MSHSAA No Regard for Girls Districts

[mohsbballfan]

I don't know why I expected MSHSAA to set up districts in a way that makes sense with the new six class system, but the logic behind these districts is stunningly stupid. As soon as MSHSAA said that boys and girls programs in the same school can be different classes based on success factors and number of participating school in boys and girls, then the natural assumption is that district maps for boys and girls could end up looking different. What does MSHSAA do however? They lock boys and girls programs in a school into the same district and then just drop a boys or girls program from that district if they are being bumped up a class, instead of rebalancing the number of teams in each district. For example, in class 4 every district has five or six teams....except two of them. District 8 has four teams, while district 11 has seven teams. The reason for this? On the boys side, Father Tolton was success factored up to class 4 and put into district 8, giving that district five teams. Father Tolton's girls remained class 3 however, so instead of moving teams around to rebalance the number of teams in a district, MSHSAA just left district 8 girls with four teams. That is completely moronic.

It gets unforgivably idiotic when you look at class 1 and 2. MSHSAA has clearly just drawn the district map based on the boys programs and told the girls to deal with whatever stupid way the map looks like on that side. In boys class 1, there are six or seven teams in every district. On the girls side, once again zero attempt to balance out how many teams are in a district. There are 14 districts with six or seven teams, then a district with one team and another with two. Same thing with class 2. The boys side is completely balanced with six or seven teams in every district. On the girls side, 1 district with eight teams, 5 with seven teams, 7 with six teams, 2 with five teams, and 1 with four teams. What moron came up with this? Unreal incompetence. It is not a travel thing, I've looked at the maps, it would have been easy to slide teams a little and not have crazy travel. It's pure stupidity, laziness, and/or apathy for the girls side of the district playoffs.

 

[TadQueasy]

Class 5 you see it as well. One district has 5 teams with West Plains, Rolla and Helias. And then the next district has 3 teams with Willard, Bolivar and Hillcrest. Makes zero sense.

 

[Razzy417]

Class 5 you see it as well. One district has 5 teams with West Plains, Rolla and Helias. And then the next district has 3 teams with Willard, Bolivar and Hillcrest. Makes zero sense.

Marshfield is in the district with WP, Rolla, etc. The simple thing to do would be to put them in the Willard district, so both districts have 4 teams. A 6 yr old could have figured this out. I'd like to think there's some reason for the unbalanced district numbers but hell there may not be one.

 

[All_Options]

MSHSAA is not worried about quality, they want the money. There are so many better ways to run this, but when you are the only show in town....why do they care?

they had the opportunity to even balance out the districts on competitiveness.

 

[nfrillman]

I've seen some weird and stupid districts over the years but this year takes the cake. They managed to not have the districts be somewhat equal in difficulty AND numbers for the girls side. I almost feel like someone could pursue a Title IX lawsuit against mshsaa for not providing the same opportunities and consideration to the boys and girls with these districts. I'm sure it wouldn't go anywhere but there have been far more frivolous lawsuits.

 

[Radioguy20]

They did the same thing with Borgia. The Girls are Class 4 and are in a district Hermann, Lutheran-St. Charles, Orchard Farm, Winfield and Wright City. The Boys got bumped to Class 5 and are in a district Pacific, Sullivan, and Union, leaving just 3 teams for the Girls. Makes NO Sense.

 

[hangmanbobbyjaggers]

Class 5 you see it as well. One district has 5 teams with West Plains, Rolla and Helias. And then the next district has 3 teams with Willard, Bolivar and Hillcrest. Makes zero sense.

Helias boys were bumped up tp class 6 because of the success factor

 

[TadQueasy]

Yeah I understand why it happened, doe not make it any less stupid.

 

[hangmanbobbyjaggers]

Yeah I understand why it happened, doe not make it any less stupid.

 

[mowesten]

The district tournaments used to be exciting and meaningful; when they all had 8-9 teams across all classes.

They are slowly becoming meaningless. I thought four team districts were absurd, but if we're going to have three team districts then I think it's time we all start advocating for one team districts.

I'm not kidding. At all.

What's the difference. At least if we had one team districts we could stop the charade and everyone would be happy they won a district trophy.

 

[Bball Is Life 1]

Class 1 District 1. Scott County Central already has the 2021 district championship trophy in their trophy case. Not sure if they’ve won a game yet this year though. Could be a first ever.

 

[Maverick_103]

Most of the time Class 1 District 1 or Class 1 District only have one girls team in it because most of the class 1 schools in the boot heel do not have girls basketball. A lot of those small schools the girls play volleyball and the boys play basketball.

 

[mohsbballfan]

Most of the time Class 1 District 1 or Class 1 District only have one girls team in it because most of the class 1 schools in the boot heel do not have girls basketball. A lot of those small schools the girls play volleyball and the boys play basketball.

That still doesn't explain the stupidity of how they did the districts. This link is class 1 and its 97 teams. With 97 teams there should be 15 districts with six teams and one district with seven teams. In the bootheel all they had to do was combine district 1, district 2, and the four northern teams in district 3 to create a district. Then slide the other two district 3 teams over to that group of four teams in district 4 to make a six team district. From there just start grouping teams into six, because the rest of the map has teams that are all relatively close to each other. They are not even doing neutral district sites for games, so they can't use that as an excuse. There's no explanation besides laziness or not giving a crap about the girls side. The sports section of local newspapers and news channels should call and get answers from MSHSAA about this, it's not like there are a lot of other sports stories going on right now. They should be made to justify their decisions and explain why they should keep their job if they can't handle something as simple as this.

