THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: How a combined 5A/4A IEL would have impacted seeds this year
Meanwhile, a look back to a high school sports season that actually was completed:
Had the 5A and 4A Inland Empire League teams combined for one big league in boys and girls basketball (and other team sports) this year, as it will in the 2020-21 school year, here’s how the standings would have played out, with games between 5A and 4A schools counting the same toward postseason seeding:
BOYS
Post Falls (5A) 5-1
Moscow (4A) 7-3
Lake City (5A) 7-5
Lakeland (4A) 5-4
Lewiston (5A) 5-5
Sandpoint (4A) 2-6
Coeur d’Alene (5A) 2-9
GIRLS
Lake City (5A) 9-1
Coeur d’Alene (5A) 8-2
Sandpoint (4A) 5-4
Post Falls (5A) 4-4
Lakeland (4A) 3-6
Lewiston (5A) 2-8
Moscow (4A) 1-7
SO USING these combined standings (based on winning percentage), here’s how the seedings would have been to regionals, compared to how they actually were, playing in separate leagues:
BOYS
5A — Combined: 1, Post Falls (5-1). 2, Lake City (7-5). 3, Lewiston (5-5). 4, Coeur d’Alene (2-9). Actual: 1, Post Falls (5-1). 2, Lewiston (3-3). 3, Coeur d’Alene (2-4). 4, Lake City (2-4).
In a combined league, Lake City would have benefited by going 5-1 vs. the 4A IEL. Lewiston went 2-2, Coeur d’Alene 0-5. Post Falls has not played a 4A IEL team since the 2017-18 season, which we’ll get to later. Lake City beat Lakeland twice, while Lewiston went 2-2 vs. the 4A IEL, beating league champion Moscow twice, but losing once each to Lakeland and Sandpoint.
Lake City would have been the No. 2 seed to regionals, instead of the fourth seed (the Timberwolves tied with Coeur d’Alene for third, but lost on a tiebreaker). As it was, Lake City made it to state, winning on the home floor of No. 2 Lewiston.
Since the games between 5A and 4A teams haven’t counted in league standings, or toward regional seeding, for years (with rare exceptions), it’s up to the 5As and 4As to decide how much they want to play each other.
So these combined standings might be a little skewed, based on who played who, but it seems a pretty good representation.
4A — Combined: 1, Moscow (7-3). 2, Lakeland (5-4). 3. Sandpoint (2-6). Actual: 1, Moscow (4-0). 2, Lakeland (2-2). 3, Sandpoint (0-4).
Nothing changed here, though it could have, had Lakeland beaten Lake City (the Hawks lost at home on a 3-pointer in the closing seconds, then lost at Lake City in triple overtime). Moscow, meanwhile, split with Lake City.
GIRLS
5A — Combined: 1, Lake City (9-1). 2, Coeur d’Alene (8-2). 3, Post Falls (4-4). 4, Lewiston (2-8). Actual: 1, Lake City (5-1). 2, Coeur d’Alene (5-1). 3, Post Falls (2-4). 4, Lewiston (0-6).
Coeur d’Alene and Lake City split their league games, but Lake City won the tiebreaker for the top seed based on point differential in their two games. Coeur d’Alene ended up routing Lake City in the regional title game, and Post Falls also won at Lake City three days later to advance to state.
If the league was combined, Lake City would have earned the top seed based on Coeur d’Alene’s loss to Lakeland — the Hawks’ first win over the Vikings since 2005.
4A — Combined: 1, Sandpoint (5-4). 2, Lakeland (3-6). 3, Moscow (1-7). Actual: 1, Sandpoint (4-0). 2, Lakeland (1-3). 3, Moscow (1-3).
Nothing much changed here either. Lakeland earned the No. 2 seed over Moscow based on point differential after the two teams split their head-to-head meetings.
Lakeland did better than Sandpoint did against the 5A IEL, the Hawks going 2-3 with wins over Coeur d’Alene and Lewiston, the Bulldogs going 1-4 with their lone win over Lewiston.
But they didn’t play the same 5A teams the same amount of times.
Lakeland went 1-1 vs. Coeur d’Alene, 0-1 vs. Lake City, 0-1 vs. Post Falls, 1-0 vs. Lewiston.
Sandpoint went 0-1 vs. Coeur d’Alene, 0-2 vs. Lake City, 0-1 vs. Post Falls, 1-0 vs. Lewiston.
SO WHAT changes next season?
Well, all seven teams will play each other twice, for a total of 12 league games each. This year, teams played between 6 and 12 games combined — schools playing some teams from the other league once, others twice.
Except for the Post Falls boys, as mentioned before, who didn’t play any 4A IEL teams.
This year, boys 4A IEL teams went 8-7 against the 5A IEL, compared to a combined 12-65 over the previous five seasons.
This year, girls 4A IEL teams went 2-11 vs. the 5A IEL, compared to a combined 8-55 over the previous five seasons.
And Post Falls’ boys will play each of the three 4A schools twice next season, something that hasn’t happened in more than a decade.
The Trojans last lost to a 4A school in the 2012-13 season, when they lost to Moscow for the second straight year. Post Falls last played Lakeland and Sandpoint in the 2017-18 season, and last played Moscow in 2016-17.
The Trojan boys have made their point in this space before — they feel they get more out of seeking tougher competition elsewhere, and the numbers back it up. Post Falls is 10-0 vs the 4A IEL since 2015, winning by an average of 33.6 points.
But for next season at least (assuming high school sports is back by then), Post Falls will square off against Moscow and Lakeland twice each, as well as Sandpoint.
Moscow returns the bulk of its team that reached the state 4A title game last month. And Lakeland, which pushed Moscow to the limit in their best-of-3 regional title series, and likely would have played for a trophy as well had it qualified for state, also returns most of its squad.
So those matchups have the potential of being outstanding regional clashes next season, though they might mean different things to different programs.
Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.