NCAA looking at changes to tournament

[Alydar]

The different conferences for various sports are a product of the limited schools that play them. Most of the conferences we normally think of do not sponsor hockey, crew, some lacrosse, some wrestling, water polo, etc. resulting in other conferences being formed to provide leagues for the schools that play these sports. For example, Women's LAX is new to the Big 10 - for all their success for many years, Northwestern competed in one of those odd leagues (American LAX Conference, or something like that) until Rutgers and Maryland (and their Women's LAX programs) joined the B1G and they began sponsoring the sport. At that, John's Hopkins (which is D1 in lacrosse) had to be enticed to play in the league so there would be enough teams. Sometimes several sports are sponsored by one of these "other" conferences, although that is rare. At least a few years ago, there was one with "Rocky Mountain" in its name IIRC.

Your first paragraph highlights what I do think is an issue, that the bottom 4 or 5 seed-lines in the NCAA tourney for WBB are guaranteed losers against their first round competition (on the men's side, there are slightly more upsets). Of course, the purpose of the seeding is to some degree to protect the top 4 seeds in each region, but there are some upsets in later rounds that are not due to the better team laying an egg. They just don't involve (usually) anyone from even the bottom half of the bracket. I have not been opposed to the first round bye suggestions regarding the tournament.

I understand that the sport specific conferences exist because of the lack of participating schools. The issue the NCAA is addressing with wcbb are ways to increase both attendance and TV viewership for the tournament. The problem as I see it is the steep dropoff in quality in wcbb compared to mcbb. True, there are few 1-16 upsets in the men's game but there are usually several in the 4-12's to the 8-9 games. In the women's game real competition doesn't start till the S16.

In conference play the disparity becomes even greater. The AAC is an obvious example but even in the P5 conferences it's one to three teams that dominate. Notre Dame has lost 1 or 2 ACC games total in their first 3 seasons in the league. Baylor is the perennial champion in the B12. Until last season Stanford won the P12 regularly. And if the idea is to build TV viewership, there needs to be more games between the top 15 or so teams in the country in February, which along with March is the prime time for televised college BB. Instead we have UConn pounding a bunch of game but overmatched teams and the same thing, to a lesser degree, in the P5's. The big games in most conferences seem to be set at the end of the regular season. Tenn-SC is always at the end. Baylor&Texas play a home & home but one is always the last or next to last game.

ESPN wants to televise the elite teams and the top stars facing each other and frankly there aren't enough of those games in February and early March. Part of the problem lies in the NCAA's over-use of RPI and the importance of making the tournament. P-5 Teams have learned how to schedule to maximize their RPI and see no advantage in seeking out games with OOC teams that could beat them. And fewer have either the opportunity or the desire to schedule an OOC game in February or March. One advantage to extending the season for a week would be to allow more games between inter-conference powers.

My idea of taking wcbb out of the conference system and creating a few elite conferences would solve all those problems and fill the February -March period with marquee games and insure a lively tournament filled with competitive matchups.

 

[Husky25]

A 16 has never beaten a 1 seed in the men's tournament. A 15 seed has lost only 8 times.

 

[Vowelguy]

I would just have the women start a week earlier with the championship on the monday before the men.

Would have to be a week later. A week earlier would be suicide, as it would mean the women's regionals going up against the men's opening rounds which dominate tv coverage for about 12 hours a day Thurs-Sun.

 

[OldAlum]

Actually, I would like to back up the season and tourney so that it finishes the week before the men's opening rounds. Hope to get an audience while people are interested in BB.

 

[Wally East]

I could possibly see moving the Final Four to the same city as the men's Final Four and having the games on Fri/Sun (definitely not Sun/Tue) and holding them in a smaller arena (an NBA-sized arena vs. an NFL-sized one for the men's Final Four).

I mean, I don't know how that would help but I could see it as a possibility. Maybe something to try to see if it builds buzz and exposure.

 

[cbraarj]

You have the Frozen 4 and the Masters that weekend.Start the womens season Nov 1 and league Tounaments finished the last weekend in Feb.Selection Show that Monday and start games that Thursday.It will never be perfect but anything is better than Sunday and Monday like Wally said.

 

[UcMiami]

What might also be interesting would be the possibility of having 'losers' brackets as well if all the teams are in the same location. That would turn each time slot into a double header that should increase overall attendance and keep teams and fans in the city creating more of a buzz. And give the 16 second round losers a chance for one or two more wins against more comparable teams.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

You have the Frozen 4 and the Masters that weekend.Start the womens season Nov 1 and league Tounaments finished the last weekend in Feb.Selection Show that Monday and start games that Thursday.It will never be perfect but anything is better than Sunday and Monday like Wally said.

I'm not sure the extensive over-lap with football would necessarily work for fans and schools. And volleyball is still playing, as well, and I suppose soccer, etc. There is an awful lot of overlap in college sports as it is (obviously), I'm not sure moving the season up even 10 or so days will accomplish that much of an improvement.