State Cup Committee Seeding Results for Boys 2006

There is a  MSYSA State Cup "Committee" who  is responsible for setting up the tournament.  They decide who is the #1-#10 teams and then assign them to pools by placing them in the Pools (up to 8) and then reversing the order until the 10 teams are used up. 

From that point, they are "supposed" (it is written in their rules) to fill in the Pools in a double blind draw.  A double blind draw pulls the team from one basket and then the pool  assignment from another basket.  This is typically considered to be the best way to get a random assignment of teams. 

Unfortunately, in reality, the "committee" typically has resorted to placing teams in pools in a subjective manner.  This has resulted in pools containing teams that are geographically close to each other.  This has also resulted in some teams being placed in the same pool with the same teams for 2-3 years running which is frankly, a statistical impossibility if a double blind draw is actually used.

However, ultimately, this is similar to the NCAA basketball tournament in that everyone wants the best 4 teams at the end.  The FA Cup uses a much different process which is totally random and sometimes results in the two best teams meeting early and someone going home.

At any rate, here is what happened this year.

I have placed the Top 4 seeds on the left and the 4 teams who actually made it to the semi-finals on the right.  Results different than the seeding are in BOLD. 

This year the committee was correct in 21 of the 24 seeding decisions at #1 through #4.  It is infinitely more difficult to correctly seed #5-#10 and more mistakes were made at that level but it is less important since ultimately getting to the final four teams is what counts.

Two of the incorrect seeds were at the U18 age group where it could be argued that player movement that the committee was unaware of created the error.  In fact, two of the four finalists were actually unseeded, a fact which could lead on to believe that at U18 maybe a different format could be used.

This is a very good result.

Semi-finals

U13 ( #1 - #4)

Committee Seed Actual Teams
Vardarstars 93 Red-Seargeant Vardarstars 93 Red-Seargeant
Michigan Wolves 93 Black Michigan Wolves 93 Black
VardarStars '93 Red - Phillips VardarStars '93 Red - Phillips
Georgetown Rangers Premier Georgetown Rangers Premier
U14 ( #1 - #4)
Committee Seed Actual Teams
Grand Valley SC White Grand Valley SC White
Michigan Wolves Black Michigan Wolves Black
VardarStars Red - Torre VardarStars Red - Torre
Ann Arbor Arsenal Vardarstars 92 Davis
U15 ( #1 - #4)
Committee Seed Actual Teams
Michigan Wolves '91 Michigan Wolves '91
VardarStars'91 (Davis) VardarStars'91 (Davis)
Ann Arbor Arsenal Blue Ann Arbor Arsenal Blue
Grand Valley SC Grand Valley SC
U16 ( #1 - #4)
Committee Seed Actual Teams
VardarStars 90 Hicklin
VardarStars 90 Hicklin
VardarStars - Davis VardarStars - Davis
Michigan Wolves Michigan Wolves
Ann Arbor Arsenal Blue Ann Arbor Arsenal Blue
U17 ( #1 - #4)
Committee Seed Actual Teams
Vardarstars '89 Vardarstars '89
Michigan Wolves Michigan Wolves
F.C. Nova '89 F.C. Nova '89
West Michigan Fire Juniors West Michigan Fire Juniors
U18 ( #1 - #4)
Committee Seed Actual Teams
VardarStars Red VardarStars Red
Grand Valley SC Kingdom Reserves
Michigan Wolves Michigan Wolves
CA United West Michigan Fire Juniors

Finals

When you get to this point, almost anything can happen.

At U18, neither of the top two seeded teams made it as the #3 seeded Wolves and unseeded West Michigan Fire advance to the finals.

At U17, both top seeded teams advanced.

At U16, one of the top seeded teams advanced as the Michigan Wolves moved on at the expense of #2 VS Davis.

At U15, both top seeded teams advanced.

At U14, both top seeded teams advanced.

At U13, the #1 seed (VardarStars) did not advance and the #2 seed (Wolves)did advance.  The #4 seed Georgetown Rangers advanced

Two of six #1 seeds did not advance. 

Two of six #2 seeds did not advance.

A #4 seed advanced at U13 (Georgetown). 

A #3 seed advanced at U16 (Wolves). 

At U18, a #3 seed (Wolves) and an unseeded team (Fire) advanced.  

U13  (#1-#2)
Committee Seed Actual Teams
Vardarstars 93 Red-Seargeant Georgetown Rangers Premier
Michigan Wolves 93 Black Michigan Wolves 93 Black
U14 (#1-#2)
Committee Seed Actual Teams
Grand Valley SC White Grand Valley SC White
Michigan Wolves Black Michigan Wolves Black
U15  (#1-#2)
Committee Seed Actual Teams
Michigan Wolves '91 Michigan Wolves '91
VardarStars'91 (Davis) VardarStars'91 (Davis)
U16  (#1-#2)
Committee Seed Actual Teams
VardarStars 90 Hicklin VardarStars 90 Hicklin
VardarStars - Davis Michigan Wolves
U17  (#1-#2)
Committee Seed Actual Teams
Vardarstars '89 Vardarstars '89
Michigan Wolves Michigan Wolves
U18  (#1-#2)
Committee Seed Actual Teams
VardarStars Red West Michigan Fire Juniors
Grand Valley SC Michigan Wolves