Taking issue with All-State voting

The Associated Press released its annual All-State boys and girls high school basketball teams last Wednesday.

Inevitably someone gets left off who should have been picked.

Why?

All-State voting is flawed. It’s not like, for example, the AP’s selections for the national college basketball teams. College beat writers have an opportunity to see everyone they consider for such recognition play, whether it’s live or on television.

The 18 high school beat writers, which included myself, that voted for the AP All-State basketball teams don’t have such a luxury. This is a problem.

The process works like this: We nominate players and list their accomplishments, the AP compiles those and sends us a ballot, then we vote.

Statistics often decide who gets selected, but that’s wrong. Through no fault of their own — they don’t make the schedule — some athletes pad their stats against cupcakes.

How do we, as voters, know when that is and isn’t happening? Remember, we don’t see everyone play.

There are a lot of factors that have to be weighed in judging who the premier players are. Points are just part of the equation, and contrary to some beliefs, it matters who you’re loading up against. Stats alone don’t measure greatness, anyway.

For the most part, the AP All-State teams looked legitimate. But there are question marks and, unfortunately, there probably always will be.