As
Robison stated originally back in our August article on the 'Robison RPI', the goal of his experiment was to create a formula much like ones used in nearby states in order to help seed the state tournaments.
We stipulated in that first article that we would include the same amount of teams from each district as would be included in this year's tournament. So, for example, the District 3 WIC conference is alotted four playoff berths to the tournament. This would mean that in our scenario, the maximum number of teams from the District 3 WIC conference that would be placed on the bracket would be three. Same goes for District 1-2 (3 berths), District 4 (2 berths), District 5 (4 berths), District 6 (3 berths). We would recommend, however, that under an RPI formula such as this one that no more than 12 teams be placed on the bracket. In this case, for sake of continuity and comparison, we will show a hypothetical 16-team bracket.
You will see three different brackets below - the first one using the RRPI Washington base formula, followed by the RRPI Colorado base formula, and finally the RRPI Colorado base 'No Autos'.
The 'No Autos' format means that the overall top 16 teams in the 2A classification will be seeded into the state tournament, regardless of how they finished the season or if they snagged an automatic berth to the tournament. This is, simply, the 16 highest ranked teams in the formula set up in the bracket.
We begin with the 16 teams that qualified for this year's state tournament. Instead of being in a pre-determined position on the bracket (
as seen in the real brackets HERE), they are ranked using the RRPI Washington base formula and the RRPI Colorado base formula as seen in the table below. We should note that our brackets below look slightly different simply because of seeding purposes.
Here's a look at how the Class 2A RRPI Washington base rankings (left) and the Class 2A RRPI Colorado base rankings (right) looked at the completion of the regular season:
With these rankings in mind, it's important to note the teams that reached the postseason this year from each district based on available berths to this year's state tournament:
District 1/2 - 3 berths
Grangeville
Orofino
St. Maries
District 3 - 3 berths
McCall-Donnelly
New Plymouth
Nampa Christian
Melba
District 4 - 2 berths
Declo
Wendell
District 5 - 4 berths
Aberdeen
West Side
Bear Lake
Soda Springs
District 6 - 3 berths
Firth
North Fremont
West Jefferson
The RRPI Washington Base Formula Bracket
The first bracket we will look at is what the tournament would look like if we took these same 16 teams and seeded them on the bracket using the RRPI Washington base formula.
A few things change in comparison to the actual, real bracket used for this year's tournament. Declo and Wendell would square off again in a rematch of their lone conference game. Firth would host McCall-Donnelly, Grangeville would take on Nampa Christian, and West Jefferson would host Bear Lake.
On the bottom half of the bracket, Aberdeen would host conference-foe Soda Springs, Orofino gets to host New Plymouth, Melba travels to West Side, and North Fremont hosts St. Maries.
The RRPI Colorado Base Formula Bracket
The second bracket we will take a look at is what the tournament would look like if we took these 16 teams and again seed them on the bracket, but this time we would use the RRPI Colorado base formula.
There are, again, more changes in comparison to the actual, real bracket used for this year's tournament. In comparison to the Washington base formula bracket above, the only change on the top of the bracket is that instead of hosting Bear Lake, West Jefferson would now host Orofino in the 5 vs 12 matchup. On the bottom half of the bracket, the only change is Bear Lake now hitting the road to take on New Plymouth in the 6 vs 11 matchup.
The RRPI Colorado Base Formula 'No Autos' Bracket
The final bracket we will look at is the 'No Autos' bracket, which takes the RRPI Colorado base rankings and just seeds the tournament 1 through 16 without any automatic qualifiers. This would be like saying to all the teams in the classification, "Just finish in the top 16 of the rankings and you're in - doesn't matter if you won the district title or if you were in last place in the conference. If you are in the top 16 in the rankings, you are in the state tournament." Here's how that true 1 through 16 bracket would look:
In this bracket, there are quite a few changes. We begin with the teams who aren't on the bracket any longer, which include Soda Springs and Wendell. They are replaced by Ririe (#8) and Cole Valley Christian (#14).
Declo would now host Melba, Ririe would host the Nuclear Conference champion Firth Cougars (a team they beat in the regular season), Grangeville takes on league opponent Orofino, and West Jefferson hosts Bear Lake to round out the top of the bracket.
On the bottom half, Aberdeen would now face Nampa Christian, North Fremont hosts McCall-Donnelly, West Side entertains Cole Valley Christian, and St. Maries would be on the road at New Plymouth.