Change the NCAA Tournament now!

[wh]

What happened last night was an embarrassment to college basketball – lowest shooting pct. in the history of the championship game, low TV ratings, millions of homes changing the channel in the 2nd half,  scathing reviews, mocking and laughing by the pundits, etc., etc.  A Cinderella story is nice, but not at the expense of damaging the sport.  To quote a well known philosopher from 2002, "something needs to be done to make sure this never happens again."

As a fan concerned about the greater good, I am going to contact the NCAA and recommend a major change be made to the tournament format.   It's not good enough to have teams representing the sport that happen to be playing the best at the time, but fall woefully short of being the best teams.  Simply put, what the sport needs are the best teams as demonstrated by their "body of work" playing the best at tournament time.

What we need is a system that protects the top seeds, while still giving the Cinderellas a chance.  What I am going to suggest is that the tournament be expanded to 80 teams.  The 5-20 seeds will play 2 preliminary rounds to reduce the field to 32 teams.   After receiving a double bye, the top 16 teams (1-4 seeds) will begin play against the remaining 16 teams.  This way, in order to play in the national championship game the 1-4 seeds would only have to win 3 games while the lower rated seeds would have to win 5.  To make it even more challenging, it would be preferable to have the surviving lower seeded teams play the 1-4 seeds the day immediately following their last game. 

This change far better protects the best teams that play in the best conferences against the best competition over those who play in weaker conferences against weaker competition and thus better protect the image and reputation of college basketball.   Any thoughts?

[sectionee]

Lets do a bowl system, that seems to work out for the football side of college sports (joking).

[sectionee]

I don't think your idea, while it does sound ok, would ever be put into play.  First, those top 16 teams aren't going to want (I don't think) to sit around an extra week while the lower seeded teams play their first two games.  Secondly, think about how much money the higher seeded teams would be losing out on by having their teams only playing 3 games instead of 5.  I suppose this could be supplemented by potentially having more teams in the actual tournament. 

The college basketball tournament is the best tournament in any pro/college sport both at crowning a champion as well as providing nonstop excitement for the watcher.  It is hard to say that Butler isn't an elite program after making it to the finals in back to back years, and it is also hard to say that UConn wasn't deserving after what they did in their conference tournament.  Keep it as is and if the bigger, better, more elite schools have a problem with it, they should defeat teams like VCU and Butler.  JMO

[justducky]

I was just about to propose something very similar and with the same level of sincerity. Thank you WH for beating me to the punch.

[StlVUFan]

I hate it (pretty predictable reaction, wasn't it, from me at least?).

I care not one iota about protecting top seeds.  I care not one iota about artificial guarantees of a sparkling well-played championship game.  I care not one iota about TV ratings or pleasing fans and commentators who want NBA-style basketball in the Final Four.

I care about watching the game of basketball and letting the chips fall where they may, performance wise.

Of course last night was excruciating at times.  There are indentations (just kidding) on the bar where I was sitting to prove it.  I'm not saying I'm happy with the game (though that's mainly because Butler lost).  I'm not trying to argue that it was an extremely well-played game or that if you didn't thoroughly enjoy it, you're a moron.  And I wouldn't make those arguments even if Butler had won.

What I'm saying is I'm against trying to pre-program the results that you want.  It's 68 teams in a single elimination tournament.  It's a drama that unfolds, and just like life, crap happens, sometimes at the worst possible moment with the eyes of the world looking in on it.

Seed the 68 teams into the brackets.   That's all the pre-programming I'm interested in putting up with.  After that, the "body of work" is irrelevant to me.  The NCAA tourney is a stand-alone sequel to the regular season.  Only those who fulfilled the entry requirements should be allowed in, and those who did the best should be seeded the highest with the corresponding easier path to the Final Four ("on paper" at least), and aside from that (and the play-in games we have now, so 8 teams have one extra game to play), everyone starts at the same place -- in other words, 64 teams start at the same place after 4 teams eliminate 4 other teams.  Then it's survive-and-advance until there's only one team left and whoever that is is the champion.  Hats off to UConn.  Years from now there's not going to be an asterisk by their name in the record books.

