All this questioning about seedings

[div1coach222]

Ladies and gentlemen I know I will be opening a can of worms, but here I go anyway. After seeing quite of few concerns about seeding, playing away and so on..... I have read where several are saying being seeded higher would help a team go FURTHER into the playoffs and I agree that maybe the case, but what is the ultimate goal? Whatever level you play at the ultimate goal is winning a state title.
As I was pondering this and these statements it brought back a memory of when I had been only coaching for a few years. We had a newly formed team and had not EARNED the respect that some are wanting with seedings. We had a great year and by wins and losses was definitely the top team in the state . As we entered the state tournament we were forced to play the 3 TIME state champ in a SECOND round game. Parents and players at first response were concerned about this (because of the state champs record ) all thought that these 2 teams would not meet until the finals. We had a team meeting and told all, it does not matter whether we see them in the finals or now, to be the BEST you have to beat the BEST.
We went out played a great game, won state and from then on have earned the respect of the teams in the state. Is the seeding process perfect? No. It is great to use this venue to bounce thoughts about the seedings, but remember overall seedings are earned for a full year of playing soccer. Also it is not only a record, but the strength of schedule too.
I know I will catch grief with these thoughts and all I can say is good luck to all...

[im4christ]

At the end of the day I believe it is: "Not really about who you play, but how you play". One letter simply moving to another position in the word can change everything, amazingly enough that letter is a W.

[Steven Gerrard]

I am going to have to respectfully disagree. Yes, to win the title you eventually have to win all of your games against the best teams. But, in my opinion, there are only a handful of teams each year in each division who have a shot at winning the title. To me, there is not only a huge gap between seeds 1 and 32, but a big gap between seeds 1 and 16. A higher seed that can allow you to avoid some of the top teams in the first few rounds is going to give your team a better shot at making a run through the playoffs. Not win, because I think that is almost an impossibility. But, perhaps getting to the third round. Which, if your team is not loaded with premier players, getting to the third round is a great accomplishment.

[div1coach222]

Yep, but again making the playoffs is a accomplishment. In the end all my years playing sports I new if we got a good draw and made it further then maybe should have by knowing this did not make feel better because I knew the truth. With that being said then to solve this issue of a wide disparity of talented teams( because you hit the nail on the head) the state should change the classification and amount of teams in each class. There seems to be probably in Div II and III the top two in each div. can compete well in a state playoff against Div.I teams. I would believe a few of these teams may like this idea and compete at a higher level for a state championship. Maybe not ? Shrink the teams in Div. I from top 32 too 16 or 20 that make playoffs. By dropping some out of Div.I and placing them in a lower classification they would have better chance of competing for a state championship and that I feel should be the ultimate goal.
I know it sounds like a lot, but to me that would be the only way to be fair to all teams and still keep Girls High School Soccer at a very competitve level. There probably is no quick or easy fix. It is going to take some thinking out of the box to make this work for all. Just my 2 cents worth because in the end all teams should have a realistic shot of obtaining the ultimate goal of winning the big one!

[Deleted]

Well put, everyone knows that year in and year out the top 6 in all divisions on the girls side do not vary much at all. How are the Divisions Made up? Is there any fix? The future of girls soccer is growing rapidly, lets keep it growing.

[counterattack7]

Even with the mentality of having to beat whoever you play no matter your seed, they should still get the seeds right if that's the system we have. I have not seen Vandebilt, Teurlings, or St. Louis this season, I have no bias for or against any of them, but all it took was a look at their records to see that St. Louis (#3) should have gotten the top seed. I don't see a way to justify anything lower, so it just makes me wonder whether the coaches really put effort into examining where teams deserve to be seeded or if they just go with their gut/feeling/memory. (it is the coaches, right?)

[div1coach222]

again the overall picture is having a chance to win it all. I am not as familiar with the lower divisions as with Division I. Did they get it right? I do not know , but whether it be Lafayette, Mt. Carmel , SSA or anyone else in the top 9 they can win it all. Would I rather play #1 Layaette or #4 Mt. Carmel? It does not matter because either one are quite talented. I will not even go into deeper detail with the likes of St. Thamos, Fontainebleau and Mandeville. All of these have beaten some of the more talented teams in the state. With the top 9 I say just pick your poison because all can beat the other on ANY given day... Top 4 be grateful and trying to find fault with the seeding maybe splitting hairs.

[Mung]

Looks like the seedings were pretty accurate. D3 has #1-8 seeds left. D1 has a #10 seed, the others are top 8. D2 has a 9 and 11. Not really big upsets. The most interesting thing to me is that the 3 seeds that got upset were all from North La. Hmmm. Hard to get an appropriate number of quality matches up here, to prep for the playoffs.