2010 WIAA Football Tournament

[Beerambassador]

A couple days early, but the last week of the high school football season is upon us and the tournament brackets come out Friday. Anyone got any favorites or match ups they can't wait to see?

 

WisSportsNet has their preliminary division fields out here, with some interesting implications, especially for D2. If they're correct, the Monona Grove/Waunakee showdown will not happen this year, with MG being dropped down to D3.

 

I follow MG closely and they're on the verge of their second straight undefeated season. They're darn good, but it seems the consensus is they're not on Waunakee's level, so them not having to face Waunakee in the playoffs would make their path to state a lot easier this year.

[Patrick425]

Rooting for Waukesha West. It will interesting to see if they end up in Div I or Div II. I understand that Div II is going to have some pretty good depth as far as competition goes.

[trwi7]

Since this is a high school football thread, Arrowhead got pretty much a new stadium. New bleachers, new press box, luxury suites and I thought I heard new turf as well even though the other stuff was new.

 

I understand the new bleachers because like the video said, they were warped pieces of crap wood that felt unsafe and I understand expanding because the bleachers were always crowded, especially around the student section and it was always crowded with people filling in around the bleachers when they were full. But seriously, luxury suites? Really?

 

http://www.wisn.com/sports/24777901/detail.html

[paul253]

Wow that is crazy. I'm glad that the district only put 500k towards it. I guess if people are willing to pay for it you can do whatever you want right?

 

I went to Shorewood High School. Their football team is a national laughingstock. Yet they still paid all this money to redo the field and the bleachers..tax money And the kicker...the year it was done they didn't even have a varsity team. What a joke. Instead of disbanding their football team or using the money to start a youth football program in the community that will actually improve the talent of the kids coming in and get them interested in football, they did that.

 

As far as the tourney goes, Homestead and Arrowhead have had a nice little rivalry the past few years. I wouldn't mind seeing them match up again at some point.

[valpocrewsader]

My cousin starts for the Franklin Sabers, so I've been following them a bit this year. They've had two televised "Thursday Night Lights" games on channel 24 in Milwaukee this season. Last week's game was pretty incredible, I thought for sure they would move up from #2-DII up to #1 after beating Kenosha-Bradford who was #1-DI, but it sounds like they only narrowed the gap between them and #1-DII Waunakee. Not sure why.

[Patrick425]

Looks like Fondy got beat by Appleton East. So, this could bump Waukesha West into division 1 (I'm assuming West won tonight. Did not see a score for them and was unable to get to the game).

[TracyThom]

I follow MG closely and they're on the verge of their second straight undefeated season. They're darn good, but it seems the consensus is they're not on Waunakee's level, so them not having to face Waunakee in the playoffs would make their path to state a lot easier this year.

MG ended up undefeated this year and only gave up 13 points all season. Yeah, they are good.

 

[trwi7]

West did win. I think it was like 42-17 against perennial doormat Waukesha North.

[paul253]

Can someone explain to me how this tournament works? It seems to me like there is never a set number of teams in it because if you have a winning conference record you are in right? Also I heard on the news last night one of the sports guys say something like "Franklin might be the best team in the state but they are PROBABLY going to end up playing in Division Two". Why isn't it set in stone what division they play in? Isn't it based on enrollment?

[Beerambassador]

It IS based on enrollments, that's why it's not set in stone. Lets just say - for example - there are 60 teams and 6 divisions. The 10 with the highest enrollments would be DI, the next 10 DII, and so on. The field still isn't set and won't be until Friday morning. A few .500 teams get in to fill out the field (and some say a lot of political decisions play out right there to ensure some teams end up being in a certain division). Franklin, for instance, may darn well be the best team in the state, but because of enrollment numbers they will likely be DII. That said, they are right on the bubble numbers wise and could be DI. Divisions - at least in theory- have nothing to do with how good you are.

 

Just for instance here: MG has been DII almost every year but is always one of the two or three lowest enrollments in the division. This year they're on the bubble and some people I've talked to have said the WIAA will ensure they stay in DII to keep the usual DIII schools happy and to make sure the "annual" MG/Waunakee game happens. They can fudge the field a bit to ensure MG's enrollment keeps them at DII. It's a cynical view, but the WIAA deserves to be viewed cynically.

