Boring Impartiality
January 6, 2017
Some people – like our U.S. President-Elect and, apparently, like the NCAA Division I Football Playoff Selection Committee – seem to believe that all publicity, no matter how negative, is good publicity. If it draws attention to your candidacy or championships series, no matter how embarrassing, it’s okay – even good.
That’s not the belief of the Michigan High School Athletic Association. As an organization that must too often do unpopular things, like enforce rules that others don’t and impose penalties that others won’t, the MHSAA prefers to avoid creating controversy where there are options to do so.
The structure of MHSAA tournaments provides some options.
Tournaments which exclude no teams or individuals provoke less controversy than those with a limited field. Tournaments which favor no teams through a seeding scheme cause fewer arguments.
If our only purpose were to increase revenues, there is much we could do to gerrymander MHSAA tournaments in order to shorten, smooth out and straighten the tournament trail for the teams with the best records and biggest crowds during the regular season, like the NCAA women’s and NIT men’s basketball tournaments do.
But if fairness – blind, boring impartiality – is more important to us, then we will not force the teams with the poorest regular season records to face off in bracket rat-tails and we will not provide the teams with the best regular season records a tournament trail that avoids similar teams for as long as possible.
This approach opens us to criticism that we are dumb to be different and stupid to reject the revenue-generating practices of major college and professional sports organizations. But no one can claim we are unfair.
It’s not unfair to treat all schools the same. The unfairness begins – and real controversy follows – when an organization tries to favor some teams over others.
A Temporary Fix
December 8, 2017
After six months of effort, there is only a 12-month solution for issues affecting the girls and boys basketball seasons and Michigan High School Athletic Association basketball tournaments.
On Dec. 1, the MHSAA Representative Council approved switching the girls and boys basketball calendars for 2018-19 only. Boys basketball adopts the regular season and tournament schedules that have previously been in effect for girls, and girls basketball adopts the regular season and tournament schedules that have been in place for boys. The Semifinal and Final venues will continue to be Van Noord Arena at Calvin College for girls and MSU’s Breslin Student Events Center for boys.
Decisions regarding schedules and sites for the 2019-20 season and beyond will be determined by the Council at a later meeting.
The MHSAA’s hand has been forced by NCAA Division I women’s basketball tournament conflicts with the traditional dates for MHSAA basketball tournaments. That changing NCAA schedule and other factors have combined to limit venue options for MHSAA tournaments. Just one facility large enough to host the MHSAA boys Semifinals and Finals is available in 2019 and 2020. That’s MSU’s Breslin Center.
Many other basketball scheduling options have been studied during the past six months, including moving both tournaments a week earlier or later, separating the girls and boys tournaments by an additional week, or conducting both tournaments over the same three weeks with only the four championship games for each gender at MSU.
However, because 2019 is not a typical year for how the NCAA and MHSAA calendars relate to one another, (2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022 are typical), more innovative changes in formats and schedules made for 2019 would have needed adjustment again for 2020.
The decision to switch seasons and tournaments for one year only allows a test of the opinion that the transition from fall to winter sports might be better if boys basketball started before girls.
The decision also provides Calvin College the opportunity to host the girls Semifinals and Finals at least twice at Van Noord Arena, which has twice hosted NCAA Division III championships in both women’s basketball and women’s volleyball. Two years is our usual minimum; and tournaments almost always run more smoothly in the second year than in the first year at a venue. Van Noord is the largest NCAA Division III arena in the country.
In any event, more time is needed to further study and explain more innovative scheduling and tournament formats, and possibly gain better understanding and greater support for grander plans.