Southland announces regular season tiebreakers, participation minimums for spring sports

COVID Protocols Taken into Consideration for Fair Competition

FRISCO, Texas – The Southland Conference released its tiebreakers for all team sports (basketball, football, volleyball, baseball, softball, soccer and tennis) competing this winter and spring, along with COVID protocols and participation minimums during the regular season.

Teams must play at least half of its Conference-scheduled contests to be eligible for the postseason or win the regular-season championship. Every effort will be made to play all Conference games and, if schedules are completed, there will be no change to current policy.

In the event teams are unable to complete the full regular-season schedule, games not played will be counted as a tie. A point accumulation system (based on the traditional soccer model) shall be utilized for determination of the regular-season champion and tournament seeding. Three (3) points are awarded for each win, one (1) for each tie and zero (0) for a loss. If there are ties among point totals, each sport’s individual tie-breaking policies will come into play for seeding purposes.

Just like with basketball, sports will follow similar protocols set in accordance with guidance from the NCAA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), state and local healthcare officials, and other campus and governmental directives. Student-athletes, coaches, trainers, team managers and other immediate support staff will be tested as per recommendations outlined in the NCAA’s Resocialization of Collegiate Sport: Developing Standards for Practice and Competition.

The Southland has also set minimum participation numbers for conference competition if a team’s roster is depleted due to cases of COVID-19. If a team falls below these minimums due to COVID, it is within the coach’s discretion to either play or reschedule the competition in conjunction with the conference office. At least one healthy full-time coach per team must be available for any competition to occur.

Basketball: Minimum eight (8) eligible players
Football: Minimum available player roster of 53, counting scholarship and walk-on student-athletes, that must include a minimum of seven offensive linemen, four interior defensive linemen and one quarterback
Volleyball: Minimum nine (9) players, including a setter
Baseball: A 24-person minimum at the start of a four-game series, which would include 13 pitchers and 11 position players (two of which need to be catchers). Should a team drop below the four-game minimum (24), coach has discretion to play a 4-game series or revert to a 3-game series by mutual agreement.
Softball: A minimum 13 student-athletes, including two pitchers and 1 catcher
Soccer: Minimum 15 student-athletes, including at least one goalkeeper
Tennis: The minimum number of players for a dual-meet match is four, and matches at the bottom of the lineup must be defaulted (i.e. No. 5 singles, No. 6 singles, No. 3 doubles)

The Southland Competition Contingency Subcommittee will continually review planning and procedures in cases of disruption such as postponements, schedule adjustments and other issues that may occur throughout the spring seasons.