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MT. JULIET — TSSAA Division I boys and girls basketball state tournaments will now be seeded beginning in the 2027-28 season.
The proposal passed 10-2.
The Board of Control voted to implement a rankings system to seed teams at its June 10 meeting. It would eliminate a blind draw, which has been the system of bracketing the state tournament for decades.
The system will be similar to what the TSSAA is currently doing with state soccer tournaments, something that began in 2024.
The rankings are based on a team's winning percentage, their opponents' winning percentage and the winning percentage of their opponents' opponents.
There have been many instances during the blind draw era where arguably the state's top teams were in the same half of a bracket, including some instances were first-round matchups were arguably the top two teams in the state. One case was the 2025 Class 4A girls quarterfinals between eventual champ Bradley Central and Coffee County.
The TSSAA compiled data on what 2025-26 RPI rankings would be. As an example, in Class 1A girls, seven of the top nine ranked RPI teams reached the state. Eight of the top 12 in 2A and seven of the top 11 in 4A reached state. Those numbers were consistent with boys rankings in the four classes as well.
TSSAA Board of Control voted to table discussion involving the prospect of making Division I district basketball tournament third-place games as elimination games. It will be discussed again in the BOC's August meeting.
The topic was first discussed at the TSSAA's June 2025 BOC meeting and since then data was received from the 2026 state tournaments and the TSSAA is in the process of surveying coaches and administrators for input.
If the proposal passes in August, the team that wins its district's third-place team will advance to the region while the loser will be eliminated. That will also give district champions a quarterfinal bye in region tournaments, which will be reduced from eight to six teams.
During the 2025-26 season, of the 320 total boys and girls teams in Division I, four No. 4 seeds from their district tournament advanced to state quarterfinals and two to state semifinals.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TSSAA state basketball tournaments will be seeded
Continue reading...
The proposal passed 10-2.
The Board of Control voted to implement a rankings system to seed teams at its June 10 meeting. It would eliminate a blind draw, which has been the system of bracketing the state tournament for decades.
The system will be similar to what the TSSAA is currently doing with state soccer tournaments, something that began in 2024.
The rankings are based on a team's winning percentage, their opponents' winning percentage and the winning percentage of their opponents' opponents.
There have been many instances during the blind draw era where arguably the state's top teams were in the same half of a bracket, including some instances were first-round matchups were arguably the top two teams in the state. One case was the 2025 Class 4A girls quarterfinals between eventual champ Bradley Central and Coffee County.
The TSSAA compiled data on what 2025-26 RPI rankings would be. As an example, in Class 1A girls, seven of the top nine ranked RPI teams reached the state. Eight of the top 12 in 2A and seven of the top 11 in 4A reached state. Those numbers were consistent with boys rankings in the four classes as well.
TSSAA Board of Control tables discussion on district elimination games
TSSAA Board of Control voted to table discussion involving the prospect of making Division I district basketball tournament third-place games as elimination games. It will be discussed again in the BOC's August meeting.
The topic was first discussed at the TSSAA's June 2025 BOC meeting and since then data was received from the 2026 state tournaments and the TSSAA is in the process of surveying coaches and administrators for input.
If the proposal passes in August, the team that wins its district's third-place team will advance to the region while the loser will be eliminated. That will also give district champions a quarterfinal bye in region tournaments, which will be reduced from eight to six teams.
During the 2025-26 season, of the 320 total boys and girls teams in Division I, four No. 4 seeds from their district tournament advanced to state quarterfinals and two to state semifinals.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TSSAA state basketball tournaments will be seeded
Continue reading...
