This is why they call it March Madness

A week after holding off Poplar Bluff’s late rally, Chaminade got beat in the fourth quarter of the MSHSAA Class 6 boys basketball semifinal.

A 9-2 run to start the fourth gave Kickapoo enough breathing room for a 71-53 win in a meeting of top-ranked teams. The Red Devils became second No. 1 boys team not to reach a state championship game this season (the other was in Class 2 won by Campbell).

Whenever the top two ranked teams meet in the state playoffs before the final there’s always talk of seeding the tournaments.

It also happened in the quarterfinals of Class 4 and Class 3 this year on the boys side while the top two girls teams in Class 5 met in a sectional playoff.

Only the top teams in the Class 6 girls playoff could meet today in the final game of the season.

In all MSHSAA sports, the playoffs are set up regionally in that teams from certain parts of the state are grouped together. That’s why Poplar Bluff and Jackson met in the district final for the seventh straight year.

Chaminade’s district this year featured three state-ranked teams and another that was receiving votes.

The Red Devils needed a last-second 3-pointer to win its district title against fifth-ranked CBC, which beat eighth-ranked Webster Groves in the semifinal. Kirkwood, which beat Poplar Bluff in the finals of the Rotating 8 Tournament in mid-January and was among teams getting votes in the state coaches poll, was the No. 4 seed in that district.

The Mules, who beat Jackson in overtime to win the district title, played Oakville in a sectional playoff that featured teams with a combined 23 losses. Chaminade beat unranked Marquette by 17 in the sectional while Kickapoo won by 12 over fourth-ranked Nixa.

There was a discussion on Twitter that MSHSAA should treat the quarterfinals as regions and seed teams among those four districts. In this case, Chaminade and CBC might get the top two seeds and thus not meet until the quarterfinal.

The problem is that while MSHSAA controls the postseason, it leaves the seeding to a vote of the coaches and many St. Louis teams think Southeast Missouri is actually part of Arkansas.

It would make a lot of sense if all the teams in the same district might meet during the regular season to help seed the postseason. But here it is the first day of spring sports and MSHSAA has not released those district assignments.

At least every school has a chance to make a postseason run because rankings don’t always pan out.

Just look at the start of the NCAA Men’s Tournament on Friday.

One top-10 team was already out as No. 7 Ohio State lost 75-72 in overtime to Oral Roberts. Arkansas, ranked No. 10, looked like it might be the first upset of the tournament until the Razorbacks ended the half by scoring 17 unanswered points. The game was tied with 9 1/2 minutes left before a 17-4 Razorback run.

Upsets happen. Cinderellas are crowned.

The same is true in high school sports.

Sometimes the best teams win.

Cardinal Ritter, ranked No. 1, won the Class 5 title Friday with a 66-56 win over unranked Bolivar. No. 1 Vashon plays for the Class 4 title Saturday against seventh-ranked Westminster Christian.

Last week, No. 1 Hartville claimed the Class 3 title while top-ranked South Iron completed a title run in Class 1.

Sometimes they get knocked out early.

Campbell won the Class 2 boys title after entering the postseason ranked No. 4. The teams ranked ahead of the Camels all reached the state playoffs but none got to the final four.

Ellington’s girls were not even ranked at the start of the playoffs before running the table, beating three ranked teams, including No. 1 Wellington-Napoleon in the finals.

That’s why they call it March Madness.