Conference tournaments are bunk

[ne1410s]

My Fighting Illini defeated Purdue yesterday. I love the Illini but they sucketh mightily this year. If they catch lightning in a bottle and win the conference tourney they will go to the NCAA tourney and some "good" bubble team will go to the NIT because the better teams in the Big 10 will still be invited. This is not fair to those bubble teams but the Big 10s coffers will prosper because the sole reason for the post season conference tourney is money.

Oh, look!! There's a windmill at which I will tilt...

[andrewjackson]

My Fighting Illini defeated Purdue yesterday. I love the Illini but they sucketh mightily this year. If they catch lightning in a bottle and win the conference tourney they will go to the NCAA tourney and some "good" bubble team will go to the NIT because the better teams in the Big 10 will still be invited. This is not fair to those bubble teams but the Big 10s coffers will prosper because the sole reason for the post season conference tourney is money.

Oh, look!! There's a windmill at which I will tilt...

I agree and not just because Purdue is awful in the conference tournament. If they got rid of this thing they could more easily play a true home-and-away conference schedule.

And I will now ignore college basketball until the tournament starts. I can't bear to watch anybody play after losing last night.

[fantine33]

...the sole reason for the post season conference tourney is money.

That's pretty much my only reason. Not that I ever win any because, unlike football, I pick with my heart.

[Buffacuse]

Syracuse, VA Tech, Arizona State, Ohio State, Florida and a host of other schools left out would beat 20-loss Coppin State by 50+ points...to repeat a famous question I asked here a few years ago,,,"Is that fair?"

[andrewjackson]

Syracuse, VA Tech, Arizona State, Ohio State, Florida and a host of other schools left out would beat 20-loss Coppin State by 50+ points...to repeat a famous question I asked here a few years ago,,,"Is that fair?"

Let 'em all in.

There are 341 schools in Division 1. Divide them up into 32 geographic regions of 10 to 12 teams each. Make up two brackets in each based on record and RPI with the winners from each bracket advancing into the 64 team national field.

Then re-seed and create the national bracket.

[Appa23]

Syracuse, VA Tech, Arizona State, Ohio State, Florida and a host of other schools left out would beat 20-loss Coppin State by 50+ points...to repeat a famous question I asked here a few years ago,,,"Is that fair?"

Let 'em all in.

There are 341 schools in Division 1. Divide them up into 32 geographic regions of 10 to 12 teams each. Make up two brackets in each based on record and RPI with the winners from each bracket advancing into the 64 team national field.

Then re-seed and create the national bracket.

And the 2008 tournament would get done just in time for the start of the 2008-09 season.

[ommax3]

your wife wouldn't mind that..........

, MA

[TheConfessor]

Let 'em all in.

Great. Then no games will matter until mid-March. You might as well cancel the regular season. Fans watch the regular season and the conference tournaments because there's something at stake. Your proposal would render those games meaningless.

By the way, I thought I read something about a new tournament this year for 16 teams that weren't good enough to be invited to the NIT. Anyone know anything about that?

[andrewjackson]

Syracuse, VA Tech, Arizona State, Ohio State, Florida and a host of other schools left out would beat 20-loss Coppin State by 50+ points...to repeat a famous question I asked here a few years ago,,,"Is that fair?"

Let 'em all in.

There are 341 schools in Division 1. Divide them up into 32 geographic regions of 10 to 12 teams each. Make up two brackets in each based on record and RPI with the winners from each bracket advancing into the 64 team national field.

Then re-seed and create the national bracket.

And the 2008 tournament would get done just in time for the start of the 2008-09 season.

Nah. 12 teams in a region in two brackets means three rounds in each bracket. You can play that in a week. So the the whole tournament takes one more week. Or you could get rid of the conference tournaments and it wouldn't take any longer.

The entire Indiana high school tournament with more than 700 teams at its peak used to be done in 25 days. It can be done.

[silverscreenselect]

Syracuse, VA Tech, Arizona State, Ohio State, Florida and a host of other schools left out would beat 20-loss Coppin State by 50+ points...to repeat a famous question I asked here a few years ago,,,"Is that fair?"

