Norcals

[colhenrylives]

Again, the strong indication is that a new emphasis on competitive equity will produce a collection of weaker teams toward the bottom of the divisional arrangement, making those brackets relatively unwatchable as the tourney progresses. Not sure if that's the intent. But the seeding is going to be much more subjective and controversial now.

 

[myko98]

It will be interesting to see if there are some favorites by the seeding committee. Are they truly after competitive equity or do they still like certain teams to win their division? For example, will last years DIV winner get to stay DIV when they might be able to really compete at the DII level? if truly done with equity lens, the games should be competitive up and down the divisions. Hopefully the SoCal brackets are created the same way. There has been much written about how the different the North and South are. That will be evident by the brackets being created.

To me, there has to be a carrot dangled out there for the open teams. For example, maybe if you are in selected to go open, you are guaranteed a top 16 in the state ranking. The value of a state title is evident by the trophy and banner you get to hang. Some times probably wouldn't mind winning DIV titles every single year. You have something to hang up and celebrate. Getting knocked out in the first round of Open has no tangible reward unless the final rankings could reflect a top 16 ranking or a banner could be hung that states TOP 16 in the entire state of California.

 

[observer22]

Again, the strong indication is that a new emphasis on competitive equity will produce a collection of weaker teams toward the bottom of the divisional arrangement, making those brackets relatively unwatchable as the tourney progresses.

I know that’s the narrative, but I think D5 is going to look a lot like it did last year, and D4 as well. Except for the top few teams, most of the D5 teams are likely to stay in D5. And you still need to make the section semis to qualify except for a few at large berths and backfills.

But if a weak D3 team drops down to D5 and wins it, that wouldn’t go over well with a lot of people. It should make for closer games and fewer blowouts. It will be an interesting process to be sure.

 

[damim]

I'll be curious to see where the D5 winner of the University vs Branson game ends up as both teams are head and shoulders above every other team in that division. I'm thinking middle of the pack D3?