I watched some of the Charlotte Observer stream with Chris Hughes and the gang for this week and they had a segment discussing what a combined bracket with no east/west splitting would look like and if that is the truest way to crown a top dog. Mixed bag of yes and no, but generally the answer was it couldn't happen. If the state were shaped different I think it could carry some weight.
We all know that will never happen. It would take the NCHSAA covering travel costs...and I think it would hurt gates too much for a mountain team to travel to the beach/beach team to travel to the mountains (among other reasons). Northeastern to Hendersonville would be a hell of a drive.
As a side note, they stated that Hendersonville at Reidsville and Salisbury and Maiden were the best games this week. So props to those 4 teams to get that recognition...I hate that 2 of them are out come Saturday morning.
Anyway...as I always do I let my mind wander a bit and I decided to throw together a bracket that would reflect a combined bracket. Using the same process established now, I placed all the conference champs as tier 1 according to RPI and then the rest of the field by RPI and I let the chips fall. Here is what I got:
We all know that will never happen. It would take the NCHSAA covering travel costs...and I think it would hurt gates too much for a mountain team to travel to the beach/beach team to travel to the mountains (among other reasons). Northeastern to Hendersonville would be a hell of a drive.
As a side note, they stated that Hendersonville at Reidsville and Salisbury and Maiden were the best games this week. So props to those 4 teams to get that recognition...I hate that 2 of them are out come Saturday morning.
Anyway...as I always do I let my mind wander a bit and I decided to throw together a bracket that would reflect a combined bracket. Using the same process established now, I placed all the conference champs as tier 1 according to RPI and then the rest of the field by RPI and I let the chips fall. Here is what I got:
| Side A | Combined Bracket | Side B |
| 1 - Shelby | 2 - East Surry | |
| 64 - Trinity | 63 - Camden County | |
| 32 - Clinton | 31 - Polk County | |
| 33 - Eastern Wayne | 34 - Kinston | |
| 17 - Robinson | 18 - Nash Central | |
| 48 - SW Edgecombe | 47 - Forest Hills | |
| 16 - West Craven | 15 - CS of Davidson | |
| 49 - Lincolnton | 50 - Midway | |
| ---------------------- | ---------------------- | |
| 9 - Hendersonville | 10 - St. Pauls | |
| 56 - Newton Conover | 55 - SW Onslow | |
| 24 - Chase | 23 - Burns | |
| 41 - East Davidson | 42 - West Stokes | |
| 25 - West Lincoln | 26 - Roanoke Rapids | |
| 40 - McMichael | 39 - Pine Lake Prep | |
| 8 - Whiteville | 7 - Reidsville | |
| 57 - North Lenoir | 58 - Louisburg | |
| ---------------------- | ---------------------- | |
| ---------------------- | ---------------------- | |
| 4 - East Duplin | 3 - Princeton | |
| 61 - Greene Central | 62 - Goldsboro | |
| 29 - Holmes | 30 - SW Randolph | |
| 36 - Hertford County | 35 - North Surry | |
| 20 - Wallace-Rose Hill | 19 - South Granville | |
| 45 - Bartlett Yancey | 46 - South Columbus | |
| 13 - Providence Grove | 14 - Cummings | |
| 52 - West Stanly | 51 - North Forsyth | |
| ---------------------- | ---------------------- | |
| 12 - Monroe | 11 - Salisbury | |
| 53 - Randleman | 54 - Mount Pleasant | |
| 21 - Bunker Hill | 22 - Washington | |
| 44 - East Gaston | 43 - East Bladen | |
| 28 - Forbush | 27 - James Kenan | |
| 37 - North Pitt | 38 - Surry Central | |
| 5 - Maiden | 6 - Northeastern | |
| 60 - Brevard | 59 - North Stanly |
