Is 4A going to be boring all the way to semis...

[PanthersWildcats86]

Hmmm. only one second round game in 4A even close to running clock...But the favorites rumble along...

Marengo @ IC...suspect another mere speed bump for the Knights...

Richmond-Burton @ Coal City...should be the only good game in the quarters, Coalers should hold serve at home...

Rochester @ Taylorville...shorter drive than some conference games for both schools - appears only to be a 84 student hs district between them...but the Tornados may not be windy enough to slow down the Rockets attack...

McNamara @ Effingham...nice drive for the Irish, much nicer than their first two opponents had to make to Kankakee...but the Irish will just get off the bus running...

I figure 99% of 4A brackets had IC, the RB-CC winner, Rochester & Mac in the final four...boring...

 

[Magnum Opus]

Hmmm. only one second round game in 4A even close to running clock...But the favorites rumble along...

Marengo @ IC...suspect another mere speed bump for the Knights...

Richmond-Burton @ Coal City...should be the only good game in the quarters, Coalers should hold serve at home...

Rochester @ Taylorville...shorter drive than some conference games for both schools - appears only to be a 84 student hs district between them...but the Tornados may not be windy enough to slow down the Rockets attack...

McNamara @ Effingham...nice drive for the Irish, much nicer than their first two opponents had to make to Kankakee...but the Irish will just get off the bus running...

I figure 99% of 4A brackets had IC, the RB-CC winner, Rochester & Mac in the final four...boring...

Worse...gotta wait for IC V BMAN

 

[Doctor_D]

BMac v Rochester should be a good one.

 

[dcaudle68]

There is only 2-4A games that matter. BMac and Rochester and the winner against IC. Everything else means nothing.

 

[Wilmatucky]

I think 4a Semi's and Title game should be great. Im predicting IC Vs Mac/Rochester in the finals. IC wins.

I think that overall 4a is very tough. Have the first and second round games been blowouts....sure.....but what class doesn't have that. CC vs RB should be a great quarters game.

 

[UIUC 17]

Not sure if the original post was intended as a personal shot to the class because of the teams that are left, but I feel that this post applies to all 8 classes. Not too many surprises after the first 2 rounds

 

[Coalertown44]

There is only 2-4A games that matter. BMac and Rochester and the winner against IC. Everything else means nothing.

I think it matters to the other 5 teams too

 

[Wilmatucky]

Let's be real too the seeding system is a joke. It gives us a guess as to how it should be, but it's nearly impossible to figure out strength of schedule and quality of opponents in HS athletics.

 

[Doctor_D]

Let's be real too the seeding system is a joke. It gives us a guess as to how it should be, but it's nearly impossible to figure out strength of schedule and quality of opponents in HS athletics.

Seeding is what it is. At least it is transparent. I don't know if you saw the post about NJ playoff selection and such. Illinois does it better than them for sure. I'd like to see the option of deferring the first round. Semis should probably be played at a neutral site - not sure how feasible that is.

 

[Wilmatucky]

Seeding is what it is. At least it is transparent. I don't know if you saw the post about NJ playoff selection and such. Illinois does it better than them for sure. I'd like to see the option of deferring the first round. Semis should probably be played at a neutral site - not sure how feasible that is.

I have said that first round should be deferred forever. I'm either way about neutral field Semi's. I saw the NJ post.......that is insane lol.....I'm not sure what a better solution would be for IL but I'm sure there has to be something.

 

[iamgroot_rivals225093]

Seeding is what it is. At least it is transparent. I don't know if you saw the post about NJ playoff selection and such. Illinois does it better than them for sure. I'd like to see the option of deferring the first round. Semis should probably be played at a neutral site - not sure how feasible that is.

Neutral sites add to costs. Already one team is having to bus wherever, now you're guaranteeing both teams will have to bus. There's also the issue of renting the venue.

 

[4Anorth(not4aFan)]

Just looked real quick.....last year in 4A-8A semis,7 of the 10 teams that advanced to the championships in Dekalb won their semi final game on the road. I know it's a narrow sample size.

 

[iamgroot_rivals225093]

Let's be real too the seeding system is a joke. It gives us a guess as to how it should be, but it's nearly impossible to figure out strength of schedule and quality of opponents in HS athletics.

I was talking to someone about this the other day and it got brought up the idea of some sort of conference multiplier based on how teams advance such that conferences that regularly send teams deeper into the playoffs will skew their seeds higher in following years and conferences that have their teams lose in the first round will see their seeds be dropped. It'd always be a trailing factor, similar to the success factor, but it'd help to adjust things. Obviously formulas and implementations is where it would get tricky, as with any system.

 

[PanthersWildcats86]

Not sure if the original post was intended as a personal shot to the class because of the teams that are left, but I feel that this post applies to all 8 classes. Not too many surprises after the first 2 rounds

There are generically three main groups of posters here on Edgytim who discuss 3A & 4A...1) the Rochester should be success factored group; 2) the IC is awesome group; and 3) the I-8 group...Before anyone had one practice, the prediction was an IC-Rochester final in 4A...Then McNamara lost at IC in the last 30 seconds, and the group added the 4) does Mac become the favorite in 3A, or go 4A...A realitively short-lived theme, after SHG blew Rochester out, was whether the Rockets were state title game quality...

