North Dakota Preps

What do people think about the new playoff format for 9-man?

24 teams, only 6 regions, top four from each region, #1 and #2 from each region have 1st round byes,

I guess it's ok since half of the teams in other divisions make the playoffs too.

there are going to be five pretty good teams from region  2 and 3. I think region 4 will be down this year with the top two being pretty good. in the west I am not sure how the top four stack up I know the top two from region1, 5 and 6 will be salty but the bottom two I am not sure.

 

Region 1        Region 2                             Region 3            Region 4

Napoleon       Wyndmere/Lidgerwood      North Border      TGU

Edgely- Kulm  Hillsboro                             Lakota                Leeds- Minnewauken

                      Richland                              Central Valley     

                      Hankinson                           Dakota Prairie

                      Hope-Page-Finely-Sharon    Thompson

 

Region 5         Region 6

Divide Co.        Mott - Regent

Williams Co.     Washburn

 

It has been mentioned several times on here how tough region two is and I confirmed it watching some of the scrimmages at team camp at VCSU.

I Really thought Wyndmere-Lidgerwood looked good,  they really get after people and hit. Same goes for Hillsboro plus it looked like they ran the Veer quite well at camp too.

I thought TGU looked good and had a lot of kids at camp, Napoleon did not have many of their studs at camp and were thin and young so it was not a good look for Napoleon.

In region 3 North border is Loaded with athletes, Lakota has a big core of studs returning, Dakota Prairie also has some great skilled players returning, Never count our Vigen at Central Valley, I do not know much about Thompson but they should have good numbers and I think they will be a dangerous team to play.

I think it will reward some regions for having more then just 1 or 2 good teams, (Regions 2 & 3 specifically)  But I also see some peoples argument that it will water down the playoffs.  My guess is that we'll see some playoff teams with losing records. 

As for the region predictions I agree with you in region 1.  Strasburg and Sgt. Central will be improved but still be playing second fiddle to Napoleon and E-K.  Off the topic does anyone know who Sgt Central's coach will be this year?

The Region 2 schedule will be tough every week, no matter who plays who.  I see Wyndmere, Hankinson, Hillsboro and Richland coming out of this region, but 1 injury to any of these teams could change a lot of things. 

I think Region 3 up and down is loaded with good athletes. 

Needless to say there will be some very good competition in the 9 man ranks this coming fall.

I talked with some Forman folks at a baseball game last week and they still did not know of a replacement football coach at Sargent Central.

 

 

quick correction to what GG said about playoff format - my understanding is that each region's #1 will get a bye, then only one east region and one west region will get a #2 bye.  Regions 1,2,3 make up the east; 4,5,6 are the west.  I believe the regions receiving the #2 bye will be through a blind draw at the beginning of the season.

personally i'm not a fan of the new playoff format for two reasons:

1 - mediocrity should never be rewarded and it is absolutely worthless that a team below .500 has a chance to make the playoffs...why not just turn it into basketball where the regular season is completely meaningless and and everyone makes it into the playoffs (aka districts or a district play-in).

2 - the ndhsaa should have fixed their previous format - you know, the one that says if you are the no. 1 team in the state and have beaten a team in the regular season, you still have to travel there for a playoff game because it is an even- or odd-numbered year - before they added to the number of teams eligible.

Not a fan of this format either....the majority of the teams that make the play-offs with have to play a friday game to end the regular season and then play 4 days later in a first round game and then follow that up with a second round game 4 days later....i have a feeling we may see some sloppy play out of tired and sore teams in the second round

I completely agree with you. Why don't they simply just give them more rest time?

Not that simple - where do you add that extra time?  Can't really go later into the season - North Dakota November is a tough time to practice.  Can't go earlier without pushing the start of the season earlier (August 8 this year!).  Do you get rid of a week in the season and give teams only 7 weeks to play?  Do you dump a round of playoff teams to short 9 man even more?  (AAA and AA get 50% of their teams into the playoffs)

I think the new format will be a little interesting.  The regular season will still be very important, only the top 4 make it, in basketball 8 of the 9 teams go to districts.  And with only 8 or 9 games a season every win will still be important.  The only thing i don't really like is the short rest time between games. But this is only the first year so it could work out really well who knows.

If pushing the playoff games a little later is what it takes, then they should consider it. And if teams can't handle playing and practicing in the cold, they probably shouldn't be playing football.

[user=3747]nordstde[/user] wrote:

If pushing the playoff games a little later is what it takes, then they should consider it. And if teams can't handle playing and practicing in the cold, they probably shouldn't be playing football.

Well if young men can't play one game 3 or 4 days after another then they shouldn't be playing football either.

Good post, but that isn't what I was trying to say. We played two games a week plenty of times, and it isn't bad at all. But it is alot to ask of the kids to play 3 very important games in 9 or 10 days.

Anyones that played on a friday night, knows SOMEtimes its not til tuesday or wednesday in practice when the aches and pains finally go away, no matter what age you are. So my only knock on the system is having to play so many games without a long rest. I like it for 2 reasons.

1. Postives for #3 and #4. Gives kids another game. Finishing 3rd place isn't so bad anymore. Would be nice to see a cinderalla story in football where its not predictable with #1 and #2 rolling over everywhere. Negatives, they get rolled again. lol

2. Postives, And The #1 and #2 also get a warm up game against the so called mediocre teams. Negatives, get knocked off first game to a team they are already kicked in the seaon.

 

Whats the earliest day teams can start playing this year?

practice starts on the 8th have to have 9 practices in before a game

1st eligible day to play is Aug. 21