Fever playoff picture shaping up

KENNEWICK -- With two weeks remaining in the Indoor Football League's regular season, we know which teams have qualified for the postseason in the Intense Conference portion of the playoffs.

What we still don't know is what order of seeding the teams will be placed in.

The teams qualified are the Allen Wranglers, Colorado Ice, Fairbanks Grizzlies, Tri-Cities Fever, West Texas Roughnecks and Wyoming Cavalry.

Tiebreakers are head-to-head, then opponents' winning percentage, and finally points differential.

So if the season ended today, here's how the Intense Conference playoff seeding would look:

-- Colorado, at 10-2, would be the top seed and have a first-round bye.

-- Fairbanks, with a 9-4 mark, would be No. 2 with a first-round bye.

-- Allen, at 8-4, would be No. 3 as the Lonestar Division winner, based on its 2-1 head-to-head record against 8-4 West Texas.

-- Tri-Cities would be No. 4 seed with an 8-4 record. It wins the tiebreaker over West Texas because its opponents have a 73-76 record, while the Roughnecks' opponents are a combined 53-91.

-- West Texas gets the No. 5 seed.

-- Wyoming, at 7-5, would be the six seed.

With this in mind, Wyoming would visit Allen in the first round, while West Texas would play at the Toyota Center against the Fever. That game would be tentatively scheduled for Saturday, June 18.

But there are still some scenarios that need to be played out.

Colorado, with two games remaining, hasn't clinched the top seed.

Fairbanks, with a home game against rapidly improving Seattle on Friday, hasn't clinched the Pacific Division title.

A Fairbanks loss, coupled with Fever road victories at Wenatchee Valley and Seattle, would still give Tri-Cities the Pacific title -- and a higher playoff seed.

Conversely, two Fever losses would mean Tri-Cities could be the sixth seed and travelling throughout the playoffs.

"I told the guys at practice today 'You're in. But where do you want to be?' " said Fever coach Adam Shackleford. "We certainly want to play the first game at home."

NOTES

-- The United Conference's playoff teams are set -- although the order still isn't set.

The teams in are the Sioux Falls Storm (12-0), Green Bay Blizzard (9-3), Reading Express (7-5), Bloomington Extreme (8-4), Chicago Slaughter (8-4) and Omaha Beef (8-4).

-- The Fever's 31-28 loss Saturday night to the visiting Grizzlies was frustrating to the whole organization -- especially after holding a 28-9 halftime lead.

"Any sport that I have ever played in, the goal is when you have somebody down is to finish them," said Fever defensive lineman Christopher Lyle.

Fever quarterback Houston Lillard tossed three touchdown passes in the game and ran for another. But he also threw three interceptions.

"We were ready to come out (in the second half) and finish them, but we didn't," said Lillard, who has been one of the league's top quarterbacks all season.

"Everybody tells me I've had a good season," Lillard countered, "but I can't do it without my teammates."

Shackleford wasn't surprised with Fairbanks' second-half rally.

"I knew we were in for a fight and I told the guys we were," he said. "We played very poorly on offense. But we're moving on. We're a playoff team and we need to play like it and act like it.

This story was originally published June 1, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Fever playoff picture shaping up."