2020-2021 B1G Basketball Thread

[betarhoalphadelta]

One fact that gets VERY little attention is that expanding the playoff actually makes it LESS likely that a non Helmet (or at least near-helmet) team will win the NC.

Look at the BYU example. We all know that their NC was a ridiculous joke, but they have that trophy in their case. It took a lot of luck and a bunch of clueless poll voters, but it happened.

Consider a team like Purdue:

Pre-BCS:
To win an NC the Boilermakers would have needed an undefeated season including a Rose Bowl win. That is difficult, but not impossible even for a team that isn't actually THAT good. Maybe they hit a year where they upset one of tOSU or Michigan. Maybe they don't play the other. Maybe the best team in the Pac is suspended from postseason games so they get a weaker RB opponent.

BCS era:
To win an NC the Boilermakers needed an undefeated season and one postseason upset. Again, not easy but stranger things have happened.

CFP era:
Now they MIGHT be able to get in with a loss, but they would have to be B1G Champions so they'd need AT LEAST an 11-1 regular season then three straight wins over increasingly good teams. They have no chance without actually building up their program to a level they probably could never achieve.

I think your bolded section is correct, and that's partly what I was trying to point out with breaking down the tournament seeds who have actually won the whole thing.

I think OAM doesn't like the fact that UMBC can come into the tournament as a 16 and upset 1-seeded Virginia. It's too much "excitement" over "competition". He'd rather have Cinderella languishing in her wicked stepmother's service than let a commoner attend the ball and catch the eye of the prince. 

But in reality, it doesn't really happen. What really happens is that Cinderella gets to the ball, if she's lucky she gives the prince a handie in a bathroom thinking that'll make him like her, but at the end of the night she goes back to her sad, lonely life as a peasant. 

We love the excitement of the NCAA tournament. We love watching high seeds get knocked out by teams you have to look up on Wikipedia to find out in what state their campus is even located. But by the NC, Cinderella has been sent home and only the nobility remains.

[bayareabadger]

No guarantee Clemson remains what it is now when Dabo leaves. They are just the latest shiny new toy.

I mean, they might be worse at cheating but the money is still gonna be there

[bayareabadger]

You're making an adequate argument for having a ZERO team football tournament, which is fine with me.  Go back to the old bowl system and call it a day.

I honestly wonder what such a thing would look like in the modern media landscape. The world and how we consume sports it’s just so different from the bowl coalition days and before that.

[medinabuckeye1]

I think your bolded section is correct, and that's partly what I was trying to point out with breaking down the tournament seeds who have actually won the whole thing.

I think OAM doesn't like the fact that UMBC can come into the tournament as a 16 and upset 1-seeded Virginia. It's too much "excitement" over "competition". He'd rather have Cinderella languishing in her wicked stepmother's service than let a commoner attend the ball and catch the eye of the prince.

But in reality, it doesn't really happen. What really happens is that Cinderella gets to the ball, if she's lucky she gives the prince a handie in a bathroom thinking that'll make him like her, but at the end of the night she goes back to her sad, lonely life as a peasant.

We love the excitement of the NCAA tournament. We love watching high seeds get knocked out by teams you have to look up on Wikipedia to find out in what state their campus is even located. But by the NC, Cinderella has been sent home and only the nobility remains.

That is certainly an interesting way to put it!

[MaximumSam]

While we are talking about it - I think the 64 team tourney is absolute perfection and they don't need to touch it. Since they seem intent on touching it, it would be fun if instead of this first four crap, they picked some bubble teams and had them play for a spot in the tourney, but before they seeded it. So UCLA/MSU could still be played, and the winner put into the tourney, but not as a weird UCLA/MSU 11 seed on your bracket.

[Brutus Buckeye]

So then do it in a best of seven series with double elimination rounds, and consolation brackets. Lots of consolation brackets. 