Round 1, the only lower seeds to win were 9 & 10 in the North, and 10 in the South...

Round 2, North 1-2-3 seeds win, with 5 seed Marengo beating 4 seed Chicago Urban Prep Bronzeville (who probably had the biggest upset round 1, beating Metro Red Champion Elgin St. Edward, even though it was a 4-13 game)....South 1-3-4 seeds win, with Effingham "upsetting" Paris in a 2-10 matchup (Paris won their first ever playoff game round 1, in only their 4th ever playoff appearance)...

So, 4A is following form far better than the other classes so far...Closest 2nd round game was 16 points (Effingham)...Right now, the big three are still rolling. Coal City & RB should be a great game...the other three, probably not so much...could be three running clocks in the quarters here. Boring...

I suppose the not boring Round 2 event was Murphysboro getting to Mac and discovering they were playing a pass-heavy squad...Hiller broke the Mac school record by throwing 6 TD passes in the blowout...

 

[Coalertown44]

I think Taylorville will make this a game. Rochester defense has given up a lot of points this year. And Tville can light up the scoreboard. Now the CC/RB game might not see 30 total points scored

 

[Doctor_D]

Of those listed, I’d say I fall into multiple groups.

 

[Wilmatucky]

I fall into the I8 group......as far as your point about boring, I guess 4A is just chipping away to get to the best teams. Is that boring? Some might say it is, some might say that the first 2 rounds arnt meant to be exciting. By nature of the bracket the goal would be to have 1,2,3,4 in the semis. Think how lame they will be when one day all teams are in the playoffs. You won't see any close games until the third or fourth round.

3A shows a little more excitement mainly because A) it is a wide open class that I realistically think multiple teams have a shot of winning, and B) in 3A you still see a lot of those central IL schools that play a weak conference of small schools (Farmington or the CPS for example) and therefore end up having inflated records which allows them to earn a high seed. This causes a school like Greeneville or Herscher to "upset" the higher seed, when in reality they are actually the better team.

 

[Wilmatucky]

Seeding is what it is. At least it is transparent. I don't know if you saw the post about NJ playoff selection and such. Illinois does it better than them for sure. I'd like to see the option of deferring the first round. Semis should probably be played at a neutral site - not sure how feasible that is.

Ya know, after reading panthers last post about the boredom in 4a (which is basically saying that yes the seeding is working), I do think that the current system is not terrible. The basic process makes sense. The problems occur when you have a team that chases wins, and then the opposite side of the spectrum, a team who is really good and plays a really tough schedule.

Can you imagine if Westmont would have won all 9 games with year with a playoff point total of 18 (or whatever they had). They would have almost certainly been upset by whoever they played first round.

Then you have a team like IC in 2010? maybe ? They had a tough regular season and dropped to 2a that year and cruised to a state title. I believe the only 5-4 team to ever win a state title.

We have to come up with some type of universal strength of schedule formula to level the playing field a little bit.

 

[PanthersWildcats86]

Can you imagine if Westmont would have won all 9 games with a playoff point total of 18 (or whatever they had). They would have almost certainly been upset by whoever they played first round.

Evil karma would have had Westmont being the 9-0 2 seed, getting a 5-4 15 seed CPS school round 1 and the 7-10 game being two CPS teams as well...Resulting in a first quarter running clock by the 3 seed in the quarters...lol...

The hidden issue in 4A, no one seems to have broached, is that a McNamara-IC title game results in both schools being success factored to 5A next year...It would be 3 title games in a row for IC, resulting in the second bump, and 2 title games in 4 years for Mac, resulting in bump one despite Mac missing the playoffs 2 straight years...

 

[iamgroot_rivals225093]

Evil karma would have had Westmont being the 9-0 2 seed, getting a 5-4 15 seed CPS school round 1 and the 7-10 game being two CPS teams as well...Resulting in a first quarter running clock by the 3 seed in the quarters...lol...

The hidden issue in 4A, no one seems to have broached, is that a McNamara-IC title game results in both schools being success factored to 5A next year...It would be 3 title games in a row for IC, resulting in the second bump, and 2 title games in 4 years for Mac, resulting in bump one despite Mac missing the playoffs 2 straight years...

Was Mac 4a the first appearance? I think that might help them stay down.

 

[Coalertown44]

Maybe I am crazy but the more I look in to the game the more I think Tville has a chance to beat Rochester. Am I nuts?

 

[dcaudle68]

Maybe I am crazy but the more I look in to the game the more I think Tville has a chance to beat Rochester. Am I nuts?

I would be very surprised but not to the level of stunned I would be in previous years. If the break fall there way I think they could pull the upset but it would definitely be an upset even this year.

 

[emidln]

Rochester handles Taylorville 64-26 including being up 42-6 at the half.

 

[Coalertown44]

Yeah I must of been crazy lol