That's what I want.  One fly in the ointment I can think of is that if ratings tank (I see no sign of that happening) because last night becomes commonplace, they may maintain my concept of the tournament at the peril of having the tournament die and then I won't have it to look forward to.

To which I say: fine.  I'll find something else to do in March.  I hear there's this thing called Spring Training.  Never tried it, might be the perfect opportunity in my retirement to partake of this rite of Spring.

All that said, if they went your way WH, I would probably not walk away from the tournament, just enjoy it a little bit less.

Now, if they went the way of College Football -- let the computer spit out the 2 or 4 teams that belong in the Final Four, then I absolutely am walking away from it and I'll never partake of it again.  We've already got this in November/December.  It's called The Legends Classic, and I despise it with every fiber of my being.  Even if the Computer seeded the Sweet Sixteen, I'm walking away from it, I don't care if Valpo is one of the 16 teams.

My solace is that I truly believe that will *never* happen.

[StlVUFan]

You want to know what the hilarious thing is?  I am -- so far -- the only person I know of who is singing the praises of UConn's 2nd half play today.

Me!  Mr. I-Hate-the-Big-6.  I think they played a good 2nd half, and I give them high praise for it, against a very tenacious Butler defense.

[rlh]

I would hope that the proposed changes by WH will NEVER, and I repeat, NEVER be adopted.  I thought this tournament was thrilling to watch.  So the championship game was not the classic we all hoped it would be, very few of them are....It was tough to watch, but if you couldn't appreciate the second half play, especially defensively by UCONN, then you just don't get it anyway.  I would love to have seen Butler win, but the best team last night won the game.  Were these the best two teams in the NCAA this year.....probably not....but they were the two that survived and I loved it.....

[crusaderjoe]

What happened last night was an embarrassment to college basketball – lowest shooting pct. in the history of the championship game, low TV ratings, millions of homes changing the channel in the 2nd half,  scathing reviews, mocking and laughing by the pundits, etc., etc.  A Cinderella story is nice, but not at the expense of damaging the sport.  To quote a well known philosopher from 2002, "something needs to be done to make sure this never happens again."

As a fan concerned about the greater good, I am going to contact the NCAA and recommend a major change be made to the tournament format.   It's not good enough to have teams representing the sport that happen to be playing the best at the time, but fall woefully short of being the best teams.  Simply put, what the sport needs are the best teams as demonstrated by their "body of work" playing the best at tournament time.

What we need is a system that protects the top seeds, while still giving the Cinderellas a chance.  What I am going to suggest is that the tournament be expanded to 80 teams.  The 5-20 seeds will play 2 preliminary rounds to reduce the field to 32 teams.   After receiving a double bye, the top 16 teams (1-4 seeds) will begin play against the remaining 16 teams.  This way, in order to play in the national championship game the 1-4 seeds would only have to win 3 games while the lower rated seeds would have to win 5.  To make it even more challenging, it would be preferable to have the surviving lower seeded teams play the 1-4 seeds the day immediately following their last game. 

This change far better protects the best teams that play in the best conferences against the best competition over those who play in weaker conferences against weaker competition and thus better protect the image and reputation of college basketball.   Any thoughts?

A very clever satirical post.  Well done. I get it...you hate the HL tournament format.  However, prior HL tournament champion Cleveland State would like to have a word when you have finished trying to get the NCAA to change.

The fact of the matter is that VU could have reaped the benefit of the format if it hadn't rolled over and died in the month of January.

[StlVUFan]

Oh.  My.  God.  I completely missed it.  Ouch.

You got me WH.  Egg on my face.  I should have remembered you were the one who hated the double-bye in the HL.

My bad.  

Or, in the words of MLB 2K11, "Well played, Mauer."

[sectionee]

I like the way the Horizon league does it, but I too missed the joke in there.  Well done sir, well done.

[vu72]

Well, remember that stlvufan is a part time preacher, and, he took the bit!! Hysterical!!

[rlh]

Got me too....well done....

[SanityLost17]

I love the sarcasm WH!  It is my favorite form of communication.    

