OHSAA to use new format for seeding high school basketball playoffs

TOLEDO, Ohio — The road to a state championship is closing in for boys and girls basketball in Ohio. When the initial brackets come out, they will do so in a new format this postseason.

In years past, playoff seeds were determined by a draw meeting where coaches would meet and rank each team in their respective district. The higher the seed, the more freedom you had to pick your spot on the bracket.

That subjective method to determine the sectional and district tournaments, began to create problems according, to OHSAA Executive Director Doug Ute.

"When you look at it, the human factor is taken out of it. There's no more walking out of a draw meeting and saying 'can you believe where they seeded us?'" Ute said. "There's always a question about that coming out of each division and each seed meeting. I want to reiterate that the coach still has the opportunity to select what line and game they want to play, but the order may be a little different."

Before the 2023-24 season tipped off, OHSAA adopted a new format to rank schools. That formula is called the Ratings Percentage Index, which is comprised of three components:

• a school's winning percentage, 40% of the index;
• opponent's winning percentage, 35% of the index;
• and opponent's opponents winning percentage, 25% of the index.

Simply put, it's a combination of winning percentage and strength of schedule.

That criteria, with help from scores inputted in MaxPreps, results in how each district of each division will be seeded.

"A win is a win is a win, instead of doing a weighted formula which is something we'll look at and discuss as we go through this," Ute said. "It's year one, so there's going to be some bumps and some questions but we'll always revisit as we head into year two."

It is important to note that the new system was created by the Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association, which first proposed the idea of RPI seeding three years ago and later adopted by the OHSAA. Although Ute referenced that portions of southwest Ohio were not on board, he's received significant support statewide following the rankings that have been released this month. 

Everyone will get to see how this plays out for the first time on Sunday, when the girls basketball state tournament draw is announced on Feb. 4. The boys brackets will be released on Feb. 11.

Here's an example of what the latest MaxPreps RPI rankings look like as they relate to top teams and win/loss rrecords in northwest Ohio:

Girls Division I

1. Anthony Wayne: 15-2
2. Fremont Ross: 14-3
3. Perrysburg: 14-5
4. Northview: 12-5
5. Findlay: 12-5

Boys Division I

1. Whitmer: 14-1
2. Findlay: 13-1
3. Sandusky: 12-1
4. Perrysburg: 11-4
5. Southview: 11-4

For full rankings on Divisions I-IV, click here.