By Tiffany L. Rehbein
The Havre Blue Ponies, 1-1, after the Central A Tip-off Tournament last weekend, stand fifth in the division. The Ponies have four seeding points.
The Dillon Beavers (2-0) are No. 1 with seven seeding points, and the Butte Central Maroons (2-0) are second with six points. They are the only teams in the division with perfect records.
At Butte last weekend, Dillon handily defeated the Ponies 76-62 to open the season.
Against Anaconda Saturday afternoon, the Ponies handed the Copperheads a 75-66 loss.
Anaconda (0-2) has one seeding point, and joins the Browning Indians and Livingston Rangers in the unenviable "L" category. All three teams have zero wins.
Because not all the teams in the Central A meet each other during the regular season, a seeding system was developed for tournament placings.
The Central A Seeding System measures: 1, Wins and losses; 2, The strength of schedule, ie., are you playing teams with winning or losing records; 3, Are you winning at home or on the road; 4, Are you playing people in a higher classification (AA).
This is how the point system breaks down:
1. 4 points if you beat a winning team on the road
2. 3 points if you beat a winning team at home
3. 3 points if you beat a losing team on the road
4. 2 points if you beat a losing team at home
5. 1 point if you lose to a winning team on the road
6. Add 1 point if you play up a classification
Some clarifications:
1. A team with a 0-0 record is a winning record; 2. A team with a winning percent of .500 is considered a winning team; 3. A neutral site is considered on the road (only games played at home are considered home games); 4. If you play a school that is from another state or country, then the classification is based on enrollment (using Montana standards); 5. If every team does not play the same amount of games, then we will take the average Central A Seeding points (total points divided by the number of games played) to determine standings; 6. If there is a tie in seeding points (average) then we will go with the tie breaking system in our bylaws.
Central A Seeding Examples:
1. Belgrade beats Lewistown at Lewistown. Lewistown's record is 0-0. Belgrade will be awarded 4 points for beating a winning team on the road. Lewistown will be awarded 0 points for the loss.
2. Lewistown beats Havre at Lewistown. Havre's record is 2-1 and Lewistown's record is 0-1. Lewistown is awarded 3 points for beating a winning team at home. Havre is awarded 0 points for the loss.
3. Anaconda (4-0) beats Dillon (2-3) at Dillon. Anaconda is awarded 3 points for beating a losing team on the road. Dillon receives 0 points for its loss.
4. Browning (5-0) beats Havre (0-5) at Browning. Browning gets 2 points for beating a losing team at home, and Havre will receive 1 point for losing to a winning team on the road.
5. Livingston (4-1) beats Bozeman (3-3) at Bozeman. Livingston is awarded 5 points (4 points for beating a winning team on the road plus 1 point for playing up a class.)
6. Butte Central (0-0) beats Havre (1-0) at Anaconda. Butte Central is awarded 4 points for beating a winning team on the road. Havre is awarded 1 point for losing to a winning team on the road.
