Results of Research -- 1978-1997
In researching the feasibility of the "Play em Both Plan," we examined the postseason tournament results for the final 20 years of the Open (traditional) Tournament (1978 through 1997), showing what would have happened in the Class Tournaments had the plan been in effect then.
We charted the frequency of dropdowns and carryovers in an attempt to see how disruptive they would be to the proposed game schedule.
It was no surprise to find that a vast majority of dropdowns came in Class 3A. We were surprised, however, to discover that the farther along the tourney trail, the more frequent were the drodowns and carryovers, at least as expressed in a ratio to the total number of games played at each level.
At the supersectional level, based on the results of the Open Sectionals over that 20-year span, we charted 385 instances in which a single Class Supersectional game would have been necessary (out of a total of 960 Class Sectionals -- 48 per season). Of those 385, 313 were because of a single dropdown and 72 were because of a double dropdown, in which case one of the teams advances automatically to the Class Superregional.
Most important to note, in support of the plan, is the fact that only 11 instances out of those 960 sectionals required a second supersectional game. Of course, in each case in which two supersectional games are played, one winner goes to the Class Regional, the other to the Class Superregional.
At the superregional level, results were similar: There were only 10 instances in which a second superregional game had to be played (out of 240 regionals). In 85 cases, there was either a single dropdown or a single carryover and in 12 cases, there was a combination of those totaling two, meaning just one game plus one team automatically advancing to the Supersemistate.
As mentioned above, carryovers and dropdowns occurred at a higher rate of frequency at the supersemistate level. At least one of the two Class Semistates (North and South) would have needed a supersemistate game in all but two of the 20 seasons researched. However, only three times would multiple games have been needed.
In both 1982 and 1984 at the Class 3A level, there would have been two dropdowns (teams eliminated in the Open State Finals) and a carryover from the Class Superregionals. That means the final week of the Class State Tournament would begin with five teams still alive -- those three plus the champions of the Class Semistates themselves.
This scenario would require three Class Supersemistate games -- one on Tuesday and two on Thursday, with the two survivng teams advancing to the Class State Finals.
