UIL again under fire from Yahoo

The Yahoo! high school sports blog Prep Rally, which I routinely link here at The Baseline, isn't very fond of some decisions the University Interscholastic League (UIL) has made in recent months.

The blog criticized the UIL for allowing Longview and Mesquite to play a football playoff game in Louisiana, just to name one.

Now, the blog is after the UIL because Kennedale—who entered the girls' basketball playoffs as the state's No. 1 team in Class 3A—lost in the regional finals to Abiliene Wylie, 59-53.

The blog's editor Cameron Smith's problem is that Kennedale is seven hours away from Texas Tech's United Spirit Arena, where the Region I tournament was held. Conversely, it was a much shorter trip for both Wylie and for Kennedale's semifinal opponent, Lubbock Cooper, which actually plays there from time to time.

Now, the UIL does some silly things, but I just don't know if I can justify criticism here. Texas is a big state, and when you're only breaking it down into four regions per classification, then things like travel are bound to happen from time to time.

Smith makes the argument that Kennedale should've  been allowed to host the game, and as the No. 1 team in the state he may have some sort of point. But, in Texas, there are regional tournaments at neutral sites. That's how it's done at every level, from Class 5A all the way down to Class 1A, D-II.

He also points out that SMU's gym was open at the time, which is all well and good but as he points out later, Region I is mostly teams from out West, so when the regional tournament was set-up, Lubbock would've sounded like a logical idea.

Kennedale isn't the only playoff team from the DFW area in that region. Decatur lost to Wylie in the regional quarterfinals, and while Burkburnnet isn't exactly in the heart of Dallas/Fort Worth, it's closer to the middle of the state than it is to West Texas.

Now, does this example make a case for expanding beyond four regions into possibly six? Maybe, but to do it right, you'd have to go all the way to eight regions to make the playoff system work without byes and off weeks, etc., etc.

I have wholeheartedly disagreed with the UIL on any number of issues, including the aforementioned Louisiana locale for a playoff game, the lack of a shot clock in high school basketball and more. But, I can't knock them for this.

I've long wondered how redistricting gets done every two years and certainly wouldn't want that job myself. With a state as big as Texas, not everyone is going to be happy.

In the end the better team won and it's really that simple. Wylie was state runner-up in 2010 and Kennedale didn't actually travel on the day of the game, or at least I would assume. I'd be willing to be they stayed in a hotel, probably a pretty nice one, and were well rested going into the game.