The Georgia High School Association has issued $2,000 fines to Upson-Lee High School, Westside High School and Hephzibah High School for failing to report basketball game scores and causing a rescheduling nightmare for the Class 3A boys’ basketball state tournament.
According to Sports Illustrated, the fines and rescheduling came as a result of four missing game results from the regular season. The results from those four games actually did have an impact on the postseason rankings and caused changes in the schools’ opponents and opening round schedules of the Class 3A tournament.
In fining the three schools, the GHSA issued some of the harshest penalties available.
As a result of the updated scores, Westside and Hephzibah High Schools dropped down in seeding and Upson-Lee High School lost its spot in the state tournament entirely. Instead, Cairo High School jumped up in the rankings and became the final qualifying team.
All teams involved in the state tournament were forced to make quick changes to travel plans and scouting reports.
“When you have to call a school late in the evening and change who they’re playing the next day, that makes for a tough situation,” Tim Scott, GHSA executive director, said, adding that he does not believe the scores were intentionally withheld from GHSA.
The GHSA turned to a data-driven approach to creating state tournament brackets in recent years, but the system of calculating game results to create rankings relies on accurate data. Even a few missing games made a big impact on the schedule.
“Those athletic directors and coaches at the high schools, they’re busy,” Scott said. “You might be trying to get information from an athletic director, and he’s also coaching the baseball team. It’s not like they’re just sitting there.”
