Totally disagree....
It doesn't happen all that often, but the upsets by the little guy is the best part of March Madness.
2012 was so awesome.
Bilas: Improving the NCAA tournament
- Thread starter cyclones500
- Start date
Totally disagree....
It doesn't happen all that often, but the upsets by the little guy is the best part of March Madness.
2012 was so awesome.
I disagree. Auto bids are one of the best parts of college basketball. No matter how poorly your season has gone, you're never out of it. You can go on a 3 or 4 game winning streak in your conference tournament and make it in the big dance.
Did Lehigh belong on the same court as Duke a few years ago? Probably not. There were better P5 teams that probably could have been in the tournament. But you don't have to be the better team, you just have to play the better game. Part of the fun of March Madness is watching some little school of 1,500 students fight for 40 minutes with a team full of McDonald's All-Americans. You would lose that if you got rid of auto bids.
I think for the major conferences the conference tourneys are essential. If teams are on the bubble they get one last shot to prove that they are a tournament team. As for the mid-majors and smaller conferences that are typically 1 bid leagues... the regular season conference champion should get the automatic bid not the conference tourney champion. Murray State went 27-5 overall and 16-0 in their conference during the regular season. They lost to Belmont in their conference tourney championship game and now most likely will be left out of the field in the NCAA Tournament. They proved during the regular season that clearly they were the best team in the Ohio Valley Conference yet their NCAA hopes came down to 1 game in their conference tourney? So now a team that finished 5 games behind them in the conference regular season gets to go dancing while they get the shaft... it doesn't seem right and it waters down the NCAA Tournament field.
The other night an 11-22 Furman team nearly scored the upset to win the Southern Conference tourney. Had they won the game would it be right that Wofford who finished 28-6 on the season had to sit at home to watch a horrible team like Furman that isn't even competitive play in the NCAA Tournament in their place? That is crazy.
I agree with this and I think it is why the regular season champs in these small 1 bid leagues needs to get the automatic bid rather than the conference tourney champion. If they are going to give the automatic bid to a team from the Southern Conference shouldn't it go to the best team that is the most likely to at least be competitive once they get to the NCAA Tournament?
Furman nearly won the Southern Conference Tourney in a huge upset the other night. They have an 11-22 record on the season. Now I'm all for the Southern Conference getting an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament but not if it means a team like Texas gets left out so an 11-22 Furman team can get in. That is just ridiculous.
No way. This tournament is far and away the best playoff in organized sports and this is a major reason why. I would have the regular season champ qualify instead but otherwise would leave it the same. I would rather have a MEACC team that hasn't played anyone in the tourney vs a Texas or Indiana that have had opportunities against tourney teams and lost most of those games. Making room for more teams that finished in the lower 1/3 of the conference is a bad idea. If college bball has a problem it is generating more interest early in the season. Devaluing those games by having 64 at large bids only makes things worse.
Don't agree with Bilas on this one. I enjoy seeing the small conferences have success in March Madness; it's part of what makes it so great. Bilas wouldn't have had Florida Gulf Coast in the field when they had their Sweet 16 run as a 15 seed. So what if major conference schools like TCU get left out for these little guys? There are 68 spots in the field; if you don't make it in, that's your own fault.
From hearing him talk, I think he is completely enamored with the ACC and seriously undervalues the Big 12 (and yes, I think those two positions are connected).
That was my issue with it as well. Teams that find out on Selection Sunday part 1 that they are ranked at a certain point would now have zero incentive to try hard in the conference tourneys because they wouldn't be able to improve their seeding. It would have the opposite of Bilas' intended goal: placing more importance on conference tourney week. They'd just become even more of an afterthought for the big conferences.
And in a worst case scenario, can you imagine all the conspiracy theories that would run wild the first time a power conference team that was right on the line of getting bumped by auto-bids unexpectedly won their conference tourney?
I'm not 100% certain on this, but I thought it was up to the conference whether they wanted their regular season champion or conference champion to represent them in the NCAA. The Ivy League uses regular season champ but I think they are the only one.
I don't see how this improves it. It changes it a little, but why is it better? If the objective is to select the most deserving teams, why would the conference tournament not be used as part of the ranking?
The Ivy League doesn't have a conference tournament. They let their regular season champion get the automatic bid which for competitive purposes makes a lot of sense. Then you look at their tournament results...
2014 Harvard upsets Cincinnati in the 1st round 61-57. They lose to Michigan State in the 2nd round 80-73.
2013 Harvard upsets New Mexico in the 1st round 68-62. They lost to Arizona in the 2nd round 74-51.
2012 Harvard loses to Vanderbilt 79-70.
2011 Princeton loses to Kentucky 59-57.
2010 Cornell upsets Temple in the 1st round 78-65. They upset Wisconsin in the 2nd round 87-69. They lose to Kentucky in the Sweet Sixteen 62-45.
Overall the Ivy League has been more competitive then some of these other small 1 bid leagues by doing it this way.
If you are North Dakota State and rated #61 but go on to win the Summit tourney you're not being replaced. Wouldn't it give teams NOT on the list more motivation to win their tournaments?
It does nothing for locks that don't win their conference tournaments, though, so I don't understand it from that point. We could get killed by Texas by 50 and we're still in the tourney. So is this change just to not give Power 5 teams extra chances at good wins?
There are too many undeserving small conference invites.
It is fine as it is, but would be better if the P5 gained control and determined how many non-P5 teams got an invite.
It is fine as it is, but would be better if the P5 gained control and determined how many non-P5 teams got an invite.
I really have no idea why you think March Madness would be better by including the Indianas and Illinois of the world over the Florida Gulf Coast, Mercer, Norfolk State, etc. teams. They make the first weekend great. Then the big boys take it from there. We don't need teams that went 7-11 in conference play making the NCAAs.
It's the conference's choice. If the conference is happy sending a crappy team to the tournament that's their problem.