I will go hunt those down right now.

Just grabbed my donut, but man there is no milk. This is going to be tough.

Anyway, I made it into the North Coast Section 4-A East Bay seeding meeting room.  Not many people are here yet. We still have about 20 minutes before the meeting begins and the coaches start to fill out the chalkboard.

Berkeley High coach Alonzo Carter walked in for a moment to check out the questions he will need to fill out. Remember, this is Alonzo’s first NCS seeding meeting. He was at McClymonds and never had to bid to get his team into the playoffs.

Of course, Berkeley won the ACCAL and has the automatic berth into the postseason. But Alonzo will certainly want to avoid the No. 8 seed. That of course means a first-round match against De La Salle. Most teams try to avoid the No. 8, No. 4 and No. 5 seeds so they could be on the opposite side of De La Salle.

I suggest reading my previous blog about the process of the NCS seeding meeting. This will help you follow along. I will be back in about 15 minutes.

Michael Bower

Just wrapped up some last minute research for the NCS football seeding meeting Sunday morning. I am sure there are some coaches out there still doing some research and probably won’t get much sleep tonight. It is after midnight and time for me to get some sleep and dream about the free donuts at the meeting in the morning.

Anybody want to take odds that I miss that darn hidden entrance at Las Lomas High? It just sneaks up on you. I think I have passed it on the first try every time!

Don’t forget. The live blog will begin around 9 a.m. Make sure to log on and get involved. Got a question then ask it and I will do my best to answer it. The blog will be for the NCS 4-A, 3-A and 2-A East Bay meetings.

From reading posts around the Internet and some comments, I am getting the idea that some people out there don’t really know how an NCS seeding meeting works. Let me tell you the exact procedure that goes on at the meeting.

First: This one is most important. The coach has to show up. No coach, then no spot in the playoffs. Don’t laugh. It has happend. A no show would even keep De La Salle out of the playoffs!

Second: The coaches begin to fill in the blanks on a chalk board full of questions for each team that is applying for a spot. The coach needs to fill in categories such as: Overall record, record in league, record against same-class competition (ie 3-A, 4-A), record against teams applying for a playoff spot, coaches rankings (coaches rank all the teams in the order they believe from best to worst). After the coaches fill in these blanks, they sit down in seats like students would before class.

Third: The coaches usually introduce themselves and the members on the seeding committee do the same. Then the coaches draw a stick that has a number on it. This is the speaking order. Each coach or representative of the team gets no more than two minutes to pitch their team and give reasons why they should be seeded over another team or why they should get in the playoffs. The best is when De La Salle’s Bob Ladouceur gets up to talk. I don’t think he needs to do much pitching for that No. 1 seed!!

Fourth: The NCS seeding committee takes in all the information and begins to elect teams into the playoffs. Now, they don’t seed the teams here. They just decide which teams get into the playoffs. One person on the seeding committee must nominate a team and the two other people on the committee need to agree. This usually goes quick until around the fifth team or so, because then they start to debate. The coaches must remain quiet and cannot talk during this process unless the committee asks them a question. When the coaches finish their two-minute speeches that is it. There is no more pitching (Although, coaches always seem to blurt something out to try to get the committee’s attention).

Fifth: The unhappy teams that didn’t get in usually leave at this point. That’s when the reporters go get the interviews and reactions. Usually from some unhappy coaches. But this is also when the committee seeds the eight teams selected. Again, there is no talking from the coaches unless they are asked a question or asked to speak.

Sixth: The seeds are done and now sites of games and game times are determined. The host school gets a nice bag, which has instructions from NCS and some tickets for the fans to purchase to get into the game. And that is it. Then it is game time!

Any questions on the process? Let me know and I will be glad to answer them.

OK, the response is clear. I will be doing a live blog from the NCS football seeding meeting on Sunday morning at Las Lomas High. Make sure to hop online and get involved. I will try to post as quickly as possible and also answer any questions that you mave have in the process. The only thing stopping the live blog is an internet connection, which hopefully I can find in the classroom at the school. Once I get hooked up, I will be blogging live!

The meeting starts a 9 a.m. The NCS Class B, 2A Redwood Empire, 2A East Bay, 3A East Bay and 4A East bay are all at the same time and in different classrooms. I will setup in the NCS 4A East Bay room and blog from there. Don’t worry, I will make my rounds from room to room and come back with information.

See you here Sunday!