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Best/Worst Sectional Draws


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We all know the ping pong balls can be fickle, giving certain teams sweetheart draws while giving others seemingly the most-difficult draw possible. I was wondering what everyone thought were some of the best/worst draws for teams throughout the state this year. Here's some I saw:

BEST: 

- Chatard: The Trojans land on the opposite side of the bracket from Oak Hill, Guerin, and Tippecanoe, the three teams with likely the greatest shot at knocking off the Trojans in Sectional 28. Chatard will only have to beat one of them to make it through to the Regional. The Trojans would be favored in every one of these hypothetical games anyway, but avoiding the grind of having to play multiple of these teams is definitely a boon for the Trojans. 

BEST: 

- FW North Side: Getting to play Anderson while Snider gets Dwenger again is huge for the Legends. They'll be nice and rested for their rematch with Snider while the Panthers will have to dispatch of Dwenger for the second time in a month.  

WORST: 

- Oak Hill/Guerin: Mirroring what I just said about Chatard, both of these teams undoubtedly would've preferred to see the other play Chatard and possibly soften up the Trojans a little bit. Instead they get each other in the first round, and then the winner will get undefeated Tippecanoe Valley in round 2. Just a brutal draw for the teams looking to pull an upset in Sectional 28. 

WORST: 

- Gibson Southern: Getting Vincennes round 1 followed by Owen Valley round 2 likely isn't how the Titans would prefer to start their class 3A title defense. They would've had to beat one of these teams no matter what but now they'll have to go through both. 

WORST: 

- Carroll/Penn: Tough sectional made tougher by virtue of the draw. I'm guessing if you had to ask which team either of these programs wanted to play round 1 neither would've answered with each other. Whoever gets out of sectional 2 will have earned it. 

WORST: 

- Tri-West: Having to play rematches of close games with Danville and WeBo to start the postseason is clearly not the best draw outcome for the Bruins. It won't be easy to get through both of them.

WORST:

- Andrean: Getting the bye before a rematch with LaVille just doesn't seem to me to be a good thing for the Niners. Chance to lose rhythm during the off week and to come out flat against the Lancers. Coach Skinner even alluded to this in his recent interview with the NWI Times. The Niners have two weeks to prepare for the Lancers, but with LaVille playing Whiting they basically have two weeks of preparation with the added bonus of getting to remain in rhythm and potentially putting new things on tape during their game against the Oilers.   

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I like the draw in Sectional 13.  Summer and pre-season, Decatur Central was the odds on favorite to emerge victorious from Sectional 13 and there was conjecture that it would likely be Decatur Central and maybe Whiteland that would be odds-on favorites to represent 5A South.  At the start of the season, Harrison was a two-TD underdog to DC and is now a 5.5-point favorite on a neutral field.

Harrison already played Plainfield earlier in the season and won 22-14 in a tighter-than-expected game.  Plainfield also beat DC earlier in the season, in overtime, 34-32.  I like the draw of Harrison and Plainfield getting a chances to square off again.  If Harrison wins, it most likely gets Decatur Central in a much-anticipated showdown for the sectional championship as Decatur Central will face off against 2-7/3-6 McCutcheon in what is probably the easiest draw for first game in Sectional 13.  Should Plainfield knock off Harrison in a revenge game, it sets up a Plainfield-Decatur Central rematch too.  Given the players and possible outcomes, I think that the ping pong balls fell optimally for matchups across both rounds for Sectional 13.

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14 hours ago, kdets89 said:

Worst in 1A is clearly North Decatur/Tri in the first round.  With all due respect to Sheridan, the winner of this game will likely play in the south semistate.  Should have been the sectional 46 championship game.

We all know that Bobby Cox's balls are always bouncing. Time to neuter. 

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19 hours ago, foxbat said:

I like the draw in Sectional 13.  Summer and pre-season, Decatur Central was the odds on favorite to emerge victorious from Sectional 13 and there was conjecture that it would likely be Decatur Central and maybe Whiteland that would be odds-on favorites to represent 5A South.  At the start of the season, Harrison was a two-TD underdog to DC and is now a 5.5-point favorite on a neutral field.

Harrison already played Plainfield earlier in the season and won 22-14 in a tighter-than-expected game.  Plainfield also beat DC earlier in the season, in overtime, 34-32.  I like the draw of Harrison and Plainfield getting a chances to square off again.  If Harrison wins, it most likely gets Decatur Central in a much-anticipated showdown for the sectional championship as Decatur Central will face off against 2-7/3-6 McCutcheon in what is probably the easiest draw for first game in Sectional 13.  Should Plainfield knock off Harrison in a revenge game, it sets up a Plainfield-Decatur Central rematch too.  Given the players and possible outcomes, I think that the ping pong balls fell optimally for matchups across both rounds for Sectional 13.

