SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ–Last week, the web site posted an article in the blog about the number of teams in the GMC that were .500 or better. At that time, there were 19 squads that had achieved that mark. Since that posting, I have received information as well as read others on the the internet, and learned that there have been changes to the qualifications for getting into the states.
In past years, you needed to be at .500 or better by the time final games were played on the state cutoff date. However, this year, there is a change that is being tried. To make the state tournament in your section, all you have to do is be in the top sixteen of your section, and turn in the necessary paperwork, and you’re in. So, you may be 4-10 right now, but you still may have a shot at getting in regardless of your record at the cutoff as long as it is among the top 16 records in that section. For example, there are 21 teams in Central Jersey Group II. This year’s tourney will have the best sixteen teams out of that group (regardless of whether they’re .500 or not) with the other five not getting in.
This gives teams that play a tough schedule a chance to compete, and not get penalized for playing games early on in the season against some of the better teams in the state. Now, I knew that the NJSIAA was going to this format back during football season, but I didn’t really get the details, and understand it all until now. For more examples, check out a past blog entry in MyCentralJersey.com’s Inside the Paint.