Here at ALPreps, I love brackets. It’s why I started doing bracketology over 15 years ago and keep it going to this day. I’ve been anxiously awaiting the AHSAA Sports Book to drop so I could see how things would be formatted with the new public/private split.
Let’s take a look at how the brackets lay out, and talk about a few changes that may help things. One of the glaring issues in both 6A and AA (the two that had the biggest changes) is how soon teams play teams from their own regions. I’ve got some ideas on how to fix that.
Also, for the sake of some of these brackets, I filled in teams so you can see who is represented where. I simply used last year’s standings and ratings from HSRatings/Massey to fill out some spots - so all of this is just an example, not saying who is better than who!
Public School Brackets
Class 6A
We already knew 6A was set to move to 24 teams while 1A-5A would follow the standard 32-team format. The only thing we didn’t know with 6A was how the seeding would be done.
When the 24-team bracket was first announced this past spring, we proposed a bracket that looked like this (using last year’s 7A teams):
We thought this would be better because it would keep same region match-ups from being possible until the quarterfinals like in 1A-5A. You could still keep somewhat of a rotation from year to year and keep it like this.
However, this is how the official bracket will look (using this year’s 6A teams):
The first thing that stands out is that same region match-ups could happen in the second round.
As an example, let’s use Region 3, which is seen as arguably the most competitive:
#1 Thompson could have to play #5 Prattville in their first playoff game. That would make Thompson play Prattville two times in four games. (Prattville is their Week 8 opponent this year, they were Week 9 last year). Thompson beat Prattville 29-14 in the regular season last year and it was closer than most thought.
#2 Hewitt-Trussville would have to potentially face #6 Spain Park. For the purposes of this example, I simply switched out Spain Park and Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa at #6, so it would have been Hillcrest in this spot before. Hewitt beat Hillcrest 24-0 last year, but still, you don’t necessarily want to see that team again that early.
Meanwhile, #3 Vestavia and #4 Hoover both get to play Region 4 teams (usually seen as the weakest region) in round 1 and round 2. So that seems a little unfair, although Thompson/Hewitt as the top two seeds should win those games typically.
Of course, you can’t shift a bracket around just because “Region 3 is better than Region 4”, but I always thought you tried to avoid same-region match-ups that early on.
In the standard 32-team bracket that other classifications use, you can’t possibly see another team from your region until the quarterfinals, and likely won’t until the semifinals. You’re still going to get some of those wild cross-state trips regardless at some point, I just think it’s better to keep the same-region games from happening as early.
Class 1A-5A
Nothing crazy with 1A-5A, it’s the standard 32-team bracket, with the cross-regions being: 1v4, 2v3, 5v8, 6v7
Private School Brackets
When the original format was announced for A and AA, it was 16 for A and 8 for AA. That kept it in line with how the playoffs have always operated - (roughly) half the teams make the playoffs.
Class A
Class A hasn’t changed from that, but unlike the 16-team format that 7A used the last few years, they will keep it north and south like this (with example teams):
This is basically the format Class 7A used originally, the only thing that will change is which region is the “top” region for the purpose of determining home field should it come to that in the semifinals.
Class AA
On top of the 6A playoff changing to 24 teams, this is the biggest change. Class AA only has two regions with 16 total teams, so the proposed format was originally just an 8-team playoff, taking 4 teams from each region.
The schools didn’t seem happy with that, because AA should be a very competitive classification and very good teams could get left out. It seems like the most supported format was something that followed along the Tennessee Class AAA bracket of 12 teams. That class only has 12 teams, but this would basically take the top 6 from each region like 6A does and play out the same with cross-region play from the start.
It would look something like this (with teams just as an example):
However, the state decided instead to just let all 16 teams make the playoffs…but not have cross-region play. It’s still north and south, but #1 plays #8, #2 plays #7 and so on.
The bracket looks like this (with teams roughly seeded in based on last year):
Basically there will still be a south champion vs north champion in the state championship like A and 1A-5A, but that means the entirety of the playoffs until the final game will be against teams you’ve already played. So a path to the championship means you’d play three teams twice in a season.
Is it better this way? Or would it be better with 12 teams or cross-region play or both?
It does make seeding and understanding your championship path easier - the higher seed will always host because region placement trumps everything else.
It will be interesting to see what happens with all of this.
How will 6A play out with the same region match-ups early - could we see upsets or will it be Thompson, Central, Auburn, etc. all moving on like usual?
Will AA have upsets or will it just play out exactly like the regular season?
And the big question:
Will any of this matter once the GSIAA takes over the world next year?
Bracketology will start a few weeks into the season once we see how region play begins. Check out ALPreps.com for live scores every week, full schedules and of course everything with the playoffs!
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