Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 16, 1994 TAG: 9401160051
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Now GW-Danville, the team that finished 9-1 but was left out of the 1993 playoffs because the Northwestern Region Division 6 grouping had so many strong teams, is making a proposal that will help eliminate some weaker sisters from making postseason play.
The Eagles are asking that the Group AAA change its playoff format so the only automatic qualifiers in Group AAA Divisions 5 and 6 will be district champions. All wild-card spots then will be filled by the highest ranking teams according to the Virginia High School League power ratings.
Currently, district champions qualify and wild-card teams are picked for each region by the ratings. The difference in the new proposal is that wild-card teams will be picked on a statewide basis and not within the region.
After that is accomplished, the top-ranked team in the power ratings will face the 16th team, No. 2 will meet No. 15 and so on in the first round. The higher-rated team in each pairing will have the home field.
In round 2, it again will be the top-ranked squad playing the lowest-rated. So a team that finishes No. 1, regardless of whether it's a district champion, always will be at home as long as it's in the playoffs. It also always will face the lowest-ranked team.
If this format had been adopted this year, the Division 6 playoff competitors, in order, would have been L.C. Bird, Pulaski County, Indian River, Thomas Dale, Gar-Field, Highland Springs, Annandale, Lake Braddock, Hylton, West Springfield, GW-Danville, Herndon, Lee-Davis, Maury, Prince George and Woodbridge.
The difference is that Pulaski County would have played Prince George instead of Hylton in the opening round. Annandale, which beat Pulaski County for the title, would have played West Springfield in the first round. Had the Atoms and Pulaski County each won, Annandale would have played a second-round game in Dublin.
Anyone think Pulaski County, with a healthy Eric Webb, wouldn't have won that game?
In Division 5, the teams would have been Norcom, Hayfield, Kecoughtan, Langley, George Marshall, Phoebus, Henrico, Hampton, Patrick Henry-Ashland, Deep Creek, Huguenot, Patrick Henry-Roanoke, Yorktown, Washington-Lee, E.C. Glass and John Marshall.
Patrick Henry-Roanoke, rated 12th, would have played a first-round game at Langley. Stonewall Jackson-Manassas, the team that beat PH in the first round at Victory Stadium, wouldn't have made the playoffs.
"I think this will appeal to a lot of people in that it does away with so many replays in the region," GW coach Ed Martin said. "It doesn't mean teams won't play back-to-back [as Glass and Heritage, along with Woodbridge and Gar-Field, did this year]. It shortens the odds."
Martin said he believes this system assures getting the best 16 teams.
This past year, Hylton went to the playoffs instead of GW-Danville because a game played by the Bulldogs in West Virginia was stopped at halftime, never completed and not counted in the power ratings.
GW-Danville's proposal seems logical, but it has some problems. First, what happens to the regional concept and the money each region takes in for the first two games that helps pay for non-revenue competition?
"That's a fair question," Martin said. "All money from the first two rounds will be divided equally among the regions. We've done some work on this, and there doesn't seem to be much difference in what regions get. The Northwestern would make a little more, but our teams have to travel farther."
Still, this might be a sticking point, said Virginia High School League programs supervisor Larry Johnson.
"The regions get a lot of money," Johnson said. "This will involve more travel since it will be the top-ranked teams playing the lower-ranked clubs. But West Virginia operates this way, though it's the only state I'm aware that does it this way."
The proposal is only for Group AAA. Martin said GW didn't feel that the lower classification schools could afford to do it if, say, a team from the Bristol area was forced to travel for a first-round playoff game on the Eastern Shore.
\ THREE-POINTERS: Coaches, remember to begin calling in Timesland basketball and wrestling statistics Monday.
This week's statistics will provide plenty of numbers for comparison of Timesland teams. Here's a sample:
Cave Spring's boys' basketball team had put up 189 shots from 3-point range before Friday's game against Patrick Henry and had made 63 for 33.3 percent. James Irvin (29-for-71), Matt Matheny (12-for-35) and Dusty Beekman (10-for-30) had taken most of those shots for the Knights.
\ REGION III TOURNAMENT: There will be a change in the Region III basketball tournament, for which the Piedmont District is serving as host.
Instead of being played three nights at one school as has been done in the past, games will be divided between Bassett and Magna Vista.
There will be a first-round game each at Bassett and Magna Vista on Tuesday, March 1, and a semifinal game at those sites on March 3. The championship game is scheduled for Bassett on March 5.
If either Magna Vista or Bassett makes the region tournament, the team will play on its home court.
by CNB