https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/high-schools/2021/06/23/wiaa-board-approves-changes-wrestling-gymnastics-state-tournaments/5319504001/
Thanks to coaches association and WIAA!
Wow, movement in the right direction.
Quote from: bigG on July 05, 2021, 08:54:37 PM
Wow, movement in the right direction.
Baby Step really if you break it down. Seeding the entire bracket without adding in double elimination is not the answer. Would have rather just seen separation criteria for the top 4 and random draw the rest.
This new format for DI if seeded correctly allows the 15 and 16 seed two matches.
You obviously know going in that 8-9 match is huge now since winner likely loses to #1 seed. Then 8-9 winner likely beats 16 on back side of bracket. So win a match against kid your caliber you are in top 8 pretty much. Great for winner of 8-9 and not completely terrible for loser except they only got 1 match.
System relies on seeds being relatively close which might be a challenge. I'm still glad the change was made to seed the tournament!
Seeding is a great step, but in the end the bottom line is the tournament needs to be double elimination. Too many kids work too Dang hard for a long time to get to Madison and only get one match.
Are they going to seed every wrestler that qualifies for the state tournament or will they only seed a certain amount of individuals?
Double elimination is key for the future of the state individual tournament. But we finally will have a seeded state individual tournament, which has taken about 10 years to long from the wiaa. I am surprised that we are that conservative when we have seen our neighboring states that have been seeding theirs for years. I hope that they seed 1-16 because the 8/9 and 7/10 matchups and even the 6/11 matchups will be great first round.
Obviously seeding the tournament is a much more important fix as it helps fix the season with better head to head matches to earn seeding points. That could not have happened effectively with out eliminating the 7&7 rule. These two fixes don't cost a dime but double elimination will have an increased rent rate at the stadium and basically never allow the girls to compete next to the boys, so I am guessing its a long shot.