Coach Not Happy with Section 1AAA Girls Seeding

Bill Bardal, Faribault Falcons Girls Basketball Head Coach was not happy Saturday when visiting with the Faribault Coaches Show at Bashers Faribowl Center.  Bardal said something has to change when it comes to doing the seeding of teams.

Bardal stated all the Big Nine teams in the section seeded Faribault ahead of Albert Lea and those outside of the league did the opposite.  He said the players worked hard all year to improve themselves and deserved a #7 spot.

There are eight teams in Section 1AAA.  Five of them are in the Big Nine and the other three are from the Hiawatha Valley League.  You do not seed your team.

Faribault finished the season with 4 wins. Albert Lea had 3 wins.  The two teams split with the Falcons winning at home 44-43 and losing in Albert Lea 58-48.

The Tigers achieved a sweep over Class 4A Northfield.  The Raiders had 4 wins.

Faribault also had two wins over Class 4A teams with splits against Owatonna and Rochester John Marshall.  The Huskies had 10 wins, JM 5 wins.

The Falcons other win is probably why they did not receive the #7 seed.  In their season opener Faribault defeated Pine Island, a Class 2A team that did not win a game this season.

The Falcons had no control over how the Panthers did the remainder of their season but I'm sure a number of the teams looked at that result and believed it should not separate them from Albert Lea.

I would agree with Bardal from the standpoint the split ties the Tigers and Falcons and Faribault wins over teams finishing higher in the Big Nine than Northfield should have resulted in a better seed for Faribault.  The Falcons only lost by 3 to 4A opponent Rochester Century (17-9) also.

I suggested a remedy is simply to have all teams play each other in the section.  With 26 games on the schedule, it should be easy enough to accomplish.

Coach Bardal agreed.

Faribault (4-22) will travel to top seed Stewartville (24-2) Wednesday.

#2 Red Wing (18-7) will host #7 Albert Lea (3-21).

#3 Austin (18-8) has #6 Kasson-Mantorville (13-12) in Spam City.

#5 Winona (13-13) is at #4 Byron (14-12).

Semifinals are at the high seed Saturday, March 4, 2023, at 7:00 p.m.

The Section 1AAA Championship is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. in the Rochester Mayo Civic Center Arena.

Section 1AAAA top seed is South Suburban Conference Champions Lakeville North (19-7).  They will host #8 Northfield (4-22) on Wednesday, March 1, 2023.

#2 seed Rochester Mayo (22-4) won the Big Nine Conference.  The Spartans will see Rochester John Marshall (5-21) in their gym.

#3 Lakeville South (17-9) will host #6 Owatonna (10-16) while #5 seed Farmington (7-19) goes to #4 Rochester Century (17-9).

You could make the argument that Lakeville South should have the #2 seed based upon a 40-point win over Rochester Mayo during the regular season.

The Spartans have 12 wins and a loss against Class 3A teams.  The Cougars have 3 wins against 3A schools and a loss to Class 2A Minnehaha Academy who was ranked #1 in their class at the time.

There is no question the South Suburban is stronger than the Big Nine Conference.

Semifinals are at high seed Saturday, March 4, 2023, at 7:00 p.m.

Title game is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. Friday. March 10, 2023, at Rochester Mayo Civic Center Arena.