MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Flying Dutch Fan]

So what do you do then with a shared MIAA crown?  We could be in the situation of a coin toss determining who goes to the NCAA tournament.  Much rather leave that decision on the floor 100% of the time. 

And if team X is so good that they ran away with the league, then win the stinking league tournament.   

[HOPEful]

So what do you do then with a shared MIAA crown?  We could be in the situation of a coin toss determining who goes to the NCAA tournament.  Much rather leave that decision on the floor 100% of the time. 

There are plenty of tie-breakers available outside of a coin toss, including one's that "leave it on the floor." I would simply prefer that the other 14 games where they "left it on the floor" mattered equally to the 2-3 that follow.

And if team X is so good that they ran away with the league, then win the stinking league tournament.   

This very argument degrades the value of the games already won. It basically says, "I don't care how many games you've won or lost up to now... Oh, you've already beat both Trine and Calvin twice? Don't care, beat them both a third time!"

And there's value in that. A sudden death tournament adds intrigue. Adds value. Adds excitement. But it does diminish the accomplishments made in the regular season. Even more so if all 8 teams make it in.

[northb]

I agree 100% with FDF except for the part about participation trophies, which I think are appropriate mementos in youth sports.

FDF, Jr. often talks about that incident in therapy.

Or is it FDF II?

[Flying Dutch Fan]

I agree 100% with FDF except for the part about participation trophies, which I think are appropriate mementos in youth sports.

FDF, Jr. often talks about that incident in therapy.

Or is it FDF II?

FDF II (at least his initials are the same as mine) - he actually was part of the decision and thoroughly enjoyed taking a small sledge hammer to it.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Regarding the part I bolded above... why should we ensure that 50% of the league has no shot, not give a sh!t about the end of their season, have no motivation the last few games, etc.  I think that dilutes the last 3rd of the league season potentially.

I would argue it the other direction. By giving everyone a chance in the conference tournament, you are diluting the regular season for the teams at the top. Winning the MIAA regular season loses meaning if you don't win the MIAA tournament and get a pool C bid. Why play a regular season other than just to seed the conference tournament? To me, I would much rather dilute the second half of the season for the last 3rd of the league than the top. As a Hope fan, if given the option of either winning the conference outright or winning the MIAA tournament, I would choose the tournament 10 times out of 10, because it guarantees a spot in the NCAA tournament. In my opinion, Albion running away with the regular season should be more meaningful than 1 seed and hosting the conference tournament.

What is interesting about all this discussion is that the NCAA grants conferences automatic bids but it is up to the individual conferences to determine how to award that bid. Conference tournaments are not a requirement, they are just something most conferences have decided to do. Apparently the MIAA member institutions are perfectly fine to let the AQ go to a conference tournament champion rather than the regular season champion.

There is only one conference in the entire NCAA basketball (all three divisions) that does NOT do a tournament to determine an AQ. UAA here in Division III.

Side note: a conference is also responsible to have a team into the NCAA at the proper time for selections and such to be made. There needs to be a back up option, just in case. The SCAC, I think, either had to go or nearly had to go to the back-up option when there was a chance the conf tournament was going to be won by a team who couldn't qualify for the NCAA tournament. And a few years ago, the AMCC men were badly delayed due to a power problem where the championship games were being played. They needed to get special permission from the men's committee to end the game late, BUT if it had gone any later (or the committee said no), the AMCC would have had to submit a team for the AQ even though the championship game hadn't been played.

I believe in BOTH cases (and probably across the board for all conferences) the regular season conference champ is the secondary AQ choice. That said, I am sure some conferences have other options just in case that team has lost earlier in the conference tournament.

[sac]

A long time ago, circa 1990/1991 Hope and Calvin were out-voted by a 5:2 ratio to hold a women's and men's basketball tournament.  I'm not positive there was an AQ attached in 1992, seems like AQ's as an NCAA thing came a couple years later but I might be wrong.  It was a long time ago.

This and the fact it does make a little money for the conference is why we a have a tournament today.    What they do with said money, I have no idea.  Certainly its not spent printing programs.

[Grutte Dirk]

What they do with said money, I have no idea. Certainly it's not spent printing programs.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Officials fees ...

Operational costs ...

Staffing ...

There are a lot of things that cost money in conference tournaments. I am not sure for all conferences, but a number of ones I can think of the conferences do try and offset the costs of transportation, hosting, and especially officials so that it doesn't come out of the individual school's budgets.

[Gregory Sager]

Officials fees ...

Operational costs ...

Staffing ...

There are a lot of things that cost money in conference tournaments. I am not sure for all conferences, but a number of ones I can think of the conferences do try and offset the costs of transportation, hosting, and especially officials so that it doesn't come out of the individual school's budgets.

C'mon, Dave, think that through. Who provides the money for the conference in the first place? The individual member schools, that's who.

Offset, shmoffset. The schools are still paying for it all; it's just that the money is one step removed from their own coffers. The one financial benefit is that the teams in the conference tourney are also using annual dues given by their conference rivals that didn't make the tourney. So, with each conference tourney for which it qualifies, a member school gets back a slightly larger piece of the pie that all of the member schools bought together.  And since annual dues are part of the athletic budget, that money is all fungible, anyway.

[KnightSlappy]

Does anyone have an idea what ticketing will be like for Saturday? I will not be able to attend tonight but would like to secure myself a seat for tomorrow in the event that Calvin advances.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Does anyone have an idea what ticketing will be like for Saturday? I will not be able to attend tonight but would like to secure myself a seat for tomorrow in the event that Calvin advances.

I have no knowledge of the plan for this year, but in the past I think they have followed a similar situation to how the NCAA tourney is often done - that is the winning team for game 1 can buy tickets for Saturday following their game.  I know that's how Albion did it in 2003 (they sold the tickets in a classroom in an adjacent building to Kresge).

[sac]

Saturday's tickets will be available at the door starting at 6pm
https://www.gobrits.com/sports/mbkb/2019-20/releases/20200226mmnllf

Albion is a nice ok town, come early spend your money there.

Cascarelli's or Albion Malleable Brewing are nice places to hangout located downtown, they have a Residence Inn on Main Street now if you're so inclined.

[Bulldog30]

Go Bulldawgs! Beat Calvin tonight!

[Bulldog30]

Bulldawgs to the MIAA championship! What a comeback! All heart.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Amazing comeback by the Bulldogs!  Calvin looked like they were trying to not lose rather than playing to win. Poor FT shooting hurt as well - especially going 2-6 after the foul - double technical on Adrian. Coach Lindsey getting tossed really seemed to fire up his team and Calvin missing those 4 FT just added to the fire.