All those teams have legitimate claims to being one of the top 64 in the country. None of them have legitimate claims to being the top 1 team in the country right now, and every single one of them could have played their way into the NCAA with one or two more wins.

The Coppin States of this world have the deck stacked against them because the big schools refuse to play them on the road and they have a tough time finding tournaments to invite them in Alaska, Hawaii, etc. where they can play on a neutral court. There have been a number of 14s and 15s who have won games over the years, over far more highly regarded teams than this year's Arizona State and Virginia Tech.

[TheCalvinator24]

Although it is true that certain conferences haven't produced a win in several years in the tournament, I do believe that if they weren't continually saddled with the 15 & 16 seeds, they would win occasionally. Beating a 4 or 5 seed wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility.

I like every conference getting an automatic bid, and I for one think that if there has to be a play-in game, it should be between the last two At-Large teams, and not between two Conference champs who are playing for the right to be slaughtered by the overall #1 seed.

[ne1410s]

confessor:

By the way, I thought I read something about a new tournament this year for 16 teams that weren't good enough to be invited to the NIT. Anyone know anything about that?

The CBI (College Basketball Invitational) will be composed of 16 teams. I know that Bradley University, in nearby Peoria, is one of the 16. Some outfit in New Jersey is running the tourney.

[ToLiveIsToFly]

Syracuse, VA Tech, Arizona State, Ohio State, Florida and a host of other schools left out would beat 20-loss Coppin State by 50+ points...to repeat a famous question I asked here a few years ago,,,"Is that fair?"

I say yes. There's 32 at-large bids. Plus most of the conference champs from the mid-majors and up would rate at-large bids if they weren't conference champs. If you win your conference, according to that conference's rules, you deserve to be in. If you don't win your conference and you're one of the best 40ish teams in the country, you deserve to be in. If you don't win your conference and you're not one of the best 40ish teams in the country, have fun at the NIT.

[Buffacuse]

Still don't think anyone is addressing my immediate gripe--no team, even one that wins a conference tourny, with 20 losses, ought to get in...why not give such a team a berth in the NIT--something that would still be a treat but not shaft a team that ought to be there.

[TheCalvinator24]

One thing that is often overlooked is that it is not the NCAA that dictates who gets the automatic bid. It is the Conference that determines how its automatic bid will be determined. If a Conference wanted to designate its regular season champ as its automatic qualifier, it could.

The Conferences have to make their selection of method by September of the prior calendar year, so they can't switch it at the last minute.

[Bob78164]

One thing that is often overlooked is that it is not the NCAA that dictates who gets the automatic bid. It is the Conference that determines how its automatic bid will be determined. If a Conference wanted to designate its regular season champ as its automatic qualifier, it could.

And in fact, the Ivy League still does. The Pac 10 also was a late holdout, but succumbed to conventional wisdom that tournament play made it more likely the conference would get more teams and higher seeds in the Big Dance. --Bob

[gotribego26]

confessor:

By the way, I thought I read something about a new tournament this year for 16 teams that weren't good enough to be invited to the NIT. Anyone know anything about that?

The CBI (College Basketball Invitational) will be composed of 16 teams. I know that Bradley University, in nearby Peoria, is one of the 16. Some outfit in New Jersey is running the tourney.

The CBI is also playing a best of three games final - I'm guessing a few NCAA teams would have liked that (Houston and Georgetown in the mid 80's com to mind).

[earendel]

One thing that is often overlooked is that it is not the NCAA that dictates who gets the automatic bid. It is the Conference that determines how its automatic bid will be determined. If a Conference wanted to designate its regular season champ as its automatic qualifier, it could.

And in fact, the Ivy League still does. The Pac 10 also was a late holdout, but succumbed to conventional wisdom that tournament play made it more likely the conference would get more teams and higher seeds in the Big Dance. --Bob

It's all abouit the money, not the seedings. Conferences have figured out that they can sell more tickets and make more money by having a post-season tournament. If it weren't so, they wouldn't do it. Television has dangled big bucks in their eyes and they have succumbed.