Like most of you, I'm a CFB realignment/playoff junkie. Obviously, the center of our fascination is saving/cherishing the regular season. The contrasting example is always college basketball, and it's "sick" regular season. I wonder if the conference execs (while they are figuring out how to maximize football dollars) have thought about retooling bball.
March Madness is perfect. There is no reason to mess with it, in my opinion.
But to "heal the regular season," I see two things that could be done. I'm just wondering if I'm too far outside of the CBB purists' realm of comfort with these.
1. Make the conference tournaments at the start of the season. If there is any momentum OFF of CFB, it comes in early January when CFB fans are going through withdrawals. Sure, most of us just bounce to the NFL playoffs for the following month...but some of us could easily head into CBB hysteria.
In mid-January, play the conference tournaments. This gets borderline fans an easy in as they focus on the major teams and players from their favorite conferences. Then, as conference play continues, fans might stick around for the two months between mid-January and early-March.
2. Have a conference championship game (ala CFB) before the NCAA tournament starts. Pit the two division champs against each other (or top two seeds if you are the rare conference WITHOUT two divisions). This gives you one great game to market and is a showcase game as a conference. Instead, you often have one dynamo and one "little engine that could" playing in these Saturday and Sunday conference championship games, and the borderline fans won't tune in for that regularly. (UNC and Duke have never faced off in an ACC champ game...to the ACC's chagrin)
By only allowing the regular season 1 and 2 seed in the "playoff," you make those regular season games worth more. At-large spots in the NCAA will always be available...but one dramatic weekend (like UConn's two years ago in the Big East tourney) won't cause the entire regular season to be turned upside down.
Give this champion the automatic seed and from top to bottom, you'll have a stronger NCAA tournament. You won't have a 12-14 Patriot League TOURNAMENT champ making the tourney...instead one of the best Patriot League teams (probably 22-6 or 20-8) will be the #14 seed.
I know this is radical, and I know the CBB regular season can NEVER equal the CFB one...but it seems like these two things could help. Thoughts?
(04-21-2012 12:42 AM)allthatyoucantleavebehind Wrote: [ -> ]Like most of you, I'm a CFB realignment/playoff junkie. Obviously, the center of our fascination is saving/cherishing the regular season. The contrasting example is always college basketball, and it's "sick" regular season. I wonder if the conference execs (while they are figuring out how to maximize football dollars) have thought about retooling bball.
March Madness is perfect. There is no reason to mess with it, in my opinion.
But to "heal the regular season," I see two things that could be done. I'm just wondering if I'm too far outside of the CBB purists' realm of comfort with these.
1. Make the conference tournaments at the start of the season. If there is any momentum OFF of CFB, it comes in early January when CFB fans are going through withdrawals. Sure, most of us just bounce to the NFL playoffs for the following month...but some of us could easily head into CBB hysteria.
In mid-January, play the conference tournaments. This gets borderline fans an easy in as they focus on the major teams and players from their favorite conferences. Then, as conference play continues, fans might stick around for the two months between mid-January and early-March.
2. Have a conference championship game (ala CFB) before the NCAA tournament starts. Pit the two division champs against each other (or top two seeds if you are the rare conference WITHOUT two divisions). This gives you one great game to market and is a showcase game as a conference. Instead, you often have one dynamo and one "little engine that could" playing in these Saturday and Sunday conference championship games, and the borderline fans won't tune in for that regularly. (UNC and Duke have never faced off in an ACC champ game...to the ACC's chagrin)
Not sure where you got that info. They faced off in 2011...and 2001, 99, and 98... So if by never, you mean 11 times, then yes, they have never faced off in an acc champ game
Not to mention, the NCAA, not the conference leaders run the championship show in all sports but football. So even the format is separate... NCAA basketball is the money maker that allows the national playoffs for all the other non-revenue/olympic sports sanctioned by the NCAA work.
I enjoy regular season basketball as it is, but I have a couple of ideas that might make it more interesting for casual fans.
1a. Award autobids to the regular season champs instead of the conference tournament champs. The conference tournaments would still be interesting as they would mark a last chance for teams to impress the selection committee.
1b. As a less likely possibility, award autobids to both the conference champs & the tournament champs. If 'fairness' becomes an issue, let the regular season runner-up get an autobid if the same team wins the reg season and tourney. Essentially, that would give every conference two tourney teams. Seeing as that would be 64 autobids, there's no way this would ever happen.
2. Limit the number of teams eligible for conference tournaments to 8. If only the top 8 in each conference made the conference tournament, the regular season would be significantly enhanced by adding a lot of meaning to the 8th and 9th place teams games... you have not only a race for first place, but a race for 8th.
As I understand the current rules, each conference has the autonomy to decide who gets the conference's autobid - whether that's the regular season champion or the conference tournament champion. So if you're not happy with whom your conference sends to the tourney, then petition your conference for a change in who gets the autobid. The NCAA does not really care.
