I have been with the Standard Democrat sports department since 2007. I took over as sports editor in May of 2011 and have been slightly crazy about sports since I can remember. I attended Southeast Missouri State University and Scott County Central High School. I co-created our sports web show "The Last Word" and my two children, Elijah and CJ. I was married to my wife, Angie, in May of 2014. I love to golf, I am an avid NBA2K gamer and root for the Fighting Irish on Saturdays.

The SEMO Conference has a tiebreaker. Who knew?

Posted Friday, February 27, 2015, at 8:28 AM

The Sikeston-Dexter girls basketball game Thursday night was a big one for a couple reasons.

First, it gave us a possible preview of what many expect to be the Class 4, District 1 championship in a week -- barring any upsets.

It was also a measuring stick game for Sikeston. For years Sikeston has been on the outside looking in when it comes to the Dexter's and Notre Dame's of their district and with the record-breaking season Sikeston's been having we all wanted to see if they had what it took to hang with the LBB. They did, by the way, losing 55-50 in a game that never got separated by more than 10.

Lastly, it was going to close out the regular season and give us a SEMO Conference champion.

Or was it?

I tweeted after the game that since both teams shared just one loss in conference play they would share the conference title seeing as that there's never been a tiebreaker in the SEMO Conference. It would be Dexter's third title in a row and Sikeston's first ever. I learned later that might not possibly be the case.

In April the conference bylaws were changed allowing a head to head tiebreaker between two teams with identical records. If it's down to three or more teams then it's still considered a tie and the title will be shared. It's the first time I or anyone else in the local media have heard this new rule. I'm happy to hear it though. I've always thought it was kind of silly to have a share of a title with absolutely no tiebreakers whatsoever.

So, under the new rules Dexter would be crowned conference queens. But, here's the kicker, they did not complete its conference schedule. Dexter's game with fellow conference team Poplar Bluff was cancelled and then cancelled again due to the winter weather a week ago. Without Dexter's game with Poplar Bluff counted, Dexter, technically, can't be named the outright champions. And since Sikeston was beaten by Dexter, technically, they can't either.

The boys side is in the same predicament as well. NMCC, Notre Dame and Jackson all have two losses but NMCC wasn't able to get its game with Sikeston in due to the weather cancellations.

If Dexter and PB can't play its game (which they officially could do after each team's postseason is over) I say give the conference title to both Dexter and Sikeston. Same goes for NMCC, Notre Dame and Jackson on the boys side. Give it to all of them. You can't fault a team for not being able to play a game because of outside forces and you can't really disqualify a team based on a technicality. Right?

I know conference isn't the big prize for any of these teams and, for the boys, I think the conference tournament has become the bigger of the two conference trophies anyway, but it's still important to most teams. Especially for the girls who don't have a conference tournament.

A decision will be made by conference officials and athletic directors at a later date concerning this matter and I'll be sure to update when things are known.