Mid/low major league tourneys

[HoraceGrant]

Sucks for a dominant ACC too when they get beat in the second round of the NCAA tournament to a lesser team. That's kind of the point of the postseason---the best regular season team isn't just crowned.

 

[CysRage]

I love these small conference tournaments because of the atmosphere that surrounds them. The fans of both schools are so into the games and are want the school to win because they know they get a lot of exposure if they make the NCAA.

That and the thought that their team controls their own destiny to the national title despite the odds against. I'm sure it is really a thrill for teams that nobody gave a chance to make the tournament (IE Mount Saint Mary's).

 

[cyclones500]

Sucks for a dominant ACC too when they get beat in the second round of the NCAA tournament to a lesser team. That's kind of the point of the postseason---the best regular season team isn't just crowned.

I never really thought of it that way. Relative to situation, it's similar.

 

[Cyclonestate78]

Not sure what the right solution is. But it does seem unfortunate that the top conference team with a 23-6 record for example stays at home due to a middle team getting hot in the tournament. Not really in favor of more than the 68 total teams we have now.

Conference tourneys are great for the major conferences because at-large bids are much easier to attain for these teams so a team that pulls a big upset and wins a conference tourney isn't going to knock the teams out that finished ahead of them in the standings. For the mid-majors and smaller leagues it is a disaster. Since 1978 there have been 17 teams that have made the tourney with a losing record... Missouri, Lehigh, Montana State, East Carolina, Florida Intl, Central Florida, San Jose State, Jackson State, Fairfield, Prairie View, Florida A&M (twice), Siena, UNC Asheville, Oakland, Coppin State, and Western Kentucky. Outside of the play-in games in recent years (which IMO don't count as tourney wins) not a single one of these teams has ever won a game in the actual tourney.

The Ivy League really is the example of how this should be done for the smaller conferences that are 1 bid leagues. Their regular season champion gets the bid which ensures their best team gets into the tourney. The results are hard to argue against....

2013 - 14 Harvard upsets 3 New Mexico 68-62
2012 - 5 Vanderbilt beats 12 Harvard 79-70
2011 - 4 Kentucky beats 13 Princeton 59-57
2010 - 12 Cornell upsets 5 Temple 78-65 12 Cornell upsets 4 Wisconsin 87-69
2006 - 2 Texas beats 15 Pennsylvania 60-52
2002 - 6 California beats 11 Pennsylvania 82-75
1998 - 5 Princeton beats 12 UNLV 69-57 4 Michigan State beats 5 Princeton 63-56
1997 - 5 California beats 12 Princeton 55-52
1996 - 13 Princeton upsets 4 UCLA 43-41

Since 1996 the Ivy League champs have won 6 NCAA Tournament games and had 5 other games where they lost fairly close games considering the talent gap between them and their opponents. Outside of a few runs by 1 bid league schools like Florida Gulf Coast, George Mason, etc... the Ivy League champs have represented themselves very well in the tournament coming out of a 1 bid league.

 

[Bret44]

Conference Tournaments = money for these small time conferences, there will be no changes.


Thankfully, I sure enjoy watching them.

 

[mfelske]

I'm bummed my Vermont Catamounts lost. They went 15-1 in conference and then sucked it up in the semis of their tournament.