Senior girls basketball playoffs: How did that happen?

Followers of ROPSSAA girls basketball are still buzzing over the apparent clerical error that lead to incorrect match ups in the second round of the tier 1 playoffs.

For those not familiar with the format, the top 2 teams in each of the 6 divisions advanced to the playoffs. The coaches seeded the six division winners 1-6 and the six 2nd place teams 7-12. After that the four top seeds all received a bye to the quarter-finals while the other 8 teams played a preliminary round with the expected match-ups: 5 vs 12, 6 vs 11, and so on.

The problem was in the second round. Since ROPSSAA doesn't re-seed after each round, the match-ups were predetermined. Winner of game A would play #1, B vs #2, C vs #3, and D vs #4. The problem is that it looks like who ever created the playoff schedule didn't pay attention to the seeds of the A-D matches. Match A was 5 vs 12 so, assuming no upset, the #1 seed would play the #5 seed. Following the same expectation, that would mean 2 vs 6, 3 vs. 7, and 4 vs. 8. Anyone who follows sports knows that this is wrong. The highest seed should not be potentially matched up against the highest-seeded winner from the previous round and the #4 seed should not be potentially matched up against the lowest-seeded winner from the previous round.

Apparently the problem wasn't caught until early this week. It's not exactly sure who caught it first; one of the number of coaches who e-mailed ROPSSAA this week, this poster on HooptownGTA, or the ROPSSAA administrators themselves. Regardless, the word came down that, while it was an error, it was too late to fix. Buses had been booked and game times confirmed. Some coaches accepted this with a shrug while others were apparently incredulous that the error would be allowed to stand.

In ROPSSAA's defence, things have not been easy since their most experienced administrator took a medical leave last year. It's meant a bigger workload for everyone else and time spent training new blood. Regardless, it was a major oversight and it calls into question the fairness of the playoffs. It should also be noted that three of the four visiting teams were from the Catholic Board so they were likely using their own school buses instead of a charter. Switching to the correct match-ups would not have been as difficult for them.

You can be sure every playoff schedule will be triple checked before being published from now on.

ROPSSAA: Get ready for cuts

Go to the ROPSSAA Website and click on the various sports. Then click on the playoff match-ups. Do you notice any differences from last year?

In case you're not sure, note the number of teams in the playoffs compared to Fall, 2010. Here are a few examples:

Football: Last year, the top 8 teams made the tier 1 playoffs; this year their are only 6. In Junior football, the difference was even more pronounced. Last year, the top 16 made the tier 1 playoffs and the other 4 teams made the tier 2 playoffs. This year, only the top 8 made the tier 1 playoffs and there is no tier 2.

Boys Volleyball: Last year, the top 16 made the tier 1 playoffs and the next 16 made the tier 2 playoffs in both senior and junior. This year, it is top 16 and next 8 in both levels.

Girls Basketball: Last year, the top 16 in senior girls made the tier 1 playoffs and the next 16 made the tier 2 playoffs. This year, it is 12 and 8, respectively. In junior, it's an even bigger reduction; going from 16 and 16 to 8 and 8.

These are just three examples but you can be sure there will be more of them as the year progresses.

Why?

You can blame the Ontario School Food and Beverage Policy. As you may already know, many high fat foods and sugar-filled drinks have been banned from Ontario school cafeterias and vending machines. While this is an admirable goal, lost in this move was the amount of money companies like Coke and Pepsi provided for schools. This also included a significant amount of funding for ROPSSAA expenses.

Now there is a large hole in the budget. How large? Enough that there was a special general meeting held earlier in the Fall to discuss options. Some proposed options included, eliminating medals and playoffs for tier 2; cutting back on the number of sports; requiring volunteer coaches to carry more of the weight in administration; severely cutting back the number of games; and many sports-specific proposals. One thing that was not on the table was increased funding from each school. Many of them are already tapped out after dealing with enrollment drops and cuts to funding,

It looks like cutting back on the playoffs is the first step of what might be any more cutbacks. It will be interesting to track if the cuts are spread fairly evenly or if some sports feel the brunt more than others.

Mississauga Volleyball: An update

I have since discovered the nature of the incident that lead to Mississauga withdrawing. It's rather mundane and involves an incident at their last game of the season. That's not the reason for the mini-post.

