NAACP calls WIAA men's high school basketball playoff rankings 'discriminatory'

SEATTLE - Friday, The NAACP said the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association's (WIAA) system for ranking men’s high school basketball for the state championship playoffs is discriminatory.

"There is a lot of questions that I have because there is no transparency. We can’t see, and we don’t know all the details. So, that’s what I’m looking for, to see from WIAA," said Rita Green.

Green is the Education Chair for the NAACP, Washington, Alaska, and Oregon.

She says the NAACP would like to understand how several schools dropped in playoff rankings, despite having strong regular season records.

For instance, according to the WIAA website, Mountlake Terrace High School ranked 4th during the regular season. However, they dropped five points to 9th in the playoff seeding.

On the opposite end, O’Dea High School ranked 9th in the regular season, and is now ranked 3rd in the playoff seeding.

Rainier Beach High School has also been knocked down a seed in the playoff rankings.

"It comes a point in time, when you got to say ‘Enough is enough.’ Do the right thing. You guys say you’re about the kids. This is about the kids," said Rainier Beach High School Head basketball coach, Mike Bethea.

The playoffs are tournament style brackets, and higher ranked teams play lower ranked teams.

"We believe that this has been discriminatory," said Green.

FOX 13 News reached out to the WIAA at 11 a.m. Friday morning for a comment, statement or interview for this story. They did not respond.

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