On a more serious note, after watching ESPN the last few days and hearing some of the discussions on there i would be a little worried if I was a Butler fan.  There has been a lot of talk about "Is this tournament the best way to crown the true champion" and "How do we ensure we get the best teams to the final four".  The A.D.'s of these power 6 conferences have a lot of power and a lot of money to spend to get their opinion heard.  What happens if mid-majors keep making this much noise in the NCAA tournament?  How long before the tournament turns to a double bye to protect the top seeds?  Perhaps lulling the mid-majors to sleep by even offering to expand the tournament by a few teams in order to accomadate the bye's for the top seeds...  I don't know about you, but thats a really scary thought for me.  I loved the fact that Butler made runs the last two years, but if the tournament changes runs like these will be fewer and farther between.  And that will be a sad day for college basketball and for teams like Butler.  Teams that can beat anybody on any given day, but would be hard pressed to do so when the NCAA stacks the odds against them. 

[wh]

 

[StlVUFan]

I love the sarcasm WH!  It is my favorite form of communication.    

On a more serious note, after watching ESPN the last few days and hearing some of the discussions on there i would be a little worried if I was a Butler fan.  There has been a lot of talk about "Is this tournament the best way to crown the true champion" and "How do we ensure we get the best teams to the final four".  The A.D.'s of these power 6 conferences have a lot of power and a lot of money to spend to get their opinion heard.  What happens if mid-majors keep making this much noise in the NCAA tournament?  How long before the tournament turns to a double bye to protect the top seeds?  Perhaps lulling the mid-majors to sleep by even offering to expand the tournament by a few teams in order to accomadate the bye's for the top seeds...  I don't know about you, but thats a really scary thought for me.  I loved the fact that Butler made runs the last two years, but if the tournament changes runs like these will be fewer and farther between.  And that will be a sad day for college basketball and for teams like Butler.  Teams that can beat anybody on any given day, but would be hard pressed to do so when the NCAA stacks the odds against them. 

I'll believe they do something like this when I see it.  Ain't gonna happen.

You're not trying to double-dip on WH's sarcasm, are you?

[justducky]

I love the sarcasm WH!  It is my favorite form of communication.    

On a more serious note, after watching ESPN the last few days and hearing some of the discussions on there i would be a little worried if I was a Butler fan.  There has been a lot of talk about "Is this tournament the best way to crown the true champion" and "How do we ensure we get the best teams to the final four".  The A.D.'s of these power 6 conferences have a lot of power and a lot of money to spend to get their opinion heard.  What happens if mid-majors keep making this much noise in the NCAA tournament?  How long before the tournament turns to a double bye to protect the top seeds?  Perhaps lulling the mid-majors to sleep by even offering to expand the tournament by a few teams in order to accomadate the bye's for the top seeds...  I don't know about you, but thats a really scary thought for me.  I loved the fact that Butler made runs the last two years, but if the tournament changes runs like these will be fewer and farther between.  And that will be a sad day for college basketball and for teams like Butler.  Teams that can beat anybody on any given day, but would be hard pressed to do so when the NCAA stacks the odds against them. 

I'll believe they do something like this when I see it.  Ain't gonna happen.

You're not trying to double-dip on WH's sarcasm, are you?

First--In defense of WH,I would like to state that it was the devil that made him do it; that and the evil of the double bye. Second-- wake up--If the top conferences decide this approach will will benefit them then it will be rammed down our throats accompanied with the arguement "that the Horizon League has done this for years and they just love it".

I would argue that since Butler no longer needs its benefits we should move quickly to change the system to perhaps WHs single bye alternative. There is dissent in the air and NCAA changes will be coming. Just remember that the worst thing that the NCAA  could come up with is what the Horizon League is already doing.

[FWalum]

Changes will happen and the most likely is the two year requirement.  This alone (in the minds of the BCS conferences) will restore the balance of power in college basketball.  No more experienced upstart mid-majors in the Final Four because talent with a modicum of experience will trump experience and tenacity every time... don't you think?

[vu72]

Changes will happen and the most likely is the two year requirement.  This alone (in the minds of the BCS conferences) will restore the balance of power in college basketball.  No more experienced upstart mid-majors in the Final Four because talent with a modicum of experience will trump experience and tenacity every time... don't you think?

