Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Boys Soccer Playoff Brackets Released

The brackets for the WIAA boys soccer state tournament have been released. In most cases, sectional groups of approximately 16 teams are seeded together. Sectional #1 in each division splits the seeding process into two groups. Each grouping is seeded by the coaches in that grouping. 

From the WIAA tournament procedures:

Coaches should consider these factors when determining their seeds (factors are not listed in any order of preference):

(a) Coaches comments.
(b) Head-to-head competition against teams in their regional grouping.
(c) Comparative scores against like opponents.
(d) Conference standings.
(e) Relative strength of schedule.
(f) Overall win-loss record.
(g) Other special factors (e.g., injury of a key player, etc.).


In general, the seedings were in line with the weekly ratings produced here. Below are the teams that received a seed 4+ positions different from what this website's ratings would have assigned:

 



Notes and takeaways:

  • The coaches significantly underseeded teams more often than they significantly overseeded teams.
  • Most of the differences occur in the middle seeds where it can be more difficult to separate teams. All but two of these differences involved a team moving between a bottom half seed (9+) and a top half seed (1-8).
  • Many of the rating differences are very close despite the large seeding diffrence. For example, Division 3 - Sectional 3:
    • #11 Seed - West Salem (948)
    • #12 Seed - Whitewater (943)
    • #13 Seed - Lake Mills (942)
    • #14 Seed - Monroe (964)
    • #15 Seed - Jefferson (940)
    • #16 Seed - Cambridge/Deerfield (945)
    • #17 Seed - Dodgeville/Mineral Point (966)
  • The rating system does weight recent results more heavily; whereas, the coaches may place more value on the overall season performance. Additionally, the rating system does not know which comments or special factors are considered during the meeting.


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