NCHSAA must change playoff brackets

There are a lot of things the North Carolina High School Athletic Association does right. The NCHSAA is an efficient organization that, in part, provides newspapers with plenty of information on high school athletics throughout the year, so it's difficult to be too critical.

But one thing it has done terribly wrong lies in the pre-made 3A playoff brackets, specifically the matchups in the Western Regional for members of the North Piedmont 3A.

The NPC stretched from a seven-school league to one with 10 schools in the last two years. Brand-new institution Carson became a member in 2006-07, and East Rowan and South Rowan dropped from the 4A ranks into the NPC this past season.

As the new "half plus one" rule goes, the NPC received six automatic playoff berths for baseball, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, softball and volleyball (half of the 10-team league is five, plus one is six).

Of those six teams, only the top seed gets a home game in the first round. Every other seed goes on the road.

The playoff brackets for the aforementioned seven sports are the same across the board. Each team that qualifies for the playoffs simply fills in a slot on brackets released weeks in advance. For example, the Piedmont Triad Conference's No. 1 team always hosts the Mid-Piedmont's No. 4 team in the first round; the Big South Conference's No. 2 team always hosts the Mountain Athletic Conference's No. 3 team.

Of the nine conferences that boast 3A teams and therefore have a No. 2 seed in the Western Regional, a whopping seven host a first-round game. Of those seven, five host a No. 3 seed.

The only two leagues that must send a No. 2 seed on the road to play another No. 2 seed are the NPC and Southwestern Conference. The Southwestern Conference is typically regarded as one of the weakest across the board and has only four schools.

Of the six different teams seeded No. 3 from their respective conference, four get a slightly easier draw and play a No. 2 seed while two play a No. 1 seed. Again, the NPC's third-seeded team gets a top-seeded, tougher opponent on the road.

The NCHSAA adopted the "half plus one" rule to add more teams to the playoffs - which is more money that lines the state association's collective pockets - but isn't giving teams from the NPC a fair shake. Iredell County schools should not bear the brunt of adding two new teams by a faulty set of playoff brackets.

Starting next season, the NPC's No. 2 seed should host a first-round game and the NPC's No. 3 seed should draw a No. 2 seed in the first round.