CWOSSA's "AAA" Senior Draw Leaves Lots To Be Desired

There -- I said it.

It's no secret (a quick scroll through Twitter will prove my point) that many people are not enamored with the set-up for this year's CWOSSA tournament.

With the elimination of the "AAAA" division, CWOSSA will have three tournaments this year (A, AA, and AAA).  The "AAA" tournament will go back to being an 8-team draw, as it was for many years.  Unfortunately, a few issues with the new set-up have come to light.

To recap, the draw is set up as follows:

WCSSAA #1 (SJAM) vs. D10 #2 (CCVI)
WCSSAA #3 (WCI) vs. D5 #1 (NPC)

D8 #1 (SBCSS) vs. D10 #1 (JFR)
WCSSAA #2 (FHCI) vs. D5 #2 (SJC)

For starters, with no "seeding", the two top-ranked teams would be on the same side of the draw should they win their opening games.

The SJAM Highlanders and the St. Benedict Saints have been the top two "AAA" teams throughout the 2015-16 season.  However, should both win their opening games (where both will be double-digit favourites), they would meet as early as the semifinals on Saturday.

This year, under the new AAA format, CWOSSA will receive only one OFSAA berth --- but could you imagine if this was a year where CWOSSA received two berths, and it was set up so that the two top-ranked teams would meet in one semifinal?  It doesn't make sense.

The draw itself is imbalanced, with arguably three of the top four teams on the same side of the draw.

With no disrespect intended to the bottom half of the draw --- JF Ross and FHCI have been playing well down the stretch, both having defeated Eastwood in the last couple of weeks --- if I were ranking the tournament, I would argue that 3 of the top 4 ranked teams would be on the top side of the draw.

(To keep myself off the hook, I'm referring to both SBCSS & SJAM as "#1" in my seeding):

1.  SJAM
1.  St. Benedict
3.  WCI
4.  North Park
5.  Forest Heights
6.  JF Ross
7.  Centennial
8.  St. John's

If all goes to form, your second round match-ups might look like this:

(1) SJAM vs. (4) North Park
(3) WCI vs. (7) Centennial

(1) St. Benedict vs. (8) St. John's
(5) Forest Heights vs. (6) JF Ross

....in other words, SJAM's reward for the excellent season may be a date with a very tough North Park team that only lost to the Highlanders by 3 points (59-56) this year, although to be fair, that was way back at the Heinbuch Tournament in November. 

Along with not being seeded, the draw does not account for year over year variations in league strength --- or other scenarios.  There should be six set "entrants" and two wild cards -- from any league.

When the AAA (and AAAA) tournaments used to be contested, there was always set teams that would qualify from each league --- say, 3 WCSSAA, 2 D10, 1 D8 and 1 D5.  The remaining two spots would be reserved for "wild card" teams, which are two deserving teams that were eliminated in their league playoffs prior to CWOSSA qualification.

Under the current format, there are no exceptions as to the qualifiers.  If the SJAM Highlanders decided to go out for a team meal before their quarterfinal game against Preston --- and a few of them got food poisoning and missed the game --- their season would be done.

Along with that, year over year variations in league strength are ignored.

I've told the story about how my Junior team at Bluevale (the year before I transferred to KCI) were undefeated WCSSAA champions.  Yet, we were the #5 seed, behind a wild-card team from Guelph.  In those days, Guelph and Brantford were far and away the class of CWOSSA.

This year, there are several talented teams that I've had ranked throughout the season sitting at home this weekend.  St. Mary's, Eastwood, Grand River and KCI are among the teams that would be "wild card worthy".

Wild card teams have also had historical success at the CWOSSA tournament.  In fact, St. Benedict was a #6 seed, and a wild-card entrant in 2003, when they went on a surprising run and finished 2nd in that tournament, qualifying for OFSAA for the first time in school history.

With 14 "AAA" teams, it's certainly more than fair that WCSSAA receive 3 automatic entrants to the CWOSSA tournament.  The other leagues (D8 - 3, D5 - 4, and D10 - 5) should, in my view, receive one each and there be two "wild card" entries.

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Now, I'm not posting this to diminish this year's tournament, as it should be quite exciting.  Heck, some of the above-described scenarios may not come into play should there be a first (or second-round) upset!

The fact of the matter is that the best team this weekend will win.  That said, as a region known for forward-thinking, we should look ahead to future tournaments, make them the best they can be, and avoid any issues or controversy.