The reason is the new bombshell: Mississauga is withdrawing its junior team, too. Obviously the incident must have involved both teams. This one started making the rounds among volleyball coaches today and quickly passed into wider ROPSSAA circles. No word if the teams in their division will all move up one spot or if Mississauga's first round opponent in the junior playoffs, Father Goetz gets a bye.

Update: Mississauga forfeited the playoff match, 3-0

Mississauga SS Volleyball: What happened?

Anyone who follows volleyball in Peel knows that the two powerhouses are Mississauga and Rick Hansen. They are the perennial ROPSSAA finalists. This year, Mississauga was the slightly more successful of the two and seemed to be on pace for another division title over rival Rick Hansen and another #1 seed in the playoffs. Now they are suddenly 0-20, with every set registered as an 0-25 loss.

What happened?

The assumption at first was that there must have been an ineligible player that wasn't caught in time. As unfortunate as that is, it happens from time to time in Peel and the powerhouses aren't immune.

However, a bit of digging has revealed that the decision was internal; the school itself chose to forfeit all their games and end the season early. No one is saying exactly what happened but word is there was an incident last year and a repeat this year that lead to this action.

As I don't know exactly what happened it's hard to judge the appropriateness of the action. However, schools aren't in the habit of throwing in the towel on OFSAA medal-calibre programs without very good reason so I'll give Mississauga SS credit for taking whatever happened seriously and applying serious consequences.

Now the second ROPSSAA berth is wide open. Rick Hansen is now #1 seed. They would have been the #9 seed otherwise. This benefits them and what would have been their higher-seeded opponents. As the teams are pre-seeded based on divisions, it's hard to say who really is the second best team. Is it Streetsville who is stuck behind Mississauga and Rick Hansen in the same division; Stephen Lewis who is technically the second seed; or Robert Hall which only lost one set all season? Regardless, the playoffs aren't as predictable all of a sudden.

Is High School sports coverage in the Toronto Star better without Grossman?

Dave Grossman left the Toronto Star almost a year ago after 30+ years at the Toronto Star. To call him a controversial figure wouldn't do justice to the battles that erupted on many a message board or on his own blog. To his supporters he was the only person who truly valued high school sports and the reason many high school athletes received any attention beyond their own school (and sometimes even beyond their own team). To his detractors he was the classic big fish in a small pond who was very difficult to satisfy and even more difficult when challenged.

One thing he implied in some of his blog posts at the Fan590 was that the Star didn't truly value high school athletics and, being caught flat-footed (depending on whose story one chooses to accept - some claim it was not his decision though he is adamant that he retired at a time of his choosing), coverage would suffer. The implication was that he was the heart and soul of the coverage and the Star didn't really care without him. Based on the almost complete disappearance of coverage for a brief time, that certainly seemed to be the case.

Fast forward a few months and things have recovered nicely at the Star.

There are scores almost every day in the paper and, when there is no space, the scores are printed at a later date. Dave Grossman frequently told coaches that scores would not be accepted after the deadline and that the Star had a strict policy of only printing scores from the previous day. Apparently that was either incorrect or the policy has ben changed to a far more reasonable one.

There is a full page of high school articles every week, usually on Tuesdays. Previously, there was usually one article but now it's four or five articles each week.

Coverage is truly from across the GTA; often thanks to the Star's many community papers in the suburbs. Grossman was sometimes criticized on message boards for being too Toronto-centric in a market where over half of the population and the high schools are located outside the 416.

The articles are focused on the athletes, the teams, and their recent accomplishments. All too often, coverage was based around controversy and regular attacks on OFSAA, administrators, and some coaches.

(One could still get their regular dose of outrage from Grossman's early Fan590 blog posts but, after an especially heated series of posts attacking one of the regions and some administrators, the blog disappeared for a while. When it was returned, it was a much milder Dave Grossman posting. Now, with the move away from high school only, there is even less vitriol.)

While the top ten rankings are missed by some readers, most followers of high school sports had turned to various sports-specific massage boards and twitter for those debates. The top ten lists in the Star were all too often based on only a portion of a team's schedule and many questioned whether these coaches voting on the coaches poll actually existed. Regardless, I'm sure some would appreciate the return of a ranking in the major sports but based on a more comprehensive set of records. Perhaps the Star should consider partnering with sites like All Canadian Gridiron and Hooptown GTA for this.

So, is the coverage better? While some miss Grossman's style I think the majority of readers like the improved high school coverage.

