A few years ago, Massac County athletic director Kelly Glass decided to conduct a seeding meeting to set the pairings for the Superman Classic, guaranteeing the participating teams that the Patriots wouldn't set up the bracket to give themselves an easy bracket in which to make a run to the championship game.
But when you have teams from three (and sometimes four) different states and participating schools spread out from Tennessee to the St. Louis area, and sometimes beyond, it's difficult to nail down a logical pecking order.
Last year was a prime example, when Madison won the tournament as the No. 5 seed and had its toughest game in the opening round, staging a furious comeback to knock off fourth seed Paducah Tilghman.
This year, the seedings looks a little more true to form. Tilghman is the top seed, although the team that earned the seeding may not take the floor this week, as it appears that point guard Josh Forrest will miss a game or two, or possibly the entire tournament, if he opts to take an official football visit to Central Florida. Carbondale is the No. 2 seed, followed by Martin Westview, Massac and Madison.
If it was my seeding, I would probably go with a slightly different order, with Massac at No.3, followed by Madison and Westview. As it stands, the Massac-Madison game will draw some attention since it matches two strong small-school teams — both teams have made it to the state tournament in one the last two seasons — from opposite ends of what much of the state considers southern Illinois.
In any case, a semifinal matching Tilghman and either the Patriots or Madison could be a fun game to watch, and expect Carbondale to be awaiting the winner in Saturday night's final.
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