Should a .500 or better overall record be a requirement to reach the WPIALbasketball playoffs?

After an initial look at the playoff field, I was surprised to see 22 teams qualify with records below .500.

Upon further review, it appeared that whether or not a team makes the playoffs isn't totally determined by its own performance.

It's classification also has a lot to do with it.

Looking at the Class AAAA boys and girls brackets, only one team, Woodland Hills girls at 11-13, qualified for the tournament with an overall losing record.

Three Quad-Agirls teams with overall winning records, Peters Township at 15-9, North Allegheny and Seneca Valley at 13-11, failed to make the tournament.

Two Quad-Aboys teams with overall winning marks, Plum at 13-9, Canon McMillan at 12-11, did not get in. Neither did Butler at 12-12 overall.

Take a look at the Class A division and the numbers are radically different.

Nine Class A boys and girls teams with losing records are in the tournament. No Class A team with a winning record missed out.

In Class AAA, only two teams, Hopewell's boys at 11-13, Thomas Jefferson's girls at 7-16, got in with losing marks.

Three Triple-A teams with winning records, Kittanning girls, Mount Pleasant and Thomas Jefferson boys, were left out in the cold.

In Class AA, nine teams with losing records made the playoffs. Only two with winning records, Brentwood girls at 13-11, Charleroi boys at 12-11, missed out.

Detect a trend here?

The smaller the division you're in, the better chance you have of qualifying for the WPIALTournament.

The discrepancy in won-loss records can partially be explained by larger schools playing smaller ones during the regular season. Logic says the bigger school will win the majority of such matchups.

Another factor is number of schools within each classification. Obviously, the more schools in your division, the tougher it is to qualify for postseason play.

Wit all due respect to teams who like to play up in class during the regular season to get better, I believe a team should finish no lower than .500 overall to make the playoffs.

District 9 holds an open tournament and any of its member schools can enter. Most have an unofficial policy of requiring teams to finish at least .500 before allowing their teams to go.

District 9 teams schedule few games against higher classification opponents, but that's really not a bad thing.

Wilkinsburg's boys are 6-17 and are in the WPIALTournament. Thomas Jefferson's girls finished 7-7 in section play, 0-9 out of it, and are in the tournament.

No system used to determine tournament eligibility is going to be perfect. Flaws are inevitable.

But of the 263 WPIALboys and girls basketball teams, 154 reached postseason play.

The volume of teams involved doesn't bother me.

Whether they all deserve to be there does cause me concern.