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The following article was originally published in NOW Newspapers under the "State of Play" feature, a series of bi-weekly feature columns penned by WSN General Manager Travis Wilson.
 

We are set for yet another round of contentious conference realignment debate this week, as the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association's Board of Control will consider final passage of the large-scale southeast Wisconsin realignment at its meeting on Tuesday. If this topic sounds familiar, it is because it has turned into The Never-Ending Story, with initial talks starting nearly two years ago, followed by numerous proposals, debates, Board of Control meetings, and back-and-forth from all parties involved.

Just like previous meetings, you can expect numerous impassioned pleas from school representatives both in favor of and against the most recent proposal. Many of the comments will be rooted in not wanting to be the smallest (or weakest) program in a proposed conference.

However, what so many people, including the outstanding athletic directors, principals, and superintendents that represent their schools, fail to realize, is that being a smaller school in a larger conference can have significant advantages.

It is a concept you rarely hear discussed in these realignment meetings, but for those of us that follow prep sports closely, it is a well-known scenario. In fact, the “Dropdown Effect” is a frequent topic of conversation in articles, interviews, social media, and our message board.

If you look closely at the Cinderella playoff runs over the last decade, the vast majority have been made by teams that compete against programs larger than them in the regular season and may not have the prettiest record as a result, then “dropdown” to compete against smaller schools in the post-season. The experience garnered from playing against larger, tougher competition is excellent preparation when teams head into the playoffs.

Among recent examples of this is the Thorp boys basketball team, which finished 13-9 during the regular season competing in the Cloverbelt-West, then went through the playoffs to capture the Division 5 state title. The Cardinals did not lose to a Division 5 team during the regular season, but competed in a league with several quality D4 and even D3 programs.

Brown Deer captured back-to-back Division 3 boys basketball state titles in 2014 and 2015 despite nine combined losses those two seasons, but they played against programs from D1 and D2 during the regular season. The team that finally knocked them off in the 2016 playoffs was Milwaukee Lutheran, another Division 3 team that played a largely D1 and D2 schedule.

Speaking of Milwaukee Lutheran, the school's baseball team had 13 losses during the 2015 regular season, but went on to claim a Division 2 state title. Ironically, the team they beat in the championship game, Notre Dame, was another team that had double-digit losses against a D1 schedule.

River Falls girls basketball made it to state with an 11-11 regular season record last year, playing Division 1 teams in the Big Rivers. Catholic Central's football, basketball, and baseball teams have had great success dropping down in the playoffs after facing challenging regular season schedules. Rice Lake, Winneconne, and Southwestern have made state football finals appearances with three or four regular season losses against larger competition.

The flip side of this is also quite often true. Teams that are larger than the rest of the programs in their league may see more success in the conference standings, but often find it difficult to make any headway in the playoffs. The Northern Elite football co-op has ruled the Northern Lakes Conference, made up mostly of D6 and D7 programs. However, the team has usually been placed in Division 5 during the playoffs, and hasn't won a postseason game since 2008. The tri-op of Montello/Princeton/Green Lake has been in a similar boat since joining together in 2009. Teams such as Lodi and Big Foot have seen their playoff success fluctuate dramatically depending on which side of the D3/D4 cutline they fall on.

Of course, there is no guarantee that being a smaller team in a conference and dropping down in the playoffs will result in more postseason success, but there's also no guarantee that being a larger team in a smaller conference will result in more regular season success.

Neither situation can change the fortunes of a program alone, as the number of variables that goes into having successful athletic teams is in the dozens. A poor program does not automatically get better by moving from a larger conference to a smaller conference. But when an athletic program is faced with the option of either getting better or becoming irrelevant, you'd be surprised at what can happen.

I look no further than my own backyard to see just how the challenges of stronger competition can revitalize a program. In 2001, Reedsburg was moved from the South Central Conference to the Badger-North. The Beavers went from playing against Mauston, Nekoosa, and Wisconsin Dells, to suddenly facing Waunakee, DeForest, and Mount Horeb plus crossovers against Monona Grove, Oregon, and the rest of the Badger-South.

The early years of the move did not go well for Reedsburg, who struggled to be competitive in many sports. However, despite a declining enrollment, Reedsburg's athletic programs have blossomed, as the coaches, players, and community have embraced the challenges of the Badger-North and used them to become better. In the last decade, the baseball, girls basketball, and football teams have all made it to state, in addition to the boys hockey co-op. It was the first ever state appearance for girls hoops, football, and boys hockey, and the first for the baseball program in more than 30 years. The football team had won just two playoff games prior to 2005, but have 19 postseason victories since that time, including a title in 2009 and runner-up finish in 2008 to go with state semi-final trips the last two seasons.

I've only lived in Reedsburg for 10 years, but I have a hard time seeing the athletic programs having that kind of success playing against smaller competition in the South Central. 

Certainly, there are some schools that aren't in the best position to be competitive in their current alignments due to significant enrollment differences, and those need addressed. The smaller schools in the North Shore are in especially challenging positions. But changes won't be a panacea for all teams.

So as the conference realignment discussion continues to play out at this week's Board of Control meeting (and likely spills into the Annual Meeting a day later), just remember that being the big fish in the little pond isn't always all it's cracked up to be when it comes to conference placement, and being the little fish in the big pond can bring with it some considerable benefits.