There’s rarely a dull moment in the West Virginia high school sports scene.
From preseason classification uncertainty to in-season lawsuits, there have been plenty of unusual happenings the last several years, the majority of which have caused quite a stir.
Thursday’s release of the boys basketball regional brackets may take the cake.
Specifically, Capital as the No. 6 seed in Class AAA Region III has drawn plenty of negative attention, and rightfully so.
The Cougars have a 17-4 record and have been at or near the top of Triple-A in both the statewide coaches poll and MetroNews Power Rankings throughout the season. They now find themselves seeded ahead of two of seven teams in their region.
Capital is 12-3 against Quad-A and Triple-A competition and has a win at defending state champion Bridgeport to its credit. The three losses are to Parkersburg South, George Washington and Chapmanville. A strong case can be made those are three of the top 10 programs in the state this season, regardless of class.
Capital’s other setback, along with one of its wins, came against out-of-state competition.
Yet because the Cougars didn’t play any of their seven regional foes, coaches from four of those schools — Shady Spring, Greenbrier East, Princeton and PikeView — found it in them to seed the Cougars last among seven teams (coaches do not seed their team).
“I’m going to call it like I see it — it’s collusion [between] Greenbrier East, Princeton, PikeView and Shady Spring,” Capital Principal Jon Anderson said.
That sentiment certainly wasn’t shared across the region, however. Ripley, Herbert Hoover and Nicholas County had Capital the No. 1 seed.
Ultimately, the Cougars came in at No. 6 and will begin postseason play next Thursday at No. 3 Greenbrier East. The winner would then likely be in line to play at No. 2 Shady Spring for a spot in the state tournament.
Ripley (17-4) is the No. 1 seed in Region III. The Tigers and Spartans both have 14 victories, a number of them quality wins, and either team is good enough to pose a significant challenge to Capital.
At this point, the result of next Thursday’s game and what occurs thereafter is irrelevant as it pertains to the main issue — the Cougars shouldn’t be a No. 6 seed, nor should they be playing a postseason game away from home.
I’d have Capital the No. 1 seed in Region III, and I don’t see any argument for the Cougars being outside the top two.
“If you poll every [other] triple-A team in the state of West Virginia, nobody is going to have us outside of the top three or four,” Anderson said.
But because adults opted to take a stance against the Cougars’ schedule and lack of regional opponents, it’ll almost certainly require Capital to win twice on the road against programs plenty capable of winning at the state tournament.
In the days leading up to seeding, there was talk it could play out this way, so much so that the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission sent an email to Region III schools, in part reminding them “of your responsibility to help protect the integrity of the regional seeding process”, and for seeding to “reflect an accurate assessment based on performance and not personal or program bias.”
Those wishes fell on deaf ears.
“Shame on whoever voted us seventh, because they’re only kids,” Anderson said. “This is kids we’re talking about. I’m a 51-year-old grown man and if somebody doesn’t like me, so be it. But when you mess with my kids, I have a problem.”
I’m not at all opposed to regional regular season matchups being required, but that’s hardly the point here.
Capital has obligations within the Mountain State Athletic Conference, of which it’s the lone member among Region III teams. The Cougars also competed at the 4A level last season.
Under no circumstance should the Cougars be negatively impacted in seeding by traveling 2 hours north to play at a defending state champion that isn’t a regional or conference foe, particularly when that game results in a win.
Essentially, Capital could’ve forfeited regular season games from mid-January on, and it would have an identical or similar seed to what it got.
Would the Cougars resume truly be better with victories over any of the four Region III teams (Princeton, Herbert Hoover, Nicholas County and PikeView) not above the .500 mark? Of course not.
If the results of non-regional games don’t matter, why play them?
“It’s ridiculous. As a coach, that’s cowardly, man,” said Braxton County’s Josh Lunceford, head coach of a Double-A program unaffected by this particular matter. “How do you take a team that plays a 4A and 3A schedule and has been No. 1 in the state all year long in 3A, and you’re going to vote them seventh in your region? There’s no integrity there. Something is going to have to happen, because that should never be a thing. I don’t know if they have to go to mathematical stuff or whatever, but that should never happen.”
Altering the format to go away from coaches voting will gain popularity and has before. Other teams will take issue with their seeding and can claim to have a legitimate gripe, too, with Buckhannon-Upshur one that comes to mind in Quad-A.
But all of those pale in comparison to what happened to Capital.
The significance of basketball’s regular season is already somewhat diminished considering every school qualifies for the postseason.
Perhaps a point system similar to football or a different method to determine seeding will come into place down the line and bring about more fairness.
The current one clearly lacks it.