Seeing that UConn won it while starting three freshman, a sophomore and a junior, don't necessarily agree that experienced talent will trump overall talent. Tanacity and coaching, now those are hard to top!

[StlVUFan]

I love the sarcasm WH!  It is my favorite form of communication.    

On a more serious note, after watching ESPN the last few days and hearing some of the discussions on there i would be a little worried if I was a Butler fan.  There has been a lot of talk about "Is this tournament the best way to crown the true champion" and "How do we ensure we get the best teams to the final four".  The A.D.'s of these power 6 conferences have a lot of power and a lot of money to spend to get their opinion heard.  What happens if mid-majors keep making this much noise in the NCAA tournament?  How long before the tournament turns to a double bye to protect the top seeds?  Perhaps lulling the mid-majors to sleep by even offering to expand the tournament by a few teams in order to accomadate the bye's for the top seeds...  I don't know about you, but thats a really scary thought for me.  I loved the fact that Butler made runs the last two years, but if the tournament changes runs like these will be fewer and farther between.  And that will be a sad day for college basketball and for teams like Butler.  Teams that can beat anybody on any given day, but would be hard pressed to do so when the NCAA stacks the odds against them. 

I'll believe they do something like this when I see it.  Ain't gonna happen.

You're not trying to double-dip on WH's sarcasm, are you?

First--In defense of WH,I would like to state that it was the devil that made him do it; that and the evil of the double bye. Second-- wake up--If the top conferences decide this approach will will benefit them then it will be rammed down our throats accompanied with the arguement "that the Horizon League has done this for years and they just love it".

I would argue that since Butler no longer needs its benefits we should move quickly to change the system to perhaps WHs single bye alternative. There is dissent in the air and NCAA changes will be coming. Just remember that the worst thing that the NCAA  could come up with is what the Horizon League is already doing.

Referring to my misplaced rant as I fell into WH's trap, the more they do this, the more they will drive me away from the event.  Clean break.  May not mean much, but every time I hear of pundits talking this way, I recommit to that plan of action.  I won't even care if Valpo makes it into the event (though I don't see how they ever could in such a scenario).  I'll spend the entire month at Spring Training and ignore hoops completely, because the NCAA tournament will be corrupted beyond recognition.  In fact, the word tournament will no longer apply, I suspect.

Geez, my White Sox are depressing me, the National Championship game is still depressing me, and now you guys are depressing me.  Thanks a heap

[vuweathernerd]

I love the sarcasm WH!  It is my favorite form of communication.    

On a more serious note, after watching ESPN the last few days and hearing some of the discussions on there i would be a little worried if I was a Butler fan.  There has been a lot of talk about "Is this tournament the best way to crown the true champion" and "How do we ensure we get the best teams to the final four".  The A.D.'s of these power 6 conferences have a lot of power and a lot of money to spend to get their opinion heard.  What happens if mid-majors keep making this much noise in the NCAA tournament?  How long before the tournament turns to a double bye to protect the top seeds?  Perhaps lulling the mid-majors to sleep by even offering to expand the tournament by a few teams in order to accomadate the bye's for the top seeds...  I don't know about you, but thats a really scary thought for me.  I loved the fact that Butler made runs the last two years, but if the tournament changes runs like these will be fewer and farther between.  And that will be a sad day for college basketball and for teams like Butler.  Teams that can beat anybody on any given day, but would be hard pressed to do so when the NCAA stacks the odds against them. 

I'll believe they do something like this when I see it.  Ain't gonna happen.

You're not trying to double-dip on WH's sarcasm, are you?

First--In defense of WH,I would like to state that it was the devil that made him do it; that and the evil of the double bye. Second-- wake up--If the top conferences decide this approach will will benefit them then it will be rammed down our throats accompanied with the arguement "that the Horizon League has done this for years and they just love it".

I would argue that since Butler no longer needs its benefits we should move quickly to change the system to perhaps WHs single bye alternative. There is dissent in the air and NCAA changes will be coming. Just remember that the worst thing that the NCAA  could come up with is what the Horizon League is already doing.

