NCAA looking at changes to tournament

[UcMiami]

Just saw this - ideas that have been floated before but the committee is taking them up:
Women's basketball: Division I Committee seeks feedback on championship format

I like the idea of a super regional - I suppose it would end up being three games over a four day weekend or something?

 

[bags27]

It is a sad, sad day (though, alas, not surprising) when an announcement about playing college basketball sounds like a ****ing corporate memo. Stakeholders, indeed.

 

[Sonny44]

It's just fine the way it is.

 

[JordyG]

Just saw this - ideas that have been floated before but the committee is taking them up:
Women's basketball: Division I Committee seeks feedback on championship format

I like the idea of a super regional - I suppose it would end up being three games over a four day weekend or something?

I too like the idea of super regionals. Waiting a week could work by building interest, or it could make the women's championship seem an after thought. On this I'm ambivalent.

 

[Husky25]

I too like the idea of super regionals. Waiting a week could work by building interest, or it could make the women's championship seem an after thought. On this I'm ambivalent.

For most of the country, women's college basketball is an afterthought. I'd venture a guess that most of the men's fans around these parts only watch the Women's Final 4 because most of the time recently, UConn has been in it. Other men's fans watch because it is the last of the major college basketball for 7 months.

I think giving it it's own weekend would benefit sponsor bigwigs, but it does nothing for (probably hurts) the sport itself. Besides, it would be competing directly with the Masters golf tournament and possibly Easter.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

For most of the country, women's college basketball is an afterthought. I'd venture a guess that most of the men's fans around these parts only watch the Women's Final 4 because most of the time recently, UConn has been in it. Other men's fans watch because it is the last of the major college basketball for 7 months.

I think giving it it's own weekend would benefit sponsor bigwigs, but it does nothing for (probably hurts) the sport itself. Besides, it would be competing directly with the Masters golf tournament and possibly Easter.

As to Easter, that can fall on the current schedule, as well.

I just don't know about the 8 team "super-regionals" each producing one winner after 3 games. The use of 8 team sites for the first 2 rounds was, if anyone recollects, unsuccessful. First round games would see an increase in attendance, but probably a decrease in TV availability.

 

[Husky25]

As to Easter, that can fall on the current schedule, as well.

Yes it can, but not also The Masters. If the committee is looking for more crossover viewership, this is not the strategy to take.

 

[Vowelguy]

Not sure the point of super regionals. There already is a problem with getting great crowds at the regionals; and now they're going to add an extra layer of games? I can't see the local markets supporting that unless it's area teams.

 

[HoopsFan21]

You also have MLB opening around the time of the final four.

 

[Vowelguy]

Not sure the point of super regionals. There already is a problem with getting great crowds at the regionals; and now they're going to add an extra layer of games? I can't see the local markets supporting that unless it's area teams.

Also, when would the 2nd round be played? It's 4 games. If it's during the week, then no one - NO ONE - is going to see those afternoon games ... either in person or on TV.

If it's on the weekend, then you're looking at something like Sat - Mon - Weds for the regionals. How many fans are going to take off 4 days for travel to see their team? And are locals gonna sit through 2 games on a Monday or Tuesday night?

I suppose it's worthwhile to throw out ideas to have different scenarios thought about to see if they can work. But this one sounds like a disaster.

 

[OldAlum]

I would suggest redoing the first round matchups. Go to some kind of play-in system in which the lower seeded teams play each other and the higher seeded get a bye. Should reduce the massacres in the first round. I don't see that an extra week will help anything. Maybe the men will take an extra week and the women can sneak in the week they leave! Or, to be really radical, back up the women's season so that the tourney finishes before the men start!

 

[Gate81]

I love the idea of super regionals, with more schools and fans in attendance vs. all those empty arenas. Just tough to figure out logistics of 3 games.
Personally think it would be better to keep 1st two rounds which get you to 16 schools and then have all 16 play in one place to get down to the final four. Adds another destination event and with fans for 16 schools so it should get sold out.

 

[tomcat]

Not sure I understand how the "super regionals" would work, but this from the people who for all those years thought Sunday-Tuesday was a good idea, not sure I need to.

 

[Monte]

It's just fine the way it is.

Leave it alone! I think the problem is that there are members on the committee who have nothing else to do, so they dream up changes.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Also, when would the 2nd round be played? It's 4 games. If it's during the week, then no one - NO ONE - is going to see those afternoon games ... either in person or on TV.

If it's on the weekend, then you're looking at something like Sat - Mon - Weds for the regionals. How many fans are going to take off 4 days for travel to see their team? And are locals gonna sit through 2 games on a Monday or Tuesday night?

I suppose it's worthwhile to throw out ideas to have different scenarios thought about to see if they can work. But this one sounds like a disaster.