Junior football gets confusing

If you were to ask 10 different junior football coaches about the playoff tiebreakers and the seeding procedure before last Friday, you might have received 10 different answers. Confusion abounded as coaches tried to figure out who was in, who was out, and who still had a slim chance. What didn't help was a set of rules with two different tie breakers for the same position.

Check out the football playing regulations. Rule 4 II. e iv (half way down page 4) states the following:

Ties for the last playoff spot(s) between wildcard teams:

1) The result of the game(s) W-L record only, between the tied clubs.

2) Defensive Record to a maximum of 21 points per game.

This will determine all positions.

Seems simple enough; wins then fewest points allowed. Many coaches saw that and went with that. However, further down the same page is section 4 III a. It deals with seeding. Included in this section is the following:

In three divisions the first place team in each division to be seeded 1, 2, or 3,

teams finishing second in each division to be seeded 4, 5, or 6 and teams

finishing third in each division to be seeded 7, 8, or 9 (the ninth seeded team will

not advance). Seeding will be determined by a teams Win-Loss record. If still

tied seeding will be determined by a teams +/- differential, should teams play an

uneven number of games the average +/- will be used.

If you don't see the problem, let me lay it out: One rule says that ties for the last playoff spot between wild card teams (i.e. the 8th spot) are broken by wins, followed by defensive record. The other rule says that 7, 8, 9 (which includes the last playoff spot for wild cards) is broken by wins, then point differential.

Confused? So were a number of coaches and so were the folks on the AllCanadianGridiron message board. Apparently attempts to clarify with the ROPSSAA office were difficult at best, with unanswered e-mails and instructions to consult the regulations. I believe that was the point; the regs were faulty so how could they be consulted? Eventually there were instructions to use point differential, something that the 9th seed might have appealed if it wasn't for the fact that the same team was 8th, regardless of which tie-breaker was used.

But imagine the fallout if that had not been the case. Looks like the coaches have a loophole to clean up at the post season meeting.

Senior Girls Basketball as the playoffs approach

Senior Girls basketball once again went with a single tier and divided tiers for the playoffs. With the season coming to an end on Friday, let's take a look.

In the Nothwest Division, Campion is once again undefeated and through to the tier one playoffs. Their only question mark is the size of the roster. Rumours abound over injuries and players quitting. With a full roster, they are one of the two or three best teams in the GTA; without, they might be rip for an early upset. Ste. Famille controls their destiny for the 2nd spot though their are scenarios where Fletchers or St. Marcellinus make it through.

The two tier 1 bound teams in the Northeast Division are already set and it came down to today's game between D'Youville and Aquinas to decide first and second.

Notre Dame has already clinched first in the Northcentral Division, while Ascension will finish second.

Perennial contender Father Goetz has the inside track on first in the Southwest Division. However, if Lorne Park upsets them in their game on Friday, there will be a three way tie with the two of them and Iona. Otherwise, Iona is second.

The Southest Division was very competitive between the top four. In the end, St. Paul takes the first place tie-breaker over Applewood.

The general consensus was that the Southcentral was the weakest division. However, division winner Mount Carmel is a solid team. None of their games were close and an underwhelming Rick Hansen team takes the second spot.

The 12 tier one qualifiers will be seeded by Monday and the top four teams will get a first round bye. My guess is those four teams will be Campion, the D'Youville-Aquinas winner, Notre Dame and Goetz. A lot depends on the final seedings since teams are not reseeded between rounds but my guess is a final repeat final between Campion and Notre Dame, with D'Youville missing out on OFSAA for the first time in ages. once again missing out on OFSAA.

Meanwhile, in the other playdowns, it will likely be one of Iona and Applewood that earns the right to be cannon fodder for the GHAC champion. However, I do like the chances of AA favourite Ascension making it to OFSAA. Brampton Christian continues to enjoy the benefits of being the only A school in Peel in most sports but will not get any further in yet another winless season.

Second Edit: St. Marcellinus defeated Ste. Famille which, thanks to the tie-breaker, allowed Fletcher's to come up the middle and take the second tier 1 playoff spot in the Northwest...and still no score for D'Youville-Aquinas.

Edit: Thank you to "Anonymous" for correcting my error about last year's ROPSSAA reps at OFSAA.

24 hours later and still no D'Youville-Campion score. Coaches, please try to use the online update for scores. Calling the score in only delays things. Besides, the deadline to report is later when you enter on-line.