This information was taken from the book Court & Field Diagram Guide. This book is available online at www.nfhs.com. The book contains examples of many different types tournaments.

CHAPTER SEVEN

TOURNAMENT DRAWINGS

There are several different kinds of bracket arrangements that may be used in conducting tournament competition, and the type of elimination is usually determined by several factors: (1) The type of activity, (2) The number of entries, (3) The amount of playing time, (4) Playing space and equipment, (5) Age of participants and (6) Officials available.

With a large number of entries it is sometimes desirable to run a combination tournament. For example: A double elimination-single elimination tournament. The winners of the double- elimination brackets compete in a single-elimination tournament to determine the ultimate champion.

Number of Byes. The first step before making a drawing for the bracket arrangement is determining the number of entries.

When the number of competitors is 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 or 128, or any higher power of “2,” they shall meet in pairs. When the number of competitors is not a power of 1 there shall be byes in the first round. For example: If there are 13 entries, a bracket of 16 with three byes is required. The purpose of having byes is to bring into the second round a number of competitors that is a power of 112.11 To determine the number of byes, subtract the number of competitors from the next higher power of “2;” to determine the number of competitors in the first round, subtract the number of byes from the total number of competitors. If the byes are an even number, one-half of them shall be placed at the top of the draw and one-half at the bottom of the draw; if they are unevenly numbered, there should be one more bye at the bottom than the top. The byes at the top half shall be the first names drawn. The next names drawn shall be placed in the first round. The byes in the bottom half are drawn last.

Seeding the Draw. It is a common practice to select the best teams or individuals and place them in the bracket so that they will not meet in the early rounds of play. Two or more entries may be seeded usually the four best are selected in a 16-name bracket and eight in a 32-name bracket. The seeded entrants are usually placed in the first, fifth, ninth, 13th, etc., bracket positions. The Nos. 1 and 4 seeded teams are generally placed in the first and fifth positions of the top bracket, and the Nos. 2 and 3 seeded teams in the ninth and 13th positions of the lower bracket; or Nos. 1 and 3 in the upper with Nos. 2 and 4 seeded teams in the lower half.