NCAA Tourneys promise and deliver!

[-Jrabbit]

Originally posted by Guynemer

...and that's exactly the problem with NCAA Basketball (and most football tournament proposals). It renders the regular season meaningless.

If only conference champs get in, AND there are NO conference tourneys, then the regular season means everything...

Let's stick to college basketball.

Your argument is just bogus, Guy. By your method, teams that secure first place in competitive conferences would shut out legitimate national title contenders (this year alone, look at Ohio State-Wisconsin, UCLA-Oregon, half the ACC, etc). Teams that improve late in the season, but too late to catch the conference leader, would lose out, while teams with no chance at the national title due to a late injury (imagine Oden going down) would be in.

Followed to its (not-so) logical conclusion, your argument suggests there should never be a championship tournament at all.

[SlowwHand]

Let me know when Texas wins it all.

[snoopy369]

Conference tournaments are most of what is good about March Madness.

Millions of people are slightly interested in the NCAA tournament, along with maybe 15-20 teams with a meaningful chance to win, and each week the number of truly interested fans drops by half.

On the other hand, hundreds of teams have a chance in their conference tournament, and most of them cheer for teams in the bottom half of the RPI. Fans in Wichita, Boise, Las Cruces, and Omaha can cheer for their teams and watch them win thrilling victories, or lose close games, and really enjoy themselves. Who cares that the potential victory means they'll probably get blown out in the first round? They've got a (slim) chance, and more importantly they proved themselves the best of their conference, beating several of their heated rivals to prove their dominance... or come up just short.

Conference tournaments are what makes March Madness a nationwide phenomenon and are what is good about NCAA men's basketball. For every George Mason, we have another five Duke, UNC, or other top-ten school championships...

[snoopy369]

(And frankly that's why bowl games are good and football tournaments bad. They can't do what March Madness does - allow teams in smaller conferences to play each other. Now that there are bowl games for basically every over .500 team, they provide a lot of the benefits of conference tournaments in basketball without requiring lots of extra games, or limiting it to the same ten schools every year...

[Deity Dude]

MSU SPARTANS - FINAL FOUR 4 of the last 8 years

And now a little poetry:



IZZO IZZO

He'Z da man.

If State winZ game 2

It'Z Final 4 again.

[-Jrabbit]

Try just a touch of reality, DD. Please.

[snoopy369]

Serious question:

Did anyone else notice how the 1 and 2 seeds were placed this year?

Midwest: #1 Florida #2 Wisconsin
West: #1 Kansas #2 UCLA
East: #1 UNC #2 Georgetown
South: #1 OSU #2 Memphis

Each #1 seed is out of region, with only UNC being even close, and each #2 seed is in region, ie in the region geographically closest to it. UCLA will play essentially home games, for example.

Why did they do it that way? Were they trying to make it up to the #2 seeds somehow? I thought in previous years that at least one or two of the #1 seeds would be in their home regions, such as the #1 overall (OSU this year).

On top of that, you could easily have given all four #1 seeds an appropriate seed, excepting UNC which would still be in the East, but still that's much closer to their home region than any of the other three teams...

[Deity Dude]

Originally posted by -Jrabbit
Try just a touch of reality, DD. Please.

Heard it about the Pistons.
Heard it about the Tigers.

I prefer the impossible - it's a lot better.

[Deity Dude]

Originally posted by snoopy369
Serious question:

Did anyone else notice how the 1 and 2 seeds were placed this year?

Midwest: #1 Florida #2 Wisconsin
West: #1 Kansas #2 UCLA
East: #1 UNC #2 Georgetown
South: #1 OSU #2 Memphis

The most hilarious thing was the announcer on ESPN saying that they made sure the No 1 seeds were protected and went into their closest regions. He said they even had a computer calculating the mileage.


Ohio State - South
Florida - Midwest


Umm - I don't have my computer handy but....

Isn't Florida the southern most state in the continental US?

Isn't Ohio considered in the heartland of the midwest?

If a first grader did this on a geography test he would fail te test and probably end up grounded by his parents.

[Guynemer]

Originally posted by -Jrabbit


Followed to its (not-so) logical conclusion, your argument suggests there should never be a championship tournament at all.

On the contrary, a championship tournament is the only way to determine a champion in a sport where there are so many teams.

My proposal is that we don't let in teams that have, over the course of the long season, proven themselves to be inferior to other teams in their own conference.

(I'm somewhat of a hardliner on playoffs... if I had my druthers, there would be no wildcard teams in any pro league, only division champs would be in the playoffs.)

[-Jrabbit]

Your proposal is insipid and poorly thought out. It does not make allowances for injuries, late-season improvement, or conferences with more than one exceptional team.

I'll put together the tournament you outlined and leave you to explain how it would be an improvement...
Guynemer's Tournament thread

[Guynemer]

Originally posted by -Jrabbit
Your proposal is insipid and poorly thought out. It does not make allowances for injuries, late-season improvement, or conferences with more than one exceptional team.

You, sir, are entitled to your opinion.

I simply feel that the teams that compete for the championship are the ones that have proven over the long haul that they are better than their peers. Conference champions are the only teams that fit the bill.

[-Jrabbit]

By that logic, out-of-conference games are meaningless.

Your tournament is filled with unqualified teams. How can that possibly be an improvement?

[Guynemer]

Wait wait wait.

What's the difference between having the regular season conference champions in the field as opposed to the conference playoff champions?

I'd rather see Cinderellas with a chance (Akron) as opposed to Cinderellas without a chance in hell (Miami).

[Guynemer]

Originally posted by -Jrabbit
By that logic, out-of-conference games are meaningless.

Right now, ALL regular season games are meaningless, except for the Ivy League, the only league with the stones to not have a conference tournament.