[ELA]

While we are talking about it - I think the 64 team tourney is absolute perfection and they don't need to touch it. Since they seem intent on touching it, it would be fun if instead of this first four crap, they picked some bubble teams and had them play for a spot in the tourney, but before they seeded it. So UCLA/MSU could still be played, and the winner put into the tourney, but not as a weird UCLA/MSU 11 seed on your bracket.

While I agree, the whole thing was a compromise, with some coaches and conferences who wanted to go to 96.  The coaches were under some weird belief that it would be hard to fire them if they could go to tournaments. Instead all that would happen is nobody would care about a 13-18 12th place finish that wound up as a 15 seed, just like AD stopped caring about bad bowl bids.  All it would have meant was that most of those terrible conference champions were weaned out before we even got to 64, and would get to watch Duke play terrible power 5 teams

[medinabuckeye1]

While I agree, the whole thing was a compromise, with some coaches and conferences who wanted to go to 96.  The coaches were under some weird belief that it would be hard to fire them if they could go to tournaments. Instead all that would happen is nobody would care about a 13-18 12th place finish that wound up as a 15 seed, just like AD stopped caring about bad bowl bids.  All it would have meant was that most of those terrible conference champions were weaned out before we even got to 64, and would get to watch Duke play terrible power 5 teams

What would the format be with 96? That would be 24 seeds in each region and 9-24 would have to play a first round game while 1-8 got byes, right. So pods would be:

• 1, 8, 9, 16, 17, 24: 9/24 and 16/17 first round
• 2, 7, 10, 15, 18, 23: 10/23 and 15/18 first round
• 3, 6, 11, 14, 19, 22: 11/22 and 14/19 first round
• 4, 5, 12, 13, 20, 21: 12/21 and 13/20 first round

So your rounds would be:

• 32 games to get from 96 down to 64 teams. 16 games per day, four games per site.
• 32 games to get from 64 down to 32 teams. 16 games per day, four games per site
• 16 games to get from 32 down to 16 teams. 8 games per day, two games per site.
• 8 games to get from 16 down to 8 teams. 4 games per day, two games per regional site.
• 4 games to get from 8 down to 4 teams. 2 games per day, one game per regional site.
• 2 games to get from 4 down to 2 teams. 2 games per day, two games at F4 site.
• 1 game.

If we were to expand, I think 80 makes more sense because I don't think many fans would take time off to watch 9/24 through 16/17 games and those would presumably be Thursday/Friday.

I think 80 makes more sense because the field wouldn't be as badly diluted and because you'd only have 8 games per day in the first round so the bulk of them could be in prime time.

My thinking is that with 80 teams the first round would be interesting and easy enough to watch that you'd get general buy in but with 96 teams and twice as many first round games I think casual fans would just ignore it and wait for the "real" tournament to start once it was down to 64 teams.

[MaximumSam]

Hell of a start for Baylor. You know it's interesting, by recruiting rankings this is a big time school against a plucky upstart, but Baylor is definitely the plucky upstart.

[FearlessF]

enjoying the game so far

[medinabuckeye1]

enjoying the game so far

I was enjoying it more when Baylor was up 19!

[medinabuckeye1]

Another year of the Championship won by a major conference team.

[OrangeAfroMan]

I think OAM doesn't like the fact that UMBC can come into the tournament as a 16 and upset 1-seeded Virginia. It's too much "excitement" over "competition". He'd rather have Cinderella languishing in her wicked stepmother's service than let a commoner attend the ball and catch the eye of the prince.

Why does everyone seem to have to go here?
No, I don't give 2 shits about the pseudo good vs evil cartoony bullshit narratives in sports.  I care about the sports themselves.  And this makes me some kind of heartless dickhead.
.
Cool.

[medinabuckeye1]

IMHO, it is difficult for a team to switch back and forth between levels of competition. 

Gonzaga's Nov/Dec schedule was very strong. They opened with Kansas and by December 26 they had also played Auburn, WVU, Iowa, and Virginia. 

Then for two and a half months from 12/26 through late March their idea of a tough game was . . .
BYU.

I think it is difficult to re-adjust to playing quality opponents after playing crap for so long.

Congratulations Baylor!