I am reposting this from an old thread. Gives some interesting insights. Obviously, needs to be updated but its food for thought.
Because I was curious, I decided to find the average place of the top 2 teams from each region over every iteration of NXN (2008-2019) in an attempt to objectively determine which regions were the strongest. Here's the results:
Boys:
1. Southwest - 6.5
2. California - 7.3
3. Midwest - 8.2
4. Northwest - 10.2
5. New York - 11.0
6. Northeast - 11.3
7. South - 13.2
8. Southeast - 13.6
9. Heartland - 13.8
Unsurprisingly, this list is headed by Southwest, California, and Midwest. These three regions are definitely the most consistent, especially the Southwest, and probably deserve priority on at-large bids if there is some doubt. If there's ever any consideration to change the regions, then adding from the Southwest to the South and from the Midwest to the Heartland would make the most sense.
Girls:
1. New York - 4.1
2-3. California/Southwest - 7.6
4. Midwest - 8.8
5. Northwest - 12.0
6. Heartland - 12.5
7. Southeast - 12.8
8. South - 16
9. Northeast - 16.5
The dominance of New York girls is really insane. On the boys side, there has only ever been one 1-2 finish, by California in 2019. On the girls side, FM and Saratoga did it three times in a row from 2009-2011. The switch to Glendoveer has evened things up a little, but New York is still dominant; only two NXN or NTN races have ever been won by a team from another region. This is part of the reason for the South and Northeast having such high average placements, but dang it would be nice to see those regions get some help.
Combined:
1. Southwest - 7.1
2. California - 7.5
3. New York - 7.5
4. Midwest - 8.5
5. Northwest - 11.1
6. Heartland - 13.2
7. Southeast - 13.2
8. Northeast - 13.9
9. South - 14.6
The trends pretty much stay the same. The South desperately needs some more states, at this point in time it's pretty much just been a Texas region. Missouri and New Mexico make the most sense, but no matter what something needs to change. Unfortunately California and New York cannot be made any weaker unless you split them into multiple regions (perhaps adding NC schools to Northwest and Long Island schools to Northeast). I am also unsure if this data should really be given any weight in pre-season rankings; the top 4 regions have a lot of strong, perennially competitive teams, but it doesn't mean any team in the region is automatically better than an equivalent team in a different region. Just an interesting exercise, and I'm curious to hear what people think. Are these results what you expected? Do you think the regions need to be adjusted? Any other thoughts?