DC definitely got the best draw in this sectional getting McCutcheon. In a sectional where 3 of the 4 teams are pretty evenly matched, drawing the weakest team is for sure a positive, similar to North Side getting Anderson while Snider and Dwenger play again. I'm interested to see who will come out of this sectional, as you said it's a lot more open than what people thought at the beginning of the year. 

 

16 hours ago, kdets89 said:

Worst in 1A is clearly North Decatur/Tri in the first round.  With all due respect to Sheridan, the winner of this game will likely play in the south semistate.  Should have been the sectional 46 championship game.

To be honest if the two teams are going to have to play each other either way I don't see the difference in round 1 vs sectional championship other than semantics. 

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Just now, scarab527 said:

DC definitely got the best draw in this sectional getting McCutcheon. In a sectional where 3 of the 4 teams are pretty evenly matched, drawing the weakest team is for sure a positive, similar to North Side getting Anderson while Snider and Dwenger play again. I'm interested to see who will come out of this sectional, as you said it's a lot more open than what people thought at the beginning of the year. 

 

To be honest if the two teams are going to have to play each other either way I don't see the difference in round 1 vs sectional championship other than semantics. 

I'm not sure DC got the best draw outside of the potential to survive to the second round.  I actually think their better draw would have been Plainfield.  I don't expect McCutcheon to do much to get Decatur Central ready to face Harrison.  A rematch with Plainfield, even though Plainfield won the first game, would give DC an opportunity to sharpen their skills and have a major morale boost, heading into a second round with Harrison.  I think Harrison probably ended up with the best draw and I think Plainfield probably got the second best ... drawing Decatur Central might have been their best draw given the proximity to their win over DC and Harrison getting stuck playing Richmoand and McCutcheon with a week off for the next three weeks.  While it wasn't optimal for all teams, I think it was a great draw overall for Sectional 13 action.

 

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10 minutes ago, foxbat said:

I'm not sure DC got the best draw outside of the potential to survive to the second round.  I actually think their better draw would have been Plainfield.  I don't expect McCutcheon to do much to get Decatur Central ready to face Harrison.  A rematch with Plainfield, even though Plainfield won the first game, would give DC an opportunity to sharpen their skills and have a major morale boost, heading into a second round with Harrison.  I think Harrison probably ended up with the best draw and I think Plainfield probably got the second best ... drawing Decatur Central might have been their best draw given the proximity to their win over DC and Harrison getting stuck playing Richmoand and McCutcheon with a week off for the next three weeks.  While it wasn't optimal for all teams, I think it was a great draw overall for Sectional 13 action.

 

Fair assessment. I guess I was just looking at it from the perspective that DC will get a less physically taxing game as opposed to Harrison/Plainfield. To your point, Harrison actually getting a competitive game at this point in their season might be good for them as well.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see. 

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On 10/11/2022 at 4:11 PM, scarab527 said:

We all know the ping pong balls can be fickle, giving certain teams sweetheart draws while giving others seemingly the most-difficult draw possible. I was wondering what everyone thought were some of the best/worst draws for teams throughout the state this year. Here's some I saw:

BEST: 

- Chatard: The Trojans land on the opposite side of the bracket from Oak Hill, Guerin, and Tippecanoe, the three teams with likely the greatest shot at knocking off the Trojans in Sectional 28. Chatard will only have to beat one of them to make it through to the Regional. The Trojans would be favored in every one of these hypothetical games anyway, but avoiding the grind of having to play multiple of these teams is definitely a boon for the Trojans. 

BEST: 

- FW North Side: Getting to play Anderson while Snider gets Dwenger again is huge for the Legends. They'll be nice and rested for their rematch with Snider while the Panthers will have to dispatch of Dwenger for the second time in a month.  

WORST: 

- Oak Hill/Guerin: Mirroring what I just said about Chatard, both of these teams undoubtedly would've preferred to see the other play Chatard and possibly soften up the Trojans a little bit. Instead they get each other in the first round, and then the winner will get undefeated Tippecanoe Valley in round 2. Just a brutal draw for the teams looking to pull an upset in Sectional 28. 

WORST: 

- Gibson Southern: Getting Vincennes round 1 followed by Owen Valley round 2 likely isn't how the Titans would prefer to start their class 3A title defense. They would've had to beat one of these teams no matter what but now they'll have to go through both. 

