On basketball playoffs and drawing for top seeds
January 23rd, 2013 by nathan joyceSo Olympic and Sequim both won their boys basketball games
Tuesday night and stayed tied atop the Olympic League standings at
10-1.
Both have favorable schedules for the final five games as they face
only one team over .500, and that’s Bremerton which is a game back
in third. Oly hosts the Knights while Sequim is at Bremerton.
If both teams win out (or just remained tied atop the league
standings), they would share the Olympic League title. Oly hasn’t
won a league basketball title since 1986.
But Sequim, based on preseason draw, would get the top seed into
the Class 2A West Central District tournament. The first
tiebreaker is head to to head (and Sequim and Olympic split so it’s
applicable here). The tiebreaker is significant as the top seed
gets a first-round bye at districts and the loser has to play a
loser-out first-round game.
The draw is done by athletic directors and gives teams a rank from
top to bottom. Say North Mason drew the three and Bremerton drew
the six. If both teams were tied and a tiebreaker was needed, North
Mason would get the higher seed.
The Olympic League has this format, as opposed to a one-game
playoff, to avoid having to play extra games. If Sequim and Olympic
were tied at the end of the season, which ends Friday, Feb. 8, they
would have to play a tiebreaker on Monday, Feb. 11. The first round
of districts is Feb. 13. That means the loser of Monday’s game
would turn around and play on Wednesday against a rested team.
UPDATE: Got an email today saying this might not be the case. There is a provision in the league tiebreaking rules for teams tying for the league title. The provision says if a distinct advantage can be gained by seeding, the two teams will play. Olympic AD Nate Andrews said there is likely to be a tiebreaker played if the two teams finish tied.
Here’s a few other playoff tidbits.
The Bainbridge boys are looking as if they’ll finish as somewhere
between the 7th and the 10th seeds into the Metro League
tournament. Those teams have to play a loser-out,
winner-to-districts game in the first round of the Metro League Tournament. Getting
the seventh or eighth seed into the Class 3A SeaKing District
Tournament means hosting that loser out game. The key for
Bainbridge will be winning at Chief Sealth next week.
Couple key games for the Narrows League this week. South Kitsap
hosts two key games. Wednesday, they play Bellarmine Prep, which
has a half game lead for first place in the Narrows League
standings. Friday, they host Central Kitsap, which is tied with
Stadium for third. The top four make it in, but the top two teams
host the first round of the Class
4A West Central/Southwest district tournament.
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
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