The AIA never ceases to amaze some by their decisions, justifications, and now-rankings. I’m no soccer fanatic, but the thought of meandering over to the final rankings for Division 1 Boys’ Soccer popped in my head. I gave it a go, and a few things jumped out at me.
OK- more than a few, but we’ll give the AIA some lee-way.
Sitting ranked number seven with a record of 10-2 is Alhambra High School. Sitting ranked number 20 with a record of 10-1 is Ironwood High School. Mind you, only the top 16 make the playoffs. So why is a team with a record that is better than that of number seven, not in the playoffs?
Smelling something fishy, I went more in-depth.
Back on Dec. 14, Ironwood and Alhambra met in a matchup at Ironwood. What is the significance? Ironwood won that game, 3-1.
So not even is Ironwood’s record better than Alhambra’s, but they ALSO beat them in pretty definitive fashion. Despite all of that, Alhambra is given access to the state playoffs, Ironwood is not.
Something’s got to give, right?
Shifting over to Division 2 does not offer anything different.
In the Division 2 rankings for Boys’ Soccer, sitting ranked number 11 with a 10-2 record is Notre Dame Preparatory. Sitting ranked number 18 with an 11-2 record is Agua Fria High School. Same case with the rankings for D-1 is showcased here as well- except it gets even better.
Notre Dame Prep has a strength of schedule of -1.5962 (meaning their schedule was exceptionally easy based on their opponents). Agua Fria’s strength of schedule comes in at -.8986. For those of you who did not catch the irony in this, Notre Dame is given a better ranking than Agua Fria, even though Agua Fria has a harder schedule and better record.
Makes sense (insert sarcasm).
As I proposed in an earlier article, the AIA needs to rid away “strength of schedules” and adopt the NFL’s way of ranking playoff teams; solely base the seeds off of win-loss record and make schedules for every team around the same strength.
Causing controversy is something that the AIA has made a habit of; now it just has to stop. Agua Fria should be in the playoffs, not Notre Dame Prep. Ironwood should be in the playoffs- ahead of Alhambra. Get those few things straight, and then the AIA will be causing more good than harm.