[hawing]

Why isn't it set in stone what division they play in? Isn't it based on enrollment?

Because not every school makes the football tournament, the WIAA can't divide qualifying teams into divisions until the field is fully set.

A school whose enrollment is very large (like Kenosha Tremper) can feel confident they'll be in D-1 and really small enrollment schools can reasonably assume they're in D-7 (or whatever the smallest division is for football), but otherwise where your school lands depends on your enrollment vs. those of the other qualifiers.

 

As for the number of schools in the football tourney every year...I don't know if it varies or not, and will leave that for someone who follows this more closely than I do. I'm just glad my alma mater managed to salvage two wins on the year this go-round.

 

Edit: oops, Beerambassador described it a little better. Should have previewed.

[Patrick425]

Looks like the tentitive brackets are out. Waukesha West is 3 seed in their bracket? Don't understand that since they were ranked 9th or 10th in the state.

[trwi7]

Brutal draws for Arrowhead and Waukesha West. Waukesha West has to play Verona Area which is ranked #6 in Division I by wissports.net. Arrowhead has to play Sun Prairie which is ranked #2 in Division I by wissports.net. Arrowhead is ranked 4th and Waukesha West 7th. And even if they beat Sun Prairie and Verona Area respectively, they have to play each other in round 2.

 

Not exactly sure how Hartford gets a #1 seed with a 7-2 record.

[Beerambassador]

Not exactly sure how Hartford gets a #1 seed with a 7-2 record.

Ditto for LaCrosse Logan in the the D2 Northwest. MG should've been bumped into the northwest to "make up" for them being the smallest school in D2.

[PlayerHader]

Seeds aren't really rankings. If you're a conference champion, regardless of your record overall, you will get a 1 or 2 seed. The WIAA puts no effort into seeding these things. Often your level 3 and 4 games are going to be much more competitive than the state title game because of this.

[OglivieHomePerm]

Hearing folks describe the odd procedure that deals with divisioning got me wondering, Is the districting proposal that the WIAA came up with a year or two ago still a possibility, or did that idea get squashed?

[Patrick425]

Almost seems like they came up with the seedings based soley on conference records.

[TracyThom]

Hearing folks describe the odd procedure that deals with divisioning got me wondering, Is the districting proposal that the WIAA came up with a year or two ago still a possibility, or did that idea get squashed?

It was voted on, and the vote failed.

[stoutdude04]

Almost seems like they came up with the seedings based soley on conference records.

I have a friend who said that is the case.

[Buckylovesbeer]

The more I see the matchups, the worse it gets. The WIAA really messed this one up!

[Patrick425]

Almost seems like they came up with the seedings based soley on conference records.

I have a friend who said that is the case.

Yes, someone I know confirmed to me today that this is how they do it as well. I really don't understand that. Does it not occure to them that some conferences are stronger than others?? This really should not be that difficult to figure out.

 

[trwi7]

Yes, someone I know confirmed to me today that this is how they do it as well. I really don't understand that. Does it not occure to them that some conferences are stronger than others?? This really should not be that difficult to figure out.

 

Not only that, but some teams play OOC games and some don't. What if Waukesha West goes and beats Franklin and Kenosha Bradford in non-conference and then loses one game in the Classic 8, one of if not the toughest conference in state this year. So you're going to penalize them for beating three to four top teams in the state because they lost one conference game? WIAA sucks.

[Patrick425]

I wonder if any of the games will be cancelled tonight because of the wind. If you listen to the weather forecasters, apparently this is the beginning of the apocalypse.

[Beerambassador]

I wonder if any of the games will be cancelled tonight because of the wind. If you listen to the weather forecasters, apparently this is the beginning of the apocalypse.

I'd say it's game on, unless there are thunderstorms at game time. The field conditions are going to be brutal in a lot of cases. We got a lot of rain overnight in the Madison area. Maybe the wind will help dry out the fields, but I would expect some muddy games tonight.

[hawing]

I wonder if any of the games will be cancelled tonight because of the wind. If you listen to the weather forecasters, apparently this is the beginning of the apocalypse.

It's funny you should use the word "apocalypse," as I have been semi-jokingly using the word Wind-pocalypse today.