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Originally Posted by grunewar
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Thankfully, that does not happen in Michigan, at least not in every sport but football.
In Michigan, the only way a team is barred from a post-season event is if they used an ineligible player during the post-season.
This happened in volleyball a few years ago. A team, ranked among the best in the state, was removed from the state playoffs after winning their district.
The team they were supposed to play in the regional semi-final just got a bye to the final.
What bothered people about that situation wasn't the removal from the post-season, it was the reason the player was deemed ineligible. It had nothing to do with grades. She was a 3.9 GPA student. She had a physical a year and a week prior to the start of the season. Under MHSAA rules, all participants must have a physical dated within the last calendar year to be eligible. Since she started the season with a physical dated over a year old, she was deemed ineligible under MHSAA rules. The really bad part is the school self reported the violation after she got a physical prior to the regional games. When they looked at the date on the prior physical on file, they noticed the violation and self reported the violation. Since it occurred after the districts she was ineligible when she played in the district matches, so the team forfeited those matches, but under MHSAA rules, a replacement team is not advanced.
I think football allows a couple days if a forfeit is found after the playoffs are announced, but prior to the practices. This is because football playoffs in Michigan are only to teams that qualify based on performance. All other sports have every team make the postseason (except skiing, which requires a full team to be eligible, no individuals can compete in the post-season).