No hostility or animosity toward you and no arguing. I find this kind of conversation to be quite fun/entertaining.
Here's what I think a lot of folks miss. You are validating the quality of a team by how far they get in the playoffs and if they beat a higher seeded team than what's expected. Anyone, including you, have to use the "exceptions" to the rule rather than what is typical and most times, overwhelmingly predictably right.
Here's another MAJOR flaw in what I see in your argument. The "exceptions" most times, not all times, are created by the reality they are playing teams that should NOT be there in the first place. It creates a scenario that would otherwise not exist. Seriously, If a team has to fight 3 weeks long through nothing but District Champions and Runner Ups, then what's the likelihood of pulling off that unbelievable, most times not achievable upset that makes your point? It's slim to none.
You remove, in theory, HALF of the best teams. You replace them with 3rds and 4ths. How in the world can you think this is "including" the best teams?
Your 2019 Huntsville Hornets example wouldn't even exist EVEN IF you allowed Huntsville to replace a 2nd place team and go from there. Why? Because the brackets would e totally different. You never ran into a district opponent in round three. It took you 4 rounds to meet your district again. THIS is watering down the system and making it less diverse. Your Huntsville Team beat a District Champ with 3 losses, beat a 5-5 Team and then lost in the 3rd round. 3rd round in a system that is HALF 3rds and 4ths at the district level just isn't extremely "accomplished" in my opinion.
I understand where you are coming from in the "competitive" sense. Since they cut the Classes into 2 divisions, I think it would be awesome to eliminate 1 round and only take 2 from each district. It would actually be more "Competitive".
Please, having success in a more watered down system does NOT make you one of the better teams in the state. It makes you competitive in a watered down system.
Cheerio!