Some coaches are left scratching their heads after the latest round of changes to the state basketball tournament, the fourth format change since 2010.
“It’s really hard to wrap your head around the benefits of the new changes this year,” former Thomas Jefferson graduate and current West Seattle boys basketball coach Keffrey Fazio said. “There are a lot of issues regarding participation and structure when the WIAA approved this year’s format.”
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association executive board voted on and implemented a new round of changes to the high school basketball state tournament system for the upcoming season on Sept. 26, including a new Rating Percentage Index rankings system and an increase from 8 to 12 teams in the state tournament.
But a survey sent out by the Washington Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association on Jan. 25 to superintendents, revealed 81 percent of superintendents statewide approved of a 16-team, double-elimination format with all teams under one roof – as opposed 12 teams scattered across the state. The WIAA responded with its survey in June, which showed a 71 percent vote in favor of the 12-team system.
Fazio, who serves as an executive on the coaches’ association board, helped craft an open letter that stated the June survey produced by the WIAA is suspect because school administrators had already spoken.
“The new format falls four teams short of the 81 percent superintendent recommendation for a 16-team format,” the letter reads. “In response to their boss’s mandate, last June the WIAA formed a 16-member committee including superintendents, principals, ADs [athletic directors], and coaches. This committee studied a variety of plans and UNANIMOUSLY approved a 16-team format.”
The structure of the state tournament hasn’t changed, but the number of competing teams has. Last year, basketball postseason began with district tournaments. The best 16 teams from around the state went on to the regional round, and the state tournament featured the final eight teams competing for the state championship.
In 2016, the district tournament remains the same. When the 16 teams reach the regional round is when changes become evident: The 16 teams will now be ranked by the same RPI system the NCAA uses, where the 16 will be seeded upon making it to the regional round.
WIAA executive director Cindy Adsit said the seeding will be based on the following criteria:
Win-loss record: 25 percent
Opponent win-loss record: 50 percent
Opponents’ opponents win-loss record: 25 percent
Margin of victory will not be considered.
Adsit and fellow executive director Mike Colbrese take issue with the comments made in the letter by the coaches association.
“This is exactly what coaches wanted,” she said. “They voted in favor of this format unanimously. How could they not? It allows for somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 additional kids to be able to participate in the tournament. I don’t see how that’s a problem.”
“That’s why we came to this decision,” Colbrese added. “This is about giving kids, more kids, an opportunity to experience the postseason.”
Fazio and the coaches association maintain the issue is more about how the athletic association made the decision to change the format, not that the format was changed.
The WIAA maintains the format was approved by 71 percent of superintendents and their staff, but the coaches association takes issue with the validity of the coaches’ approval.
Fazio confirmed the initial contact to school districts was through a mass email from the WIAA to superintendents, then to district athletic directors, and finally to coaches.
But at the coaches association’s bi-annual meeting, which occurred shortly after the email was sent, Fazio said coaches filled the room with questions about a WIAA survey they claimed to never receive.
“We had coaches at that meeting that said they did not receive that email,” Fazio said. “So the integrity of those numbers they used is hard to say is a true representation of ‘the popular choice.’”
After coaches came forward claiming they never received the survey, through a public records request, the coaches association discovered the WIAA’s 71 percent majority came from a 26 percent turnout rate.
“Only 26 percent of the shareholders responded to the poorly timed survey,” the coaches association letter read. “Such a significant decision, which contradicted the superintendents’ mandate and unanimous committee vote, is based solely on a survey with an underwhelming sample size.”
Adsit maintained the WIAA did its due diligence prior to sending the survey.
“That’s just not true. We do our email update every year,” she said. “Where we give all athletic directors and coaches the opportunity to update their information. It’s possible some coaches didn’t get the survey, but highly unlikely.”
The survey presented by the WIAA gave schools three “options” to choose from.
“Option A,” which is what the coaches association and 81 percent of athletic directors and coaches supported in the January survey, allowed for the 16 teams to all play in a “state” venue such as the Tacoma Dome. “Option B” is what coaches voted for in the WIAA survey over the summer and how the state tournament will unfold this year.
Option B only allows for the final 8 to play in in state venues, with the regional round taking place in high school gyms.
And with Option B comes the new RPI system, which coaches also take issue with. Not all leagues are created equal, and coaches maintain that will hurt during the season.
“What if coaches have already created their schedules prior to the RPI being implemented?” Fazio wondered. “They released the RPI change on Sept. 26. I got news for you, coaches have already planned their schedules. Now the RPI comes in? If I happened to schedule a niche game, that could ultimately affect my playoff outlook just one game into the season. There’s some friction there.”
