The IHSA seeds teams for its postseason playoffs at least a week too early. The sites have already been picked. The teams have been picked. So why do you have to know who is No. 2 and who is No. 4, etc. 11 or 12 days before the games begin?
When you seed so early, there are frequent minor mistakes. And occasional huge ones. It doesn't get much more embarrassing than seeding the Big Northern Conference girls basketball co-champ (and defending state champ) Byron (9-1 in the BNC) behind eighth-place Winnebago (4-6). But there's little difference between a No. 2 and 3 seed at this week's 2A Winnebago Regional.
Worse was last spring, when NIC-10 baseball champ Freeport was seeded behind runner-up Boylan in the same regional. The Pretzels then had to play a play-in game and threw league MVP Ben Swords the game before losing to the Titans in the semifinals. Boylan might have won anyway — Freeport had other good pitchers, including one who held Boylan hitless for 4 2/3 innings in the loss — but it shouldn't have happened.
Auburn honors VanVleet
Auburn will have a special ceremony to honor Fred VanVleet at its home game against Freeport 7 p.m. Friday. VanVleet led Auburn to back-to-back NIC-10 titles — its first conference titles in 38 years — and to a third-place finish in state as a senior, the second-highest of any NIC-10 team in 60 years. VanVleet is averaging 7.9 points, 2.8 assists and 2.4 rebounds in his second season as a backup point guard for the Toronto Raptors, who have the second-best record in the Eastern Conference.
Historically close race
With Boylan and Auburn (both 10-2) sharing the NIC-10 lead and Jefferson and East (both 9-3) only a game behind, the NIC-10 is having its tightest basketball race since at least 2008, when Boylan and Hononegah tied for first at 14-2, one game ahead of Auburn. It could maybe even equal the 2004 race, when Hononegah and Jefferson tied for first at 13-3 and Freeport and Boylan were just one game back. Those are the only two seasons in the last 24 years when even three teams finished within one game of first. The all-time closest race was 1982, when Freeport (12-4) won and a four-team logjam of Boylan, Jefferson, Guilford and West finished one game behind at 11-5.
Matt Trowbridge: 815-987-1383; mtrowbridge@rrstar.com; @matttrowbridge