Change is Good

Does anyone else find it odd that Korea went 6-1 in the World Baseball Classic, including a 2-1 record against Japan, but their one loss did them in, allowing a 3-loss Japan team to beat Cuba for the WBC crown? The system is awful. One loss shouldn't overshadow all your wins. Some may see an argument for a playoff in D-1 college football coming. Well, perhaps at some point the subject will grab the top spot on the blog (perhaps titled "Change is Good: Part 2"). However, I'm taking on a different beast tonight, namely the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

The 65 team field is too small. Do not even attempt bringing up the lame argument that "conference tournaments are an extension of the tournament." Anyone who does is a fool. The only way conference tournaments would be an extension is if the tournament did away with at-large berths. Anyone think that will happen? Remember, the power conferences essentially forced the field to move from 64 to 65 because they did not want to lose an at-large berth when another automatic spot was granted. So, trying to imagine for a second that it is an extension, you would quickly realize that it was double elimination for good teams who lose in their conference tournaments and receive at-large berths, and single elimination for everyone else, including major powers (like Duke, Gonzaga and Kansas) who win their conference tournaments, the rest of the conference champs, and everyone who did not win their conference tournament and did not get an at-large berth either. Double elimination for UConn, Villanova, Texas and LSU, but single elimination for Cincinnati, Duke, Maryland, Kansas, Gonzaga. It seems to make sense to talking heads on television, but I doubt they've examined it in much, or any, depth. They just try to add drama and romance to March Madness. Also odd is the fact that two teams have to play for the right to get sent home by a #1 seed. Why do conference winners have to play to get the last #16 seed? Why not have the last two at-large teams in play for the #13 seed? Or, why not revamp the entire system?

Wholesale change is the way to go. Do away with the conference tournaments (it will make the regular season more meaningful) and invite everyone to the really big dance. Invite all 334 teams (from all 31 conferences). Here's how it will work.
- Use the RPI to rank all 334 teams.
- You need to reduce the field to 256 initially, which requires 78 teams to lose. Thus, 78 games are needed. A semi-random weighted system will be used to create pairings of the bottom 156 in the RPI (no games will feature teams from the same conference facing off).
- With the final 256 teams, the same type of process (perhaps similar to the draft lottery in the NBA ... ping pong balls, the team with the best RPI has the most and is most likely to get the most desireable spot, but nothing is guaranteed) is used to seat the teams in sixteen 16-team regions.
- The 16 teams that advance from these regions will play in the Sweet 16 (the new version of the Final 4).

Hypothetically, the first 78 games could occur on a Tuesday, then the 256 could be reduced to 16 in four rounds on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday games (4 days, back-to-back-to-back-to-back ... my team used to play four nights in a row in high school and they do it in conference tournaments - Syracuse this year). The champion could emerge from four days of play the next Th-Sun. More realistically, the field would be reduced to 64 the first week (which would otherwise be used for conference tournaments) and then continue as it does currently, with teams playing either Th. and Sat. or Fri. and Sun. until the Final Four.

If these changes are going to be implemented, let's go all out. Double elimination once the field gets to 16. The more games, the better the chance that the best team will prevail. Sometimes, very good teams run into very bad match-ups. Should this put an end to their season? Let teams fight back through the losers bracket (see NCAA baseball) if they are worthy. Even more games to generate revenue and piss off wives across the United States of America, what could be better? Oh yeah, we're eliminating the idiocy of the selection committee as well.