There is quite a bit of past frustration in this complaint as well, but the IHSAA method of assigning brackets is so freaking bad. Specifically with this years football the only way I could come up with was they did it by 1 or 2 seed then ranked them by overall record, but that doesn't work because Lewis Central should have then played Centennial. My frustration is Urbandale seems to always play the top teams.This is the case in past years with the basketball tournament. With the basketball tournament I at least can understand the methodology for it.
I guess my point is that Urbandale historically plays incredibly difficult non-conference/district schedules. They seem to be punished for that. What can be done to make this work better? In the playoffs is it really necessary to separate the eastern side of the state. I know within the metro, at least my experience, the eastern half of the state is seen as a relative cakewalk. There are definitely good teams out there, but they don't have to play anyone. I'd like to see the eastern teams play the central and western teams. That could get new teams playing each other. In the case of 4A I don't think the expense is an issue. I get the issue of school, but you could play the games on Saturdays to eliminate that issue.
At the end of the day I'd like to see a better distribution of talent. The majority of good teams are in the metro and the state hasn't done a good job of representing that.
I guess my point is that Urbandale historically plays incredibly difficult non-conference/district schedules. They seem to be punished for that. What can be done to make this work better? In the playoffs is it really necessary to separate the eastern side of the state. I know within the metro, at least my experience, the eastern half of the state is seen as a relative cakewalk. There are definitely good teams out there, but they don't have to play anyone. I'd like to see the eastern teams play the central and western teams. That could get new teams playing each other. In the case of 4A I don't think the expense is an issue. I get the issue of school, but you could play the games on Saturdays to eliminate that issue.
At the end of the day I'd like to see a better distribution of talent. The majority of good teams are in the metro and the state hasn't done a good job of representing that.