Boys’ basketball: Did Blair get a fair shake?
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Blair Coach Gamal Smalley is crying foul about his team’s being left out of the Southern Section Division IV-A playoffs, and he appears to make some valid points.
The Vikings finished with better records -- 13-10 overall and 4-6 in league -- than 11 of the 12 teams selected for at-large entries in the division. Blair also won two tournament titles before league play, a feat none of the playoff-bound teams can match.
And yes, the Vikings filed their paperwork on time and were eligible, section spokesman Thom Simmons confirmed, though they forgot to fill out one section in which they neglected to list which division their opponents played in.
In an e-mail to The Times, Smalley wrote, ‘The process did not work in this case and all I asked for was an apology and a promise to fix it in the future. The assistant commissioner in charge of basketball [Rainer Wulf] only said he felt comfortable with the committee because they had such great diversity and experience. I was really disappointed and our kids are very hurt.’
Check out some of the teams that were selected ahead of Blair:
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame finished 1-13 in its league.
Santa Ynez finished in sixth place in its league.
Rim of the World finished 8-16 overall.
The list goes on.
Simmons said record and league finish are only two of seven criteria used by the basketball advisory committee when selecting at-large entries. The others: head-to-head competition of teams under consideration; strength against common opponents; overall strength of league; strength of schedule; and strength at end of season (whether a team finished the regular season on a strong or poor note).
‘Of those seven criteria, the coaches [on the advisory committee] decided that the 12 teams selected were a better fit criteria-wise than Blair was,’ Simmons said.
Simmons said Blair could easily remedy its dilemma in the future by securing an automatic berth by virtue of a top-three finish in its league.
‘Whenever you do not finish as an automatic entrant from your league,’ Simmons said, ‘you put your fate into the hands of a committee and have taken the ability to control what happens to your team out of your hands.’
-- Ben Bolch