\

Saturday, Sunday, Monday Evening --8-4-2 A dynamic regional with winners playing 2 or 3 days in a row. Geno prepares his kids for such events Also there is no reason, known to me, that prohibits the NCAA to begin the season weeks earlier The Venue should be in significant facilities--MSG for one--San Antonio Fan's of specific teams will still watch those teams, as is the case now Fans will only watch certain other teams, --but box office, TV issues are above my level of caring

 

[Vowelguy]

\

Saturday, Sunday, Monday Evening --8-4-2 A dynamic regional with winners playing 2 or 3 days in a row. Geno prepares his kids for such events Also there is no reason, known to me, that prohibits the NCAA to begin the season weeks earlier The Venue should be in significant facilities--MSG for one--San Antonio Fan's of specific teams will still watch those teams, as is the case now Fans will only watch certain other teams, --but box office, TV issues are above my level of caring

You want teams to play 3 days in a row?!? No coach is going to be in favor of that. And there's no question that the quality of the game would suffer on the 3rd day. That idea has 0% chance of passing.

Why would any 'significant' venue want to host the women's regionals when they rarely break 10k attendance? MSG surely has no interest. And the women's tournament doubtful could afford whatever MSG's fees are.

 

[dbmill]

I've been going to UConn NCAA tourney games for about 25 years now, and the Final Four for 20. It seems that we have lived through a few of these tournament format changes. The Powers That Be seem to be always convinced that the only thing college women's basketball has to do to increase the popularity and attention that the tournament gets is to change the format of the tournament. The problem for them is that it never happens that way. I'd just as soon leave well enough alone and wish they would stay more or less with the current format.

 

[cbraarj]

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

 

[ASweet3781]

Perhaps they should start by stop choosing to have the Final 4 in cities that can't sell out 17,000 seat arenas like Indianapolis and New Orleans, both who are continuously chosen to host despite their inability to sell the place out.

 

[Milfordfan]

Wasn't there a proposal to have the Women's Final Four at the same location/venue as the Men's, but to play the following day. That way all the national sports media (newspaper, electronic, radio, TV) would already be there, and, on the in between days from the Men's dates, they would have the Women's games to cover at the same location. Has that been abandoned?

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

There is nothing wrong with the current format. Super Regionals work in baseball because the game lends itself to 3 game series; basketball does not. The only thing that will improve WBB viewership is for everyone to think of female athletes as being the equals of men. I DO think if they waited to start WBB season until January they could wait to have the NCAAW Tournament start after the MBB Tournament. That would likely help attendance and the WBBT would be over before postseason college baseball starts.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

There is nothing wrong with the current format. Super Regionals work in baseball because the game lends itself to 3 game series; basketball does not. The only thing that will improve WBB viewership is for everyone to think of female athletes as being the equals of men. I DO think if they waited to start WBB season until January they could wait to have the NCAAW Tournament start after the MBB Tournament. That would likely help attendance and the WBBT would be over before postseason college baseball starts.

That wouldn't work for me, because I like softball almost as much as WBB. Plus softball gets quite good TV coverage once the WBB season is over. If the WBB season started in January, then it wouldn't be ending till the tail end of the softball season. Plus, for 2 women's sports, it would make it very difficult for fans to attend both, as softball plays (mostly) on the weekend and certainly so does the PAC12 in WBB.

 

[stwainfan]

One thing I dont like is the 1 vs 16 seed matchups. We know how those will end. May be give top four or eight seeds a bye.

 

[Alydar]

The problem is that there aren't 64 competitive teams. Viewers want to see competitive and well played basketball. While there are many fine teams among the small conferences, the lack of size and athleticism makes it impossible for them to compete with a top 25 team unless that team plays a stinker, and nobody likes to watch incompetence.

The tournament field should be reduced, but the politics of the NCAA makes that extremely difficult to accomplish. The only solution I can see is to split D1 into D1 and D1a. I'm not sure what the criteria should be but budget size could be one requirement of being a D1a team. Of course the biggest obstacle is the conference structure. Even the P-5 conferences have teams that wouldn't belong in the top division. There is a solution which would be to treat wcbb like men's hockey and remove it from the conferences. Schools could then create new, fewer, more competitive conferences, and vastly more watchable competition. Imagine a conference containing the top 5 teams from the P12 and B12 conferences. Or consider creating 2 conferences out of the elite teams in the SEC, ACC, B1G and a few top mid-majors like JMU & Dayton? UConn might have to start scheduling more games at the XL to handle the crowds.

Then I woke up.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

The problem is that there aren't 64 competitive teams. Viewers want to see competitive and well played basketball. While there are many fine teams among the small conferences, the lack of size and athleticism makes it impossible for them to compete with a top 25 team unless that team plays a stinker, and nobody likes to watch incompetence.

The tournament field should be reduced, but the politics of the NCAA makes that extremely difficult to accomplish. The only solution I can see is to split D1 into D1 and D1a. I'm not sure what the criteria should be but budget size could be one requirement of being a D1a team. Of course the biggest obstacle is the conference structure. Even the P-5 conferences have teams that wouldn't belong in the top division. There is a solution which would be to treat wcbb like men's hockey and remove it from the conferences. Schools could then create new, fewer, more competitive conferences, and vastly more watchable competition. Imagine a conference containing the top 5 teams from the P12 and B12 conferences. Or consider creating 2 conferences out of the elite teams in the SEC, ACC, B1G and a few top mid-majors like JMU & Dayton? UConn might have to start scheduling more games at the XL to handle the crowds.

Then I woke up.

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.