It's almost a contractual obligation to place final poll votes based off the regional results. The top 8 spots are taken by the 4 western regional finalist teams and 4 eastern regional finalist teams. Take Wallace Rose Hill on the Boys side - they beat 3 weaker Eastern teams to make it to the final 8, get beat pretty handily by East Carteret (finishing with a final record of only 14-14!) and are the "8th" best team in the state. A team like East Surry finishes 23-7 in the 2014 season with 4 of their 7 losses coming at the hands of state champs WS Prep and they "aren't" one of the best 10 teams in the state. On the flip side, the same East Surry team was a #14 seed in 2013, getting sent to the far western pod (which was much easier than the midwestern pod) and made it to the Western Finals only to lose to eventual champs WS Prep. That team finished 19-11, but was the 4th or 5th "best" team in the state in 2013. It is what it is. What's indisputable is that in 2014 WS Prep and East Carteret were the 2 best teams in the state and gave everyone a very enjoyable, competitive championship game.