Adsit and Colbrese both admitted that playing in a weak league will have an impact on a team’s RPI. However, a strong non-league schedule also could have an effect on the rating.
The changes to the tournament also presents a familiar problem for basketball programs: Losing can result in winning it all.
The new 12-team format could again result in a scenario in which a team can lose a game during the regional round and still win the state championship.
Also, under Option B, teams will travel to play in local high school gyms rather than the entire tournament taking place at a large venue.
Fazio questioned the message the WIAA is sending to young athletes under this format.
“Is that a true representation of a champion?” Fazio asked. “Where you can have a team lose in the regional round, go into a losers bracket, win there, come back, and win the state championship? What does that say about the team that goes undefeated and deserves to be in the championship game?”
Colbrese simply acknowledged Option B is what the majority wanted.
Fazio said Washington’s tournament should be like many others across the country: A simple one-and-done tournament to determine a state champion.
“These are not easy decisions,” Colbrese said. “It wasn’t for us, and I’m sure it wasn’t for coaches. The majority had its voice heard, and I commend all the people who were involved for putting this all together.”
But tournament venue is also a sticking point for the coaches association. In the current format, schools will travel to others to play in the regional – only the final 12 get to play at major venues.
Washington state basketball faced just this dilemma in 2013, when a casualty of the format change that season was the Thomas Jefferson Raiders. The Raiders reached the regionals (field of 16) for the second time since 1974 and the team was forced to travel to Puyallup to face Curtis — a less-than-neutral site for Jefferson.
Jefferson coach Kyle Templeton expressed his concerns for the system to Adsit in an email, saying he felt the determining factors for who got to play a home game were skewed. He said if the WIAA would just have everyone under one roof at the Tacoma Dome, for example, the players would have an unforgettable experience, and it would eliminate skepticism from coaches on who gets be the host team.
“As I mentioned I coached at the state tournament three times and was a member of one team who made it as a player,” Templeton’s email read. “It was one of the highlights of my life. The fact that each year eight teams in each classification don’t get to share in that experience is very sad to say the least. In fact, it hurts especially hard for my school and my team. This would have been the first year EVER, in 40 plus years of the school, that we would have advanced to “the state tournament” if it were the same as it has been in the past.
“Losing that experience will hurt me for a long time. If you were at our game you would have noticed our enormous crowd. Students, staff, parents, community members, etc were out in full force. It would have been great to have them all in the Tacoma Dome.”
After receiving calls and emails from coaches and players that echoed Templeton’s sentiments, the WIAA changed the format the next year.
The WIAA and the coaches association are at an impasse with the issue.
Adsit and Colbrese see the format change as one that superintendents, athletic directors and coaches unanimously voted to approve. The athletic association is also of the belief that Option B is the most beneficial to players.
Fazio said the purpose of the letter was the coaches association’s attempt to inform coaches, players and fans that the basketball landscape was changing once again.
He said the board hoped to send the message that the new tournament changes are not in the best interest of the kids, and he said there’s concern because there’s a lack of collaboration between the two organizations with a common goal of providing the best postseason experience for players.
“Changes are happening, but there’s not much teamwork being involved,” Fazio said. “[The WIAA] taking things and just kind of running with it. For the coaches side, we’d just like some transparency, some kind of voice.”
Adsit said the WIAA’s position is always to make sure athletes get the best experience possible.
“We’ve been doing this a long time,” she said. “We always do what’s best for them, and we will continue to do that. We have a pretty good grasp on that.”
This new format may not be around for long, either. Colbrese said the WIAA is always open to adjusting the tournament format – the statement from the WIAA reads, in part, “The State Basketball Format Committee will continue to refine the details of the RPI system.”
Coaches like Fazio are left scratching their heads with the WIAA’s decision on the state tournament format change. He said he’s personally confused because he doesn’t understand how the athletic association can say 12 teams at large sites like the Tacoma Dome benefits players more than 16 teams at the Tacoma Dome.
Coaches and players are just over two weeks away from the start of the season. With the new RPI system in place and a smaller opportunity to make the state tournament, coaches and players can only wait and wonder if they play in a strong enough league to make it.
“There’s no other motive for 16 other than to put more kids on a big stage,” Fazio said. “Sixteen gives more opportunity to play than 12. That’s our frustration.
“This constant change in format is unacceptable. It just seems to be a constant cycle of frustration – and remember, it’s the kids who suffer here.”
