OT: WPIAL Playoffs / Private Schools

[Pitt_Boss]

WPIAL playoff brackets released this weekend. Big surprise, 50% of the #1 seeds went to private schools. So silly that schools without recruiting boundaries compete against neighborhood schools that only get players from one small geographic area. Imagine if Mississippi State was only allowed to recruit the state of Mississippi but was placed in a conference with Ole Miss who was allowed to recruit the whole country. So...good for the private school all-star teams that will steal a few trophies this season.

Beyond that, I'll be following TJ, a #1 seed with a Pitt recruit on the team. Are there any other WPIAL schools that have Pitt players of interest? I guess I mean possible commits this year or future years as I believe the TJ kid is the only current Pitt WPIAL commit.

Also, the Quips got screwed by the WPIAL, shocking I know. They were under-seeded in to TJ's side of the bracket to make the hardest path possible for them to win another title. TJ is thrilled I'm sure, nobody wants to play the Quips in the playoffs.

 

[TheSpecialSauce]

WPIAL playoff brackets released this weekend. Big surprise, 50% of the #1 seeds went to private schools. So silly that schools without recruiting boundaries compete against neighborhood schools that only get players from one small geographic area. Imagine if Mississippi State was only allowed to recruit the state of Mississippi but was placed in a conference with Ole Miss who was allowed to recruit the whole country. So...good for the private school all-star teams that will steal a few trophies this season.

Beyond that, I'll be following TJ, a #1 seed with a Pitt recruit on the team. Are there any other WPIAL schools that have Pitt players of interest? I guess I mean possible commits this year or future years as I believe the TJ kid is the only current Pitt WPIAL commit.

Also, the Quips got screwed by the WPIAL, shocking I know. They were under-seeded in to TJ's side of the bracket to make the hardest path possible for them to win another title. TJ is thrilled I'm sure, nobody wants to play the Quips in the playoffs.

Why was Aliquippa screwed? They lost to Montour, so they weren’t going to be seeded ahead of them and McKeesport has a good team. They should have beaten TJ and dominated Mars when I saw them. 2 of their losses were to 5A schools who are loaded and the other was against a team from Ohio in the opener.

 

[Burgh15]

Why was Aliquippa screwed? They lost to Montour, so they weren’t going to be seeded ahead of them and McKeesport has a good team. They should have beaten TJ and dominated Mars when I saw them. 2 of their losses were to 5A schools who are loaded and the other was against a team from Ohio in the opener.

From my understanding, the WPIAL didn't follow their own tiebreaker rules when it came to the seeding. Based on tiebreakers, the section went 1. Aliquippa, 2. West Allegheny, 3. Montour. Obviously they didn't stick with that when it came to the seeding, though they did for 3A.

I don't have a problem with Montour above Aliquippa, but West Allegheny at 8 below Trinity and Belle Vernon was bad. I probably would've seeded 4A:
1. TJ
2. Montour
3. Aliquippa
4. McKeesport
5. West Allegheny
6. Trinity
7. Mars
8. Belle Vernon

I'd rather see true seeds rather than avoiding section rematches. I'm sure TJ would as well getting West Allegheny and Aliquippa.

Interesting move in 5A with Pine Richland over USC at 1. I could see it both ways with USC arguably having the toughest schedule and winning them all with Pine Richland having the best win.

 

[TheSpecialSauce]

From my understanding, the WPIAL didn't follow their own tiebreaker rules when it came to the seeding. Based on tiebreakers, the section went 1. Aliquippa, 2. West Allegheny, 3. Montour. Obviously they didn't stick with that when it came to the seeding, though they did for 3A.

I don't have a problem with Montour above Aliquippa, but West Allegheny at 8 below Trinity and Belle Vernon was bad. I probably would've seeded 4A:
1. TJ
2. Montour
3. Aliquippa
4. McKeesport
5. West Allegheny
6. Trinity
7. Mars
8. Belle Vernon

I'd rather see true seeds rather than avoiding section rematches. I'm sure TJ would as well getting West Allegheny and Aliquippa.

Interesting move in 5A with Pine Richland over USC at 1. I could see it both ways with USC arguably having the toughest schedule and winning them all with Pine Richland having the best win.

I would have been fine with Quips at #3 or #4, but they aren’t as good as they have been. The biggest difference being the line.

PR beating CC carries a lot of weight. 5A is loaded.