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OK it hurts me to say this, but maybe the FHSAA ranking system is better than we gave it credit for? If the rankings were perfect, we would expect that the regional finals would be made up of only #1 and #2 seeds. Now, we know that a perfectly chalk bracket never happens in any sport, but the FHSAA rankings did pretty well. 4M: 4/8 were #1 or #2 seeds, with 3 more being the #3 seed 3M: 7/8 were #1/2 and the other team being a #3 2M: 4/8 were #1 or #2 seeds, with 2 more being the #3 seed 1M: (Skipping until next round as they only played 1 game, not enough time for chaos) 4S: 6/8 were #1/2 and 1 team being a #3 3S: 4/8 were #1 or #2 seeds, with 2 more being the #3 seed 2S: 7/8 were #1/2 and the other team being a #3 1S: (Skipping until next round as they only played 1 game, not enough time for chaos) 1R: 6/8 were #1 or #2 seeds, with 2 more being the #3 seed Overall: 38/56 for 68% and 12 more #3 seeds I would still prefer a system with more transparency. I would also note that after regionals, I don't think any ranking system truly matters, because to get to the final four you must be good and the differences so small that anything can happen.

You have to go back to previous conversations on this. I'm never for districts with less than 6 teams. 7 or 8 would be ideal. The Gadsen example can never happen in a sane world. That was the product of too many classes and the FHSAA being oversensitive to teams having to get on a bus to go and play...

To answer your question, having lived in Georgia, it is a somewhat confusing but interesting system. Each class has 8 regions (think "districts") with 6-8 teams per region. Round-robin play with top 4 teams advancing based on region record. So 32-team bracket. One team from each region is placed in each of the four 8-team sub-brackets, cross-seeded with the adjacent region. Bottom line is all 4 teams from a single region could conceivably qualify for the state semifinals (as could 2 teams from the same region qualify for the finals). As this is not easily explained in words, view brackets on GHSAA website if you want a visual.

Many, many, good ideas/opinions have been proposed on this thread. I like Nolebulls, Venice, and Columbia's six classes . If you're the best of "any 100 schools" you get a trophy. I also agree with Cribboy and let's allow metro's and suburban's to play "UP" like in the past so the truly best teams aren't knocked out early. Let Miami Central, MNW, AH-P, or any school play in the bigger classes with STA or Miami Columbus. I too, like most, don't like the unlimited transfers. BUT why restrict an athlete, many of whom are disadvantaged, from movement to better increase his chances for exposure and success in the only field he excels in when other students with high academic strengths, musical talents, are other performing arts skills can transfer to the best schools their parent's money can buy. Columbia is also right about are current political environment. Freedom for one is freedom for all. My son is good in football. Your's is a mean saxophonist. Let them go where they want or can afford.

You are conflating 2 variables. The seeding is different this year because it is the first year that the FHSAA did not award automatic top-4 seeds to all district winners. The seeding is more accurate this year for the simple reason that there are no more "undeserving" district winners with a top-4 seeds. They are now seeded 5, 6, 7, or 8 where they belong. With more accurate seeding, one would expect a higher proportion of higher seeds advancing compared to last year. You can't say definitively whether the FHSAA Power Rankings were any more accurate than last year's RPI would have been in the same circumstances. The use of the word "Maybe" in the topic line is about the best you can say. At least we agree on the transparency issue, or lack thereof.

In related news, the NCAA just concluded a press conference in which it was announced that, for the sport of football only, they are dividing the D-1 schools up into two classes: "S" and "M." The "S" will stand for "Southeastern" and will include all of the teams from the Southeastern Conference, along with and handful of teams from the ACC (most notably, Clemson and Florida State). The "M" will stand for "Mediocre," and will include all other D-1 programs. In response to questions from the media, NCAA spokesman Ralph Johnson stated: "The time was right to do this. We've been receiving complaints year after year from teams up north, in the midwest, and especially out west, that they just can't compete with the teams from the South. The only school that hasn't complained much is Ohio State - and lately Michigan has been pretty quiet." When asked to elaborate, Johnson added: "Every year we get emails from all these schools up north and out west that the teams in the South always recruit the better players and always end up with the better teams. Of course, we remind them that they are allowed to recruit those same gifted athletes, but they don't seem to understand that. So, rather than listen to them bitch about how they never have a chance to win a national championship, we decided to create the "M" division. The schools in the "S" division will continue to play for the national championship of that class. And, of course, we will continue to use the existing format and bowl games for the "S" class so that we don't get our asses sued by all of the TV networks with whom we have contracts and who want to televise the games involving the best teams and the best players. We have reached out to ESPN in hopes that ESPN8 will be willing to televise the Class "M" championship game, which will be played at Gene Cox stadium in Tallahassee, Florida, on a Wednesday night in January." Ohio State's athletic director, George "Bucky" Smith, also fielded questions from the media and stated: "Hey, we've been able to compete with the teams from the South over the years, but truth be told, it's hard keeping up with those boys on a yearly basis. Even when we make it into the tournament, we usually end up getting our butts kicked. We view this as an opportunity to become a dominant force in the M Class for years to come. And, most importantly, we'll get to hold up a National Championship trophy a lot more often now, which is all our fans really care about."

Suburban Venice destroyed 3 straight Metro teams last year to win the title. Can someone tell me how that happened with the metro teams being in a huge populated areas able to stockpile talent. How did it happen?

In my opinion, "school pride." School pride pays dividends for private schools like Jesuit when it comes to alumni giving. Historically, when a college football team wins a national championship or a college basketball team makes it to the Final Four, alumni giving and enrollment applications both increase notably over the next couple of years. I believe the same to be true for private high schools. When your alma mater has notable success on the field or court, you feel good about your alma mater. Those good feelings translate into increased giving, which then allows the school to provide more scholarships for 'deserving students' who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford the tuition. That's what keeps the machine rolling along. It happens at Jesuit, Bolles, STA, and several other schools across the state.

Having seen the transformation of Choctaw from 0-8 in 2020 (the year prior to Coach Beasley's arrival) to where they are now, it's like FIU becoming the Georgia Bulldogs in two years. As has been said of Poinciana, with the right head coach (and staff) and the right culture, almost anything is possible.

It would be wrong for me to speculate what went wrong as I know nothing about their squad as I obviously have more interest in mine. My point is setting high expectations is what teams should do, but if you overstate were they stand you open yourself up for people to pile on. It's not my intent, just my observation.

Maybe some of the DFB players brought over some of their culture of the hype they always had with the talent on paper when they were wit DFB and thought that they would be better off grouped with Dillard but fell back into their old routine when the big lights shined on them.