by Paul Moseley

For us west side sports fans, parents and athletes, Basketball tournament season is exciting. Actually, it's exciting and exhausting if you want to figure out who's playing in what tournament and how it all ties together on March 7th in the Tacoma Dome for the State Championship.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the way it's done here in Washington but as a former physics major drop-out turned management major, I am under-qualified to grasp all of the tournament details. Welcome to the Metro/Sea King District 2/WIAA basketball tournament.

There is, however, a path to enlightenment. As a committed life-long learner with a press credential - I called Harvard Jones - the smartest man in Seattle (at least this week). Jones is the Assistant Director of Athletics for the Seattle Public Schools and he is - there's no other word for it - a tournament whisperer. Jones walked me through the Metro tournament brackets and nuances with the patience of a life-long educator. So, for your piece of mind, and for the chance to be the smartest person at the next party you go to, here is a brief primer on the road to the Washington state championship for West Siders.

Some Key Terms to Add to our Tourney Lexicon:

Metro League – We talk about the Seattle Metro League a lot. It is 16 teams that fit the size standard for a “3A” school. Those schools include Chief Sealth and West Seattle. It has 3 divisions – Metro, Sound and Valley. West side schools are in the Sound division.

Sea King District – Otherwise known as District 2, it is one of 9 Districts in Washington and includes a group of Leagues including the Seattle Metro 3A , KingCo 3A, and KingCo 4A. Don’t ask what 3A vs. 4A is….I just know 4A is bigger (probably).

Seed – A team’s ranking going into the tournament. This is determined by the team’s regular season record and, at times, voodoo. There are some easy ones. The West Seattle Girls are seeded #1..period. Easy. The tournament dieties have seeded the West Seattle boys 10. Chief Sealth Girls 12. Chief Sealth Boys 14.

Loser Out – I love this term. I say it to people at my day job all the time, especially in the lunch room when they microwave stinky food. In the tournament, It means if a team loses this game, they are out of the tournament.

There are Three Tournaments, Maybe Four, that Lead to the State Championship

The Metro League Tournament – The Metro League tournament starts this week and includes the 16 Metro teams. The top 2 teams from each division (Sound, Valley, Mountain – a total of 6 teams), compete in the ‘Champions Bracket’ for the Metro League title and automatically advance to the District Tournament.

The other 10 teams compete in the “To District” bracket. The top 3 teams in this group advance to the District. Some games are “Loser Out” and some games are not (See the picture!).

The District Tournament – The top 9 teams in the Metro League Tournament and the top 3 KingCo 3A teams (who have their own tournament) will advance to the District championships. The winner of this tournament is awesome and gets a banner to hang in their gym. It’s a big deal.

The State Tournament
The state tournament is divided into two parts. The first part, “The Regionals”, pit the top District teams against each other in a region. Last year, there were 16 teams that made it to Regionals. The second part is the Hardwood Classic. The top 8 teams travel to the Tacoma Dome and play for ALL THE MARBLES.

So That’s It…Easy…. Right? Right? Right?

Yep, that’s all there is…plus there’s a bunch of other details that I don’t understand yet, but I’m getting a new graphing calculator for Valentines day so maybe I can figure it out then.

So, now that you are schooled in the ways of the tournament, take a look at the Metro brackets in the photo for this primer. Here’s how you read them:

1. The top half of the brackets are the Championship teams, they are in this tournament to win the Metro title. If they lose a game, they will play one more game to determine their Seed in the district.

2. The bottom half are trying to get to Districts. In each of the first three rounds, it’s Loser Out.

Let’s take Chief Sealth as an Example.

Chief Sealth is the #14 Seed, playing Ingraham, the #15 Seed. Sealth is the Higher Seed, so they will play at Chief Sealth.
- If Sealth Loses, they are Out!

- If Sealth Wns, they play Lakeside on Tuesday, Feb 10th.

- If Sealth Loses to Lakeside, they are Out!

- If Sealth Beats Lakeside, they will play the winner of the West Seattle/O’Dea game.

See how it works? Have fun and send any questions you may have. If I cannot answer them, I will track down the people who can.