Playoff snubs: Why did Port St. Lucie, Centennial and Treasure Coast miss the postseason?

PORT ST. LUCIE — Kareem Rodriguez was at a loss for words on Monday morning.

The Port St. Lucie boys basketball team learned less than 24 hours earlier that its season, successful by virtually every measure, was not good enough. The longtime Jaguars head coach alerted his players that there would be a season-ending meeting after school. But there was one problem:

“I don’t know what to say,” Rodriguez lamented. “What do I tell them?”

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The head coach, coaching staff and players were all befuddled over how they were left out of the state playoffs despite a 20-8 record and being ranked 21st in Class 5A.

Finishing as a district runner-up, the Jags were left out of the state's tournament after the team finished 10th in arguably the most competitive region.  Region 4-5A is home to eight of the top 13 squads in 5A, according to the Florida High School Athletic Association.

District champions receive automatic bids into the postseason while the four remaining spots per region are based on FHSAA’s ranking system. And within Region 4-5A, PSL finished sixth in the race for an at-large bid with a rating of 9.976. Pembroke Pines Somerset Academy (13.374) grabbed the last spot.

But it's the solid chunk of lower-quality 5A teams still in the hunt for a state title that makes Sunday’s news a cruel pill for the Jaguars to swallow.

Of the teams that earned an at-large berth in the three other regions, Port St. Lucie was ranked higher than all but one. That list includes Pensacola Booker T. Washington, a team that will host a Region 1 quarterfinal game, as well as a pair of Region 3 teams in Port Charlotte and Northeast that each finished just two games above .500.

The Jaguars weren’t the only local team to be snubbed Sunday.

Each ranked in the top 75 overall, Centennial and Treasure Coast were on the outside looking in in Region 2-7A, possibly the most competitive region around. Twelve of the region’s 26 teams are ranked inside the top in the state.

The Titans (13.915) placed eighth in Region 2-7A while the Eagles (13.643) finished right behind in ninth. Both teams were two and three spots respectively behind Palm Beach Lakes (15.835), which grabbed the final at-large bid.

And like Port St. Lucie, Treasure Coast and Centennial were each better than many of the teams still alive in the classification. Seven teams that received at-large bids from the other three regions had a worse ranking than the two 7A St. Lucie County schools.

“There are much more good teams south of Orlando than there are anywhere in North Florida and the Panhandle combined,” Rodriguez said. “As of now, the regional tournaments are based on your district with your region. And our region just so happens to be extremely deep with talented teams.

“Centennial, Treasure Coast and us are all worthy of being in the regional tournament.”

Hard to fix what’s a mystery to all

So does the system need to change? It’s hard to say because no one outside of the FHSAA knows what the system is.

The FHSAA’s playoff formula uses a variant of MaxPreps’ system of which the exact criteria are unknown. It is unclear how much items such as wins and margin of victory are weighted when determining a rating. It is understood that strength of schedule is a factor, but again, it’s unsure to what degree.

PSL had the 17th-hardest strength of schedule among the 31 Region 4-5A teams while Centennial and Treasure Coast were 11th and 12th in Region 2-7A.

Still, coaches across the state have their hands tied in terms of understanding the best way.

“No transparency is tough,” Eagles head coach Chris Carannante said. “I do have a general handle on it, but then I see certain things like a good team losing to another good team and then drop eight spots. Why are you going to schedule good teams if that’s the case, right?”

“Honestly, I do wish that there was a little bit more transparency. But you know it is what that is at this point,” Titans head coach Jason Wiggins added.

If not this, then what?

So what are the items that should be tinkered with in this mystery system?

Wiggins believes district play during the regular season is a start. Teams currently are not required to play district opponents in the regular season.

“If we're going to still have a district system, there should be a little bit more onus on district games,” he said. “If you’re going to have a district, you should have to play your district teams once or twice. Even if it’s one time, you can base the rankings off of that or remove it completely.”

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Discussing the issue with an assistant coach, Carannante mentioned the idea he heard from another head coach. That idea is getting rid of regions altogether where the best 16 nondistrict champions across a classification should receive an at-large bid.

“That probably makes it tough geographically. That’s the thing, the logistics are tough,” he said. “But I think that would be better if you take 16 at-large teams like that, but I don't know.”

‘You do control your own destiny’

The Eagles and Titans shared in the disappointment of not making the postseason. Centennial fell in a district quarterfinal game against eventual champion Fort Pierce Central while Treasure Coast went down in the semifinals against Jupiter.

And when Super Bowl Sunday arrived, neither head coach was surprised or confused over the result. As Wiggins stated, it is what it is.

“At the end of the day, you do control your own destiny,” Carannante said. “We could have won the district tournament, but we didn't, obviously. And you can make the case that we shouldn't be playing in the regional. You do have a chance.”

Boys Basketball - area teams that just missed the cut

Pine School: (0.87) - 11th in Region 4-2A, 31st in Class 2A, 356th overall,  loss in district quarterfinals

Teams below Pine: Central Florida Christian Academy (R2 - 32nd in 2A, 6-18 record), Evangelical Christian (R3 - 37th in 2A), Sarasota Christian (R3 - 35th in 2A, 16-9 record)

Port St. Lucie: (9.976): 10th in Region 4-5A, 21st in Class 5A, 144th overall, District 13-5A runner-up

Teams below PSL: Booker T. Washington (R1 - 22nd in 5A, 16-8), Choctaw (R1 - 26th in 5A, 16-10 record), Columbia (R1 - 33rd in 5A, 15-12 record), Deltona (R1 - 31st in 5A, 16-8 record), Lecanto (R2 - 35th in 5A, 21-6), Northeast (R3 - 39th in 5A, 13-11 record), Port Charlotte (R3 - 28th in 5A, 13-11 record), Sebring (R3 - 25th in 5A, 18-9 record), St. Petersburg (R3 - 34th in 5A, 15-10 record), Vanguard (R2 - 29th in 5A, 15-11 record), Zephyrhills (R2 - 42nd in 5A, 16-11)

St. Lucie West Centennial: (13.643) - ninth in Region 2-7A, 20th in Class 7A, 75th overall - loss in district quarterfinals

Treasure Coast: (13.915) - eighth in Region 2-7A, 19th in Class 7A, 70th overall - loss in district semifinals

Teams below TC and Centennial: Apopka (R1 - 25th in 7A, 15-12), Coral Glades (R4 - 28th in 7A, 14-13 record), Cypress Bay (R4, 27th in 7A, 16-10 record), Durant (R3 - 31st in 7A, 21-7 record), North Port (R3 - 38th in 7A, 17-9 record), Plant City (R3 - 39th in 7A, 20-6 record), Riverview Sarasota (R3 - 40th in 7A, 16-9 record)

Girls Basketball - area teams that missed the cut

Morningside Academy: (-0.333) - ninth in Region 4-2A, 31st in Class 2A, 308th overall - District 13-2A runner-up

Teams below Morningside: Academy at the Lakes (R2 - 39th in 2A, 11-9 record), Canterbury (R3 - 34th in 2A, 9-10 record)

Sebastian River: (5.896) - ninth in Region 2-6A, 39th in Class 6A, 183rd overall - loss in district semifinals

Team below Sebastian: Countryside (R3 - 47th in 6A, 16-9 record) 

Vero Beach: (6.765) - ninth in Region 2-7A, 39th in Class 7A, 166th overall - loss in district semifinals

Team below Vero Beach: Ferguson (R4 - 40th in Class 7A, 13-7 record)

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Basketball: Why aren't PSL, Centennial, Treasure Coast playoff-bound?