfect example: Last year, Matthew Edmondson of Cook High School was the best 215-pounder [in Class AA]. Dondricus Anderson, our guy, was probably the No. 2 kid in the state at 215 pounds. But because they were on the same side of the bracket, Dondricus lost to Edmondson [early] and had to get third. And the kid who got second was probably the third or fourth best 215-pounder.”
Ramos:“Last year, Thomas Knapp (Collins Hill) and Jesse Miller (Parkview). Every coach would’ve seeded them 1 and 2, but they met in the quarters. What happened there was [North Gwinnett’s] Travis Sheehy, a solid wrestler, who lost to Knapp in the area tournament, was in the final. And that happens and it’s not fair.”
Q: What are some solutions to the problem?
Bland:“You get together and have a seed meeting and you put in a good word for your kids.”
Thurmond:“Having a seed meeting, you could look at it for the state tournament, but a lot of [the teams] don’t see each other.”
Ramos: “For a seed meeting, one thing the GHSA has said is, that’s too many coaches, it’d be too hard for everyone to agree on. I think you have one representative from each area get together and seed it. Any system like that with some kind of seeding committee is better than what we do now. I think we also need to make the area tournament tougher; we qualify too many people for the state tournament.”
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Comments
By Laura Maher
February 8, 2007 04:22 PM | Link to this
Kurt Aschermann knows his sports and his writing is always so professional.
By Jerry
February 9, 2007 11:54 AM | Link to this
Doesn’t Jefferson move up to 2A next time they re-classifiy?
By scribe
February 10, 2007 11:23 PM | Link to this
North Gwinnett always takes advantage finishing second or third in the region behind collins hill. A seeding meeting would help preventing such undeserving wrestlers from making the finals.
By Bryan
February 14, 2007 12:39 AM | Link to this
Why does it matter? Every GHSA sport has the top 4 region finishers match up against other regions and sometimes great teams meet early in the playoffs. It’s luck of the draw.