Secondly, the NIT (now that its run by the NCAA) gives autobids to all regular-season champions that do not win their conference tournament or otherwise get a NCAA tourney bid.
To give more credence to the regular season, I think that of the ideas above, the limits on the number of teams that participate in conference tournaments is the best idea, but that does somewhat kill the Madness of March. The idea that any team can get hot and make a run is somewhat appealing, but I think better competition would make for more interesting games. Additionally, I would like to see more games between the power conferences mixed in with conference play. Instead of doing the ACC-B1G challenge in December during the middle of bowl season, move some conference play up and have those inter-conference matchups in January to add more interest.
I like the idea of moving conference tournaments earlier, but not of divisions in conference and a CCG. I don't think that helps the regular season as a big issue for basketball is that not nearly enough care about events beyond their own conference.
I would go with the following suggestions.
1. As was suggested in the op, move the conference tournaments earlier. I suggest mid to late January. Give the winners the NCAA birth still if the conferences want to (the big ones probably should, the small ones probably shouldn't). All of those automatics on the line will bring in viewers earlier.
2. Just like the conferences have regular season and tournament champs, let's do that for the national championship. After the regular season ends, take the top 4 ranked teams and have them compete for the "regular season national title." This would be played in the week before the NCAA Tournament starts.
I know #2 is controversial to some, but the big problem with the regular season is that it doesn't matter right now with regards to the national championship. Unless you are a die-hard fan, it makes no difference if #2 UCLA loses in the final week of the season or not. I think doing this would make games like that matter on a national level (fans from coast to coast), while still keeping the NCAA Tournament huge.
Timeline:
1. Late December/Early January: Start Conference play
2. Mid to Late January: Conference Tournament with at least the big conferences giving NCAA births to the winners
3. February-early March: Conclude conference play
4. March (current weekend that conference tournaments go on): Have "regular season national championship" between top 4 ranked teams.
5. March Maddness
Not sure where you got that info. They faced off in 2011...and 2001, 99, and 98... So if by never, you mean 11 times, then yes, they have never faced off in an acc champ game
[/quote]
I think I confused the long lapse (2001-2011) with hearing that they'd never played before. My bad.
This board gets so weird sometimes.
What do you mean GETS, Doc?
I can't see the NCAA tournament ever changing to be more restrictive, and in a strict sense that would be the only way to "preserve" the regular season. I have no issue with the basketball postseason being different than the football postseason, and even if I did that train has left the station and is never coming back. Is the winner of the NCAA Tournament really the best team in the country? Sometimes it is, but often it is not, if you consider a team's body of work over the entire season. But that's what makes the tournament so exciting (particularly for casual viewers), and thus lucrative to networks and the NCAA.
All I would do at this point is try to stave off further expansion. I understand the job security angle of coaches and ADs who are angling to broaden the field, but I really don't feel bad for (as an example) the 11th place team in the Big East being left out in a given year, particularly when good mid-major teams that have one unfortunately timed loss in their conference tournament get left out. If you're an underperforming team in a major conference, you still have the chance to run the table in your conference tournament to get into the NCAA tournament, and shouldn't be able to simply tout the level of competition of the teams that have beaten you all year to justify an at-large bid with a mediocre record.
Why would you want to change anything? Conference tournaments in the middle of the season? Are you flippin kidding me? That may be the dumbest idea ever. Even if it brings in some casual fans, it makes no sense and pisses off those that actually care.
Why should basketball change because of football? I don't give a damn about college football and don't want to see basketball look anything like what they have for post season in any way, shape or form. I understand the sentiment of awarding the auto bid to the regular season champ, but then there's no reason to have a tournament. Conferences make a lot of money off of the tournaments. I believe the MVC gets something like 80% of their operational funding off of Arch Madness. Pretty sure many other conferences are the same way. If a conference wants a regular season champ to get the bid, they'll be like the Ivy and stop having conference tournaments and the money it generates.
The only thing I'd like to see change is that they would no longer allow at-large bids to teams with sub .500 conference records. If you can't win in your conference, you shouldn't get a shot at competing for a national title. I'm tempted to say you should have a record better than .500.
I didn't realize those conference tournaments are so lucrative.
I know football is a different animal than basketball. I'm just trying to take what's best about football (the regular season) and seeing if there's any way to apply the same factors to make basketball's regular season better. UConn's run last year was particularly distasteful to me. Awful regular season...not even a top 25 team for much of the regular season...and yet they are given access to a national championship and then win it. Exciting March viewing for sure, but you're telling casual fans that November through February aren't that important.
Might as well get rid of the games and just pick the top 2 teams before the season. Those 2 will play in the NCAA Championship Game.