Referring to my misplaced rant as I fell into WH's trap, the more they do this, the more they will drive me away from the event.  Clean break.  May not mean much, but every time I hear of pundits talking this way, I recommit to that plan of action.  I won't even care if Valpo makes it into the event (though I don't see how they ever could in such a scenario).  I'll spend the entire month at Spring Training and ignore hoops completely, because the NCAA tournament will be corrupted beyond recognition.  In fact, the word tournament will no longer apply, I suspect.

Geez, my White Sox are depressing me, the National Championship game is still depressing me, and now you guys are depressing me.  Thanks a heap

should've watched the nd-a&m championship on the women's side last night. that was about 3 times the game that the uconn-butler game was, and i rather dislike nd most of the time.

[StlVUFan]

I love the sarcasm WH!  It is my favorite form of communication.    

On a more serious note, after watching ESPN the last few days and hearing some of the discussions on there i would be a little worried if I was a Butler fan.  There has been a lot of talk about "Is this tournament the best way to crown the true champion" and "How do we ensure we get the best teams to the final four".  The A.D.'s of these power 6 conferences have a lot of power and a lot of money to spend to get their opinion heard.  What happens if mid-majors keep making this much noise in the NCAA tournament?  How long before the tournament turns to a double bye to protect the top seeds?  Perhaps lulling the mid-majors to sleep by even offering to expand the tournament by a few teams in order to accomadate the bye's for the top seeds...  I don't know about you, but thats a really scary thought for me.  I loved the fact that Butler made runs the last two years, but if the tournament changes runs like these will be fewer and farther between.  And that will be a sad day for college basketball and for teams like Butler.  Teams that can beat anybody on any given day, but would be hard pressed to do so when the NCAA stacks the odds against them. 

I'll believe they do something like this when I see it.  Ain't gonna happen.

You're not trying to double-dip on WH's sarcasm, are you?

First--In defense of WH,I would like to state that it was the devil that made him do it; that and the evil of the double bye. Second-- wake up--If the top conferences decide this approach will will benefit them then it will be rammed down our throats accompanied with the arguement "that the Horizon League has done this for years and they just love it".

I would argue that since Butler no longer needs its benefits we should move quickly to change the system to perhaps WHs single bye alternative. There is dissent in the air and NCAA changes will be coming. Just remember that the worst thing that the NCAA  could come up with is what the Horizon League is already doing.

Referring to my misplaced rant as I fell into WH's trap, the more they do this, the more they will drive me away from the event.  Clean break.  May not mean much, but every time I hear of pundits talking this way, I recommit to that plan of action.  I won't even care if Valpo makes it into the event (though I don't see how they ever could in such a scenario).  I'll spend the entire month at Spring Training and ignore hoops completely, because the NCAA tournament will be corrupted beyond recognition.  In fact, the word tournament will no longer apply, I suspect.

Geez, my White Sox are depressing me, the National Championship game is still depressing me, and now you guys are depressing me.  Thanks a heap

should've watched the nd-a&m championship on the women's side last night. that was about 3 times the game that the uconn-butler game was, and i rather dislike nd most of the time.

Problem is, I turn off the Women's NCAA as soon as the Summit League and Horizon League reps are eliminated.  Other problem is I can barely stand most announcers for the women's game.  Don't know why that is, but I just can't.

The women's game is even more top-heavy and parity-free than the men's game.  In fact, compared to Women's basketball, Men's basketball is virtually a level playing field.  That I also find depressing.  Heck, the Final Four was 1 vs. 2 and 1 vs. 2.  That's what passes for upsets on the Women's side.  Yeech

[rlh]

The biggest disappointment I had in the tournament was the percieved snubbing of the worth of the Horizon League....at least from what I thought I was hearing.  When Northern Iowa made their run, everyone was talking about how great the Missouri Valley was..I never heard one compliment about the Horizon League.  Disappointing......

[vuweathernerd]

Other problem is I can barely stand most announcers for the women's game.  Don't know why that is, but I just can't.

easy solution. mute. that's what i did.

[StlVUFan]

Other problem is I can barely stand most announcers for the women's game.  Don't know why that is, but I just can't.

easy solution. mute. that's what i did.

I need play-by-play with my basketball.  I realize that's something you rarely get these days even with the volume up, but muting it won't solve anything for me