WORST: 

- Carroll/Penn: Tough sectional made tougher by virtue of the draw. I'm guessing if you had to ask which team either of these programs wanted to play round 1 neither would've answered with each other. Whoever gets out of sectional 2 will have earned it. 

WORST: 

- Tri-West: Having to play rematches of close games with Danville and WeBo to start the postseason is clearly not the best draw outcome for the Bruins. It won't be easy to get through both of them.

WORST:

- Andrean: Getting the bye before a rematch with LaVille just doesn't seem to me to be a good thing for the Niners. Chance to lose rhythm during the off week and to come out flat against the Lancers. Coach Skinner even alluded to this in his recent interview with the NWI Times. The Niners have two weeks to prepare for the Lancers, but with LaVille playing Whiting they basically have two weeks of preparation with the added bonus of getting to remain in rhythm and potentially putting new things on tape during their game against the Oilers.   

I would argue Vincennes got the short end of the stick.   Not how the Alices would want to go out after a "turn around" season and some success in the SIAC.

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12 hours ago, Titan32 said:

I would argue Vincennes got the short end of the stick.   Not how the Alices would want to go out after a "turn around" season and some success in the SIAC.

Not the greatest draw for them at all, especially since they want to make some noise in the postseason, should be an exciting matchup too 

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13 hours ago, Titan32 said:

I would argue Vincennes got the short end of the stick.   Not how the Alices would want to go out after a "turn around" season and some success in the SIAC.

Definitely could say that looking at it from their perspective. I was looking at it from the viewpoint that GS is the defending champ and is many people's (including myself) pick to win 3A South. Just felt that the draw had higher stakes for them. Still expect them to get through. 

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1 hour ago, Y2K Metal Storm said:

OCT 14th   Lawrenceburg at South Dearborn

OCT 21st   Lawrenceburg at South Dearborn

Intrigued by the back to backs at same location thanks to those little balls. In a case like this, is the plan for regular season finale to go all out to win/make a statement or do you go vanilla and try to win without showing cards? 

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12 minutes ago, scarab527 said:

Definitely could say that looking at it from their perspective. I was looking at it from the viewpoint that GS is the defending champ and is many people's (including myself) pick to win 3A South. Just felt that the draw had higher stakes for them. Still expect them to get through. 

If Owen Valley were to win, then Vincennes would need to win @ Gibson Southern and @ Owen Valley.  Two road games against the two undefeated teams in your sectional is a tougher draw than GS/OV who would at least get one of the first two games at home.

I'm curious what would be everyone's preference for a team like Mt Vernon? Draw an undefeated unknown (out of conference) opponent in OV or an undefeated conference foe they had already lost earlier? I guess it depends on how you fared in the previous meeting, but I would think out of conference would be better.   

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1 hour ago, ragdoll said:

Intrigued by the back to backs at same location thanks to those little balls. In a case like this, is the plan for regular season finale to go all out to win/make a statement or do you go vanilla and try to win without showing cards? 

Number 2 with an emphasis on minimizing injuries; especially to key personnel.

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4 hours ago, oldtimeqb said:

If Owen Valley were to win, then Vincennes would need to win @ Gibson Southern and @ Owen Valley.  Two road games against the two undefeated teams in your sectional is a tougher draw than GS/OV who would at least get one of the first two games at home.

I'm curious what would be everyone's preference for a team like Mt Vernon? Draw an undefeated unknown (out of conference) opponent in OV or an undefeated conference foe they had already lost earlier? I guess it depends on how you fared in the previous meeting, but I would think out of conference would be better.   

Agree on your last point.

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I mean, the best Sectional draw by far is Warren Central's. Ben Davis had those other three teams that are now in Warren's Sectional for the last few years, and, while Perry is much much improved, I'm not sure there's a team that can prevent a running clock in the second half in that Sectional vs. the Warriors. I'd say Center Grove is a close second in that department in 6A.

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16 minutes ago, BDGiant93 said:

I mean, the best Sectional draw by far is Warren Central's. Ben Davis had those other three teams that are now in Warren's Sectional for the last few years, and, while Perry is much much improved, I'm not sure there's a team that can prevent a running clock in the second half in that Sectional vs. the Warriors. I'd say Center Grove is a close second in that department in 6A.

I think those are a little different because of the groupings of those sectionals. CG and Warren literally couldn't have gotten a bad draw. I was talking more about sectionals where draws can actually impact who ends up winning. 

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