2024-2025 Missouri High School Class And District Assignments for Girls Basketball

2024-2025 Missouri High School Class And District Assignments for Girls Basketball

www.mshsaa.org

 

[hangmanbobbyjaggers]

That still doesn't explain the stupidity of how they did the districts. This picture is class 1 and its 97 teams. With 97 teams there should be 15 districts with six teams and one district with seven teams. In the bootheel all they had to do was combine district 1, district 2, and the four northern teams in district 3 to create a district. Then slide the other two district 3 teams over to that group of four teams in district 4 to make a six team district. From there just start grouping teams into six, because the rest of the map has teams that are all relatively close to each other. They are not even doing neutral district sites for games, so they can't use that as an excuse. There's no explanation besides laziness or not giving a crap about the girls side. The sports section of local newspapers and news channels should call and get answers from MSHSAA about this, it's not like there are a lot of other sports stories going on right now. They should be made to justify their decisions and explain why they should keep their job if they can't handle something as simple as this.

I totally agree with you MOHS.... I counted 96 teams, but still very easily could have been 6 in each district. 7 if needed in 1. There are 8 teams in that area. Move 6 of them to a district and the other 2 to the west in a district. It can not be they are worried about travel with the way some districts are set up.

 

[wannabecoach68]

I also agree with you @mohsbballfan. Why not put all those schools in Districts 1-3 in one district, put 5 a district and then 4 in another and make them earn a district championship?? MSHSAA will probably say something like, "that's too far for schools to travel", yet wasn't there some LONG road trips for football teams this year? Just doesn't seem right for a team to "win" a district championship without actually playing a game! But I guess they have their reasons🙄🤷‍♂️

 

[hangmanbobbyjaggers]

It is called copy and paste the districts over to the girls side and be done!

 

[nuff said]

This is not a new issue.
Go to the MSHSAA website and look at Class 1 girls 2008-09, 09-10, 10-11, 11-12, Naylor was the only team in its district.
Once MSHSAA added the success factor, someone knew this was going to create an issue.
It won't get dealt with anytime soon.

 

[Maverick_103]

That still doesn't explain the stupidity of how they did the districts. This link is class 1 and its 97 teams. With 97 teams there should be 15 districts with six teams and one district with seven teams. In the bootheel all they had to do was combine district 1, district 2, and the four northern teams in district 3 to create a district. Then slide the other two district 3 teams over to that group of four teams in district 4 to make a six team district. From there just start grouping teams into six, because the rest of the map has teams that are all relatively close to each other. They are not even doing neutral district sites for games, so they can't use that as an excuse. There's no explanation besides laziness or not giving a crap about the girls side. The sports section of local newspapers and news channels should call and get answers from MSHSAA about this, it's not like there are a lot of other sports stories going on right now. They should be made to justify their decisions and explain why they should keep their job if they can't handle something as simple as this.

2024-2025 Missouri High School Class And District Assignments for Girls Basketball

2024-2025 Missouri High School Class And District Assignments for Girls Basketball

www.mshsaa.org

Are you suggesting that schools with both girls and boys teams in class 1 should be in different districts?

 

[mohsbballfan]

Are you suggesting that schools with both girls and boys teams in class 1 should be in different districts?

They absolutely should be if that's how you get balanced districts. It would be one thing if both the boys and girls side had some screwy districts, but they completely balanced the boys side and then just copied it over to the girls. If MSHSAA is saying that boys and girls programs in the same school can be in different classes, then they themselves are already saying that it's not a big deal to be in different districts. As soon as they came up with the championship factor, which I agree with, they were saying boys and girls teams can be in different districts. If teams can be in entirely different classes, being in different district should not be an issue at all.

 

[hangmanbobbyjaggers]

They absolutely should be if that's how you get balanced districts. It would be one thing if both the boys and girls side had some screwy districts, but they completely balanced the boys side and then just copied it over to the girls. If MSHSAA is saying that boys and girls programs in the same school can be in different classes, then they themselves are already saying that it's not a big deal to be in different districts. As soon as they came up with the championship factor, which I agree with, they were saying boys and girls teams can be in different districts. If teams can be in entirely different classes, being in different district should not be an issue at all.

Totally agree here. Especially here when the upper seeds host anyway. It is not like they both will be at the same place anyhow. To have 1 team and 2 team districts on just the girls side is terrible and gives the perception that boys teams are above the girls.

 

[nfrillman]

I also agree with you @mohsbballfan. Why not put all those schools in Districts 1-3 in one district, put 5 a district and then 4 in another and make them earn a district championship?? MSHSAA will probably say something like, "that's too far for schools to travel", yet wasn't there some LONG road trips for football teams this year? Just doesn't seem right for a team to "win" a district championship without actually playing a game! But I guess they have their reasons🙄🤷‍♂️

Having been on a staff for awhile I can tell you that the travel excuse for districts is laughable. Over the last eight years we've had a district site 2.5 hours away, four times it's been 2 hours away, twice it's been 1.5 hours, and just once was it less than an hour. If they really cared about distance they would assign the district host as the most central school instead having it voted on.

 

[hangmanbobbyjaggers]

Having been on a staff for awhile I can tell you that the travel excuse for districts is laughable. Over the last eight years we've had a district site 2.5 hours away, four times it's been 2 hours away, twice it's been 1.5 hours, and just once was it less than an hour. If they really cared about distance they would assign the district host as the most central school instead having it voted on.

Sounds like to me you better smoozy up with the coaches/Ads that vote on the host site and host it or at least one close to you.

 

[nfrillman]

Sounds like to me you better smoozy up with the coaches/Ads that vote on the host site and host it or at least one close to you.

Haha, yeah you're probably right.