Capital\u2019s other setback, along with one of its wins, came against out-of-state competition.<\/p>\n
Yet because the Cougars didn\u2019t play any of their seven regional foes, coaches from four of those schools \u2014 Shady Spring, Greenbrier East, Princeton and PikeView \u2014 found it in them to seed the Cougars last among seven teams (coaches do not seed their team).<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to call it like I see it \u2014 it\u2019s collusion [between] Greenbrier East, Princeton, PikeView and Shady Spring,\u201d Capital Principal Jon Anderson said.<\/p>\n
That sentiment certainly wasn\u2019t shared across the region, however. Ripley, Herbert Hoover and Nicholas County had Capital the No. 1 seed.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n At this point, the result of next Thursday\u2019s game and what occurs thereafter is irrelevant as it pertains to the main issue \u2014 the Cougars shouldn\u2019t be a No. 6 seed, nor should they be playing a postseason game away from home.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019d have Capital the No. 1 seed in Region III, and I don\u2019t see any argument for the Cougars being outside the top two.<\/p>\n \u201cIf 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,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n But because adults opted to take a stance against the Cougars\u2019 schedule and lack of regional opponents, it\u2019ll almost certainly require Capital to win twice on the road against programs plenty capable of winning at the state tournament.<\/p>\n 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 \u201cof your responsibility to help protect the integrity of the regional seeding process\u201d, and for seeding to \u201creflect an accurate assessment based on performance and not personal or program bias.\u201d<\/p>\n Those wishes fell on deaf ears.<\/p>\n \u201cShame on whoever voted us seventh, because they\u2019re only kids,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cThis is kids we\u2019re talking about. I\u2019m a 51-year-old grown man and if somebody doesn\u2019t like me, so be it. But when you mess with my kids, I have a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019m not at all opposed to regional regular season matchups being required, but that\u2019s hardly the point here.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Capital has obligations within the Mountain State Athletic Conference, of which it\u2019s the lone member among Region III teams. The Cougars also competed at the 4A level last season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 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\u2019t a regional or conference foe, particularly when that game results in a win.<\/p>\n Essentially, Capital could\u2019ve forfeited regular season games from mid-January on, and it would have an identical or similar seed to what it got.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n If the results of non-regional games don\u2019t matter, why play them?<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s ridiculous. As a coach, that\u2019s cowardly, man,\u201d said Braxton County’s Josh Lunceford, head coach of a Double-A program unaffected by this particular matter. \u201cHow 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\u2019re going to vote them seventh in your region? There\u2019s no integrity there. Something is going to have to happen, because that should never be a thing. I don\u2019t know if they have to go to mathematical stuff or whatever, but that should never happen.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n But all of those pale in comparison to what happened to Capital.<\/p>\n The significance of basketball\u2019s regular season is already somewhat diminished considering every school qualifies for the postseason.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The current one clearly lacks it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Cougars are the sixth seed in the eight-team Class AAA Region III despite being at or near the top of multiple statewide polls throughout the season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":652697,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-660057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-high-school-sports","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.us-east-005.backblazeb2.com\/wvmn-s3\/2025\/12\/BQPNEWS91057-490x327.jpg\")