ALPreps

As we near the end of the regular season, I've been doing some thinking. Call me crazy, tell me it's all a terrible idea - but these ideas have been swirling in my head so I wrote them down. What If We Completely Rethought Alabama High School Athletics? - alpreps.substack.com/p/what-…

It's Round 2! Make your picks here! Congrats to Tony S for taking the top spot picking 85 of 104 games correct in the first round! pickem.alpreps.com/

The second round match-ups have been made official by the AHSAA - check them all out here! alpreps.com/ (Bayside Academy/St. James is today, we will update when it's finished)

Check out the final ASWA rankings for the 2026 football season! rankings.alpreps.com/aswa

One more silly bracket before the playoffs start this week - in honor of the NCAA tournament shifting to 76 teams, here is a 76 team SUPER BRACKET of all teams in the AHSAA! I used my own rankings, so I'm sure you'll disagree with the seeding, but this is all for fun so just go with it.

Maybe all 16 in wasn’t the best idea?

EVERY. SINGLE. GAME. Because why not? Make your Round 1 picks here and pick all 104 round 1 playoff games! pickem.alpreps.com/

The playoffs start this week, but before we get going, I thought I'd take a look at a few different ways of approaching the playoffs, including how a few different states approach things, plus new ways of qualifying/seeding the postseason. alpreps.substack.com/p/viewi…

The AHSAA released the official ruling on Florala stating they will forfeit three games because of playing an ineligible player in violation of the transfer rule. They were originally the fourth seed in 1A Region 2, but now will miss the playoffs.

Just for fun, I thought I'd plug Alabama teams into the GHSA postseason rankings formula and see what it gave me. Seems like a modified RPI of sorts. You can check out all classifications here: rankings.alpreps.com/psr Here are the 5A/6A brackets using that formula now that the regular season is over. 6A doesn't look that bad, all region champs get a bye. No shock that 4 of 8 byes are region 3. Oak Mtn/Dothan get in, Alma Bryant/Robertsdale drop out. You'd only have one same-region match-up in round 1 (Auburn/JAG) and only one Region 1v4 game (Foley/Huntsville, although Enterprise/Bob Jones is rough too). If top seeds won, you'd get Prattville vs Central and Thompson vs Vestavia as your semi match-ups. 5A is much more interesting. Clay drops all the way to #10. I can only assume it's because the region isn't seen as strong mathematically, and despite playing the top two teams in the state, they were losses. Pell City/St. Clair Co from that region just miss, as does Gardendale in favor of Huffman AND Jasper (both of whom Gardendale beat), and Mountain Brook (who missed on a tiebreaker). You'd have a weird Ben Russell/Pike Road and Florence/Austin first round rematch but those are the only same region games. Would probably need to make a rule against that. Rough travel would come with Saraland/Mae Jemison, Oxford/Spanish Fort, and Russellville/Stanhope. Teams like Huffman to Gulf Shores may seem rough until you realize Ramsay is making an identical trip anyway this week. If top seeds won, quarterfinal match-ups would be Hillcrest vs Boaz, Homewood vs Russellville, Gulf Shores vs Clay, Parker vs Saraland. Just a neat little experiment, it's interesting to see how other states do it.

Brackets have been made official by the AHSAA, check them out here! Good luck to all teams in the playoffs! alpreps.com/

All brackets should be set! Check them out here: alpreps.com/ These are unofficial until the state confirms all match-ups tomorrow morning. I'll update as needed.

7A Basketball last year if it was a 24-team bracket. I guess play the first round games at home like a standard sub-regional then shift to regionals for the rest. Here is how the bracket would have played out using last year (I just shifted the highest seeded team in that missed as #3 for each area). Seems easy enough to do. With the highest classification being half as big, you're not adding any dates really, they always just skip a round (and in basketball they just play their regular season a little later).

Here is 6A this year using a straight RPI before the final week's games. You'd have 2-7 Oak Mountain AND 0-9 Tuscaloosa County in which may sound ridiculous until you realize the two teams they replaced are 3-7 Alma Bryant and 1-8 Robertsdale. County has easily the hardest schedule in the state and RPI only counts your win % as 25% of the formula. I also left Mary Montgomery out due to their ban, but they are #10. Here are is the full 32-team RPI going into this week: rankings.alpreps.com/rpi For a 16 team bracket, just advance the higher seed in the first round to see the matchups. JAG (2-7) was actually the last team in, but I shifted them to avoid a same-region match-up. There are six teams with losing records (as of this morning) that would make it. That number is the same using the current format, RPI just rewards region 3 for being so tough. If you only took the top 16, the only team with a losing record would be Hoover at #12.

Initial notes and takeaways from GSIAA presser: # of schools - Said they hope to have around 50 members next fall, most AISA teams will join. Who can join - Anyone can join (public, private, charter, etc.) and everyone will play together strictly based on enrollment with no multipliers or anything else. Said they hope for 2-4 classifications that limit travel as much as possible. Interest - Made it sound like there was interest from public and private AHSAA schools, but never specifics on what size schools showed interest. Why now - Said they started it now because the AISA was being picked apart and there was interest. Growth - They want to create something that uses cutting edge technology and AI to help grow it. Will look to add all sports possible to it, including smaller ones like esports, bowling and wrestling (AISA doesn't do wrestling I guess). Voting - All rule changes have to be approved by a 2/3 vote from all member schools. Said they didn't want a legislative committee or representatives of a group of schools, but rather each school has one vote. Says they have "class protection" since 2/3 of schools across the board have to approve changes. Voting will be done at an annual meeting each year. Transfers - Anyone who transfers within the association has to move 60 miles away from previous school to be eligible or else they sit out a year. Anyone transferring from another association is eligible immediately. Sponsorship - Said there is interest from sponsors and they are working on it, and that they want some sponsors to have exclusivity within member schools (so you have to use association sponsors in some things, or at least get bids from them for things). Revenue - 50% of surplus revenue will split equally among schools and the other 50% of surplus revenue will be split based on enrollment (so larger schools get more). Other states? - Said there is interest from some schools in other states (mentioned Tennessee specifically), but nothing else specifically. Other notes: - No championship venues yet, said they didn't like Protective Stadium and other big venues - Applications open Nov 1, close April next year, classes will be made in late May - Said they looked at 16 different state associations and tried to use the best parts of them

Watch the GSIAA presser live here - facebook.com/wtlsradio/video…

Check out the ASWA rankings going into the final week of the regular season! rankings.alpreps.com/aswa

Before the football playoffs kick off next week, flag football takes center stage - check out the brackets here: 6A: alpreps.com/flag-football-6a… 5A: alpreps.com/flag-football-5a… 1A-4A: alpreps.com/flag-football-1a… A-AA: alpreps.com/flag-football-a-… The default day for round one is Tuesday, Nov 3 at 6 pm, but times are subject to change. Also check out the @FlagFBAnalytics rankings and match-up predictor! flagfootballanalytics.com/al…

Who is ready for a guy on his phone yelling "TIME" as a shot clock?