Here we go: 5A West Playoff Scenarios

[sevenof400]

As the 5A West race winds down, here is what we know.

Girls

• Farmington has won the 5A West Conf title with their victory over Vilonia in round 14 and is the 1 seed.
• Harrison is the 2 seed as Harrison holds the tiebreaker over Vilonia.
• Vilonia is the 3 seed.
• Greenbrier is the 4th seed.

Head to head tiebreakers:
Teams in bold own the better point differential in head to head games where the two teams split the games.
Teams in bold red swept the other team - which can be important should three way ties occur

Vilonia - Harrison: Vilonia won game 1 (round 1) by 5, Harrison won game 2 (round by 7 / Harrison owns split tiebreaker

[sevenof400]

And now, the boys situation.

Boys

• Maumelle (1 or 2), Vilonia (1 or 2), and Morrilton (3) and Clarksville (4) will advance to the state tournament.
• The reschedule game to Feb 26 between LR Christian and Maumelle looms large in all of this. 

For the boys, there are so many possibilities here that it is best to start by considering the head to head situations for Maumelle, Vilonia, and Morrilton:

Head to head tiebreakers:
Teams in bold own the better point differential in head to head games where the two teams split the games.
Teams in bold red swept the other team - which can be important should three way ties occur

Maumelle - Vilonia: Maumelle won game 1 (round 2) by 15, Vilonia won game 2 (round 9) by 3 / Maumelle owns split tiebreaker
Maumelle - Morrilton: Maumelle won game 1 (round 3) by 16, Morrilton won game 2 (round 10) by 5 / Maumelle owns split tiebreaker

Remaining schedule:
Maumelle: LR Christian
Vilonia:  done
Morrilton: @ LR Christian

While Maumelle would appear to have the inside track to the title (especially with the extra game in hand), they finish with two tough games against teams still in the playoff hunt.  No matter what happens in round 13, Harrison will still be alive for a playoff berth in round 14 so Maumelle will have to earn the conference title the old fashion way - they'll have to earn it...

[Ponca]

Harrison just needs to beat Clarksville on Tuesday then any of the following and they're in

Greenbrier lose a game
Harrison beat Maumelle

That's it.

[sevenof400]

Harrison just needs to beat Clarksville on Tuesday then any of the following and they're in

Greenbrier lose a game
Harrison beat Maumelle

That's it.

Well gee Ponca - what's the fun in only looking at Harrison?

However, what if Clarksville beats Harrison?  By the end of the day Wednesday (assuming all games are played) you could have four teams tied at 6-7 AND three teams tied at 9-4!

[Go Postal]

and once again seven, I'm glad that I met you and call you a friend in more than one sport.  Thank you for this summary.  Ponca, you blew my mind on before the last game, but seven has totally blown my mind on this.  Where is hacker when you need him?   Welcome Maumelle, Farmington and LRCA into the Wild, Wild West.  This doesn't change for other sports also.

[sevenof400]

You're welcome Go Postal - and the feeling is mutual!

Let me add the following on the boys side - if there is a three way tie for the title between Maumelle, Morrilton and Vilonia, Maumelle would own the three way tiebreaker and be the champion. 

[vtowneagles]

I LOVE GIRLS BASKETBALL. ITS SO AWESOME AND FUN TO WATCH.

[MDXPHD]

I LOVE GIRLS BASKETBALL. ITS SO AWESOME AND FUN TO WATCH.

I think it's hilarious how high you are on Vilonia boys basketball since they beat Batesville by 9. Have they beaten anybody worth mentioning? Is the conference similar to how it is in football now?

[vtowneagles]

I think it's hilarious that I haven't expresses that I was that "high" on Vilonia! I just think they will beat chapel or white hall by alot! But It would be very cool if you could show me your evidence!

[sevenof400]

With tonight's LR Christian - Vilonia results:

LR Christian is eliminated from contention for the boys post season.

[sevenof400]

Modifying the first two posts as I type this.

[mijally]

Seven I have a question. If teams are tied at the end are they considered co-champions and the tiebreaker determines playoff seeds or do the tiebreakers determine 1 conference champion?

[Ponca]

Seven I have a question. If teams are tied at the end are they considered co-champions and the tiebreaker determines playoff seeds or do the tiebreakers determine 1 conference champion?

The former. They are co-champions. Tie-breakers are only for state seeding.

[Go Postal]

Seven I have a question. If teams are tied at the end are they considered co-champions and the tiebreaker determines playoff seeds or do the tiebreakers determine 1 conference champion?

I have seen many times in the West that we shared co-conference Champs in different sports on wins and the same diff pts between the two teams.  But I think that overall pts diff will put the team that has higher overall will make seeding on playoffs.  But seven can answer this better or as Ponca said.

[mijally]

Thanks. I thought that's how it was.

[sevenof400]

Seven I have a question. If teams are tied at the end are they considered co-champions and the tiebreaker determines playoff seeds or do the tiebreakers determine 1 conference champion?

I know that each conference uses the tiebreaking procedures as specified by AAA to identify the four teams that will represent the conference in the state tournament.  With respect to the second part of your question, I would suspect those same tiebreaking procedures should identify the conference champion as well.

But.......

I don't see anything in the AAA Handbook that would prevent a team from claiming a conference co-championship if at the end of the season they were tied for the best record in the league and lost out on a tiebreaker.  I suspect schools have done this before but I can't say I am personally aware of this......

Except......

There have been a few situations over the years where a coin flip was required to determine a playoff spot / seeding.  There was one in girls basketball a few years ago between Alma and Greenbrier IIRC.  Although that flip was for the 4th spot (obviously with no title at stake), had that been the case for the conference title, I suspect both teams (and rightly so) would have claimed the conference title.

In the end, a school is free to 'claim' a conference title if it likes but at the same time, that claim should have some basis in reality.  If the tiebreaker used to break the tie were a coin flip, I could see both teams claiming a conference championship (as co winners).  This is probably one of those so called unwritten rules between coaches.

[Go Postal]

seven, is that true in all sports?  For some reason, for instance, I remember that Harrison/Siloam Springs and Harrison/Greenbrier share co-West Championships in some sport at one time.  My brain can't remember others, but I think that this has happened some more sports in the West.

[sevenof400]

bump