South Brunswick’s seniors on Senior Night. The Vikings would get the No. 2 seed if the GMC Tournament were seeded by the Born Power Index rating system, which has followed high school basketball in New Jersey for almost 60 seasons. (Photo: @WeAreSBVikings on Twitter)
The Born Power Index – used for one year in football as part of the NJSIAA’s UPR playoff formula – wasn’t a one-hit wonder.
The ratings system has been around for almost 60 years, dating back to when creator Bill Born used it while coaching jayvee basketball at Scotch Plains-Fanwood, as a mathematical way to scout opponents. Ray Schnitzer, the school’s AD at the time, learned of his system and asked him to seed the jayvee tournament sometime in the late 1960s.
During a break in the meeting, Gene Picker, a then a sportswriter at the Elizabeth Daily Journal, told Born if he mailed him his ratings each week, he would publish them.
The rest as they say is history.
The Born Power Index continues to this day, rating every high school football and boys’ basketball team in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, as well as college football nationwide.
So we thought, with the GMC Tournament seeding meeting coming up Friday morning at nine, how would the tournament look if it was seeded using the Born Power Index?
Below is the list of all GMC teams, in order of rating, according to the Born Power Index as of 9:30 Friday night:
If the tournament were seeded purely on the Born Power Index, the top eight would be St. Thomas Aquinas, South Brunswick, St. Joseph of Metuchen and Colonia one through four. That’s not the order of the GMC Red Division standings, but it would put the winner of the division first.
That would be followed by GMC White Division champion South Plainfield in fifth, and GMC Blue Champion South River in sixth.
The Rams, however, beat St. Joe’s this season in a rare win for a Blue Division team over one from the Red, and are widely anticipated to earn the third-seed when the brackets are announced tomorrow, behind Aquinas at No. 1 and Colonia at No. 2.
South Plainfield also played St. Joe’s, but lost to the Falcons. They will likely be seeded below South River tomorrow.
The Gold Division is technically not settled, as the two top teams – Calvary Christian (11-0 in the Gold) and Highland Park (11-1) – have not played the full compliment of games. But Calvary would be the highest seeded team in the Gold if the tourney were seeded using the Born Power Index, checking in at No. 23, hosting 26-seed New Brunswick in a play-in game.
Here would be the potential matchups in a Born Power Index-seeded tournament
- #33 Perth Amboy Magnet at #16 Edison, winner plays winner of #32 Wardlaw-Hartridge at #17 Perth Amboy, winner at #1 St. Thomas Aquinas
- #25 Highland Park at #24 Metuchen, winner at #9 Old Bridge, winner at #8 Piscatway
- #28 East Brunswick Magnet at #21 Sayreville, winner at #12 JP Stevens, winner at #5 South Plainfield
- #29 Dunellen at #20 North Plainfield, winner at #13 Woodbridge, winner at #4 Colonia
- #30 Piscataway Magnet at #19 Carteret, winner at #14 Monroe, winner at #3 St. Joseph-Metuchen
- #27 South Amboy at #22 JFK, winner at #11 Spotswood, winner at #6 South River
- #26 New Brunswick at #23 Calvary Christian, winner at #10 East Brunswick, winner at #7 North Brunswick
- #31 Somerset Tech at #18 Middlesex, winner at #15 Timothy Christian, winner at #2 South Brunswick
If all went to chalk, the potential first-round matchups would be:
- #16 Edison at #1 St. Thomas Aquinas
- #9 Old Bridge at #8 Piscataway
- #12 JP Stevens at #5 South Plainfield
- #13 Woodbridge at #4 Colonia
- #14 Monroe at #3 St. Joseph-Metuchen
- #11 Spotswood at #6 South River
- #10 East Brunswick at #7 North Brunswick
- #15 Timothy Christian at #2 South Brunswick
Potential quarterfinals going to chalk would be:
- #1 St. Thomas Aquinas vs. #8 Piscataway
- #4 Colonia vs. #4 South Plainfield
- #3 St. Joseph-Metuchen vs. #6 South River
- #2 South Brunswick vs. #7 North Brunswick
That would be an interesting tournament indeed.
With the Greater Middlesex Conference moving teams around in divisions based a bit more on results than school size this season, some have suggested the conference ditch the rule that all four conference champions must be seeded in the top eight.
That won’t be in play tomorrow, of course, but it is something the Executive Committee could consider in the future. Basketball also is the only sport in which a single tournament is played, both for girls and boys. Others have an “Invitational” or “second tournament,” where the top 16 teams are seeded into the main tournament, and the rest go into the Invitational. In those cases, there is no “top eight” rule.
This fantasy tournament aside, be sure to follow us on Twitter Friday (@cjsportsradio) for live updates as the seeds are picked. The girls’ GMC Tournament will be seeded first at 9 am, followed by the boys after a brief break.
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