OPINION: It’s time to freshen up the Michigan HS basketball postseason structure

The Michigan boys basketball state semifinals and finals weekend at the Breslin Center is my favorite three-day stretch of the year.

Parking in the ramp across the street, getting the year’s new program and finding my seat with my dad getting drinks - watching the first teams warm up is like Christmas morning and a childhood birthday wrapped in one glimmering package.

But I’m getting pretty tired of the tournament structure.

Every team does not need/deserve a postseason berth. Districts should not have multiple teams with 18-plus wins in it. Seeding just one fraction of the tournament does nothing.

I think we should throw out the old and enter a new age of excitement - not only for the postseason but also the regular season.

If we are being honest with ourselves, the regular season in Michigan high school boys basketball has very little meaning, especially for schools who don’t have a conference tournament.

At first, the showcases brought life and energy throughout the state during the regular season as we were able to watch the state’s best players all in the same gym. Now, there are so many showcases with the same teams in that hardly anyone goes to them.

What we need is a new postseason structure. I’m sorry to all the teams that went 4-18 or played a ridiculously easy schedule and still went 12-10 - it’s just not a postseason-worthy performance.

Each division should have a 32-team tournament (which would start exactly where the regional semifinals start now) fully seeded throughout the state.

This would make the regular season much more riveting. Players, fans and coaches would be at the end of their seats wondering if they were safely in, on the bubble or the first four out.

It would freshen up a tired, lazy approach to the postseason and create buzz throughout the state. Every game in the regular season would be thrilling because it would have postseason ramifications - just like college basketball.

What about travel, you ask?

Easy, you split the 32-team fields into four quadrants for each division. One quadrant labeled south, north, east and west. There would be some teams traveling further than others, but teams travel all season long for showcases and long conference trips. We shouldn’t be afraid of traveling.

Each quadrant would have a 1-8 seed selected and placed by a committee of say 8-12 made up of MHSAA members and writers who cover large portions of the state.

Some solid teams would get left out. Some top seeds would lose early, but at least teams like Rockford and Muskegon wouldn’t play each other right away. U.D. Jesuit, Renaissance and Fitzgerald wouldn’t all knock each other out before the regional, and so forth. This structure would ensure the top four teams in each division at least had a chance at reaching the Breslin Center.

The MHSAA needs to make some changes. If they don’t want to mandate a shot clock, at least fix the tournament and transfer rules.

Here’s an example of how the current D1 tournament would look with current MPR numbers:

That looks pretty awesome to me.