2014 NCAA Tournament

[bopol]

Here's an idea to throw out there...

This committee lacked the creativity to make a bracket that balanced things as well as they could have been balanced, set up a definitive west vs. east championship, gave a bye where it didn't need to be given, etc etc.

They appear to have been in over their heads when it came to the bracketing process.  Also, there was some disagreement with the selection, but let's leave one alone for a bit.


Why does the national committee do the bracketing AND the selection? Why isn't there a second (RESTED, Correctly THINKING, etc etc) committee to set up the brackets? The selection committee has a tough job... weeding through the possible field... and then we expect them to turn around and make intelligent decisions on brackets, given certain restraints (but one of which is NOT balance, creativity, etc)...


I think that the NCAA needs to have two different committees. One to select the teams and a second committee to set up the brackets.

I agree with this.  It seems like too much work for one group of people.  A single person or a small group could do a better job without a lot of basketball knowledge getting good setups.  That bracket can be doublechecked by the committee.

[gordonmann]

For a year or two the committee released the participants on Sunday night and the bracket the next day.  I don't know how much of a check-and-balance that provided since the same people did both, but maybe it segmented the conversation so that the selection process didn't squeeze out too much time for building the bracket.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

It's like Bill Simmons' old VP of Common Sense argument.  You just need someone outside the process (but still knowledgeable) to take a look and point out obvious problems.

I know they treat this thing like Ft Knox, partly because of how secretive they do things in D1 and partly because of a collective sense of self-importance - but there's nothing to stop them from sending a provisional bracket to say, Pat Coleman, and asking, "anything simple we just missed?"

It would take fifteen minutes for him to say, "switch the bottom left with the top right; and switch the IWU pod with the Hope pod."

Obviously there could have been more creative solutions, but at least you'd get an outside opinion on things you can change without actually changing any of the lines on the sheet.

If you don't want Pat involved, you could use a past National Committee chair - Mike DeWitt would have given them the same feedback in the same amount of time.  No harm, no foul.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

For a year or two the committee released the participants on Sunday night and the bracket the next day.  I don't know how much of a check-and-balance that provided since the same people did both, but maybe it segmented the conversation so that the selection process didn't squeeze out too much time for building the bracket.

Considering the NCAA wants to announce the brackets CBS and ESPN style-esque now... we are never going to see those names released ahead of time again.

[John Gleich]

For a year or two the committee released the participants on Sunday night and the bracket the next day.  I don't know how much of a check-and-balance that provided since the same people did both, but maybe it segmented the conversation so that the selection process didn't squeeze out too much time for building the bracket.

Considering the NCAA wants to announce the brackets CBS and ESPN style-esque now... we are never going to see those names released ahead of time again.

The teams selected don't have to be announced like they were in the those years... just passed from National Selection Committee (submitted by 10:00 PM Sunday night or the like) to National Bracketing Committee.


The result is that, come selection Monday, all of the fingers aren't pointing at the same people for both perceived blunders... one group is to blame responsible for the selection and another altogether (disconnected completely from the selection) is to blame responsible for the brackets.


Apart from this, based on the interviews conducted by Dave this year, I'd love to see a situation where the selection process from start to finish is done double-blind-style. All of the teams are assigned a random number but are compared ONLY with the criteria shown.

It doesn't matter what conference a team is from. It doesn't matter who the team's non-conference opponents were. It doesn't matter if a team was #2 in their region or #6. None of these are criteria*  (*I acknowledge that common opponents are a criteria, as are head to head, but the actual teams don't need to be known). There will be no "eye test" possible because:

Team 5478:  .625/.599/4-7    1-0 vs Team 6857
Team 8943:  .680/.591/4-5    0-2 vs Team 6857

Who gets in?

EDIT: Maybe more appropriate question: Who gets in first?  I don't think that anyone had Emory (Team 8943) out of the tournament... but Carthage (Team 5478) didn't get picked ahead of them, as was prognosticated here... or at all.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

For a year or two the committee released the participants on Sunday night and the bracket the next day.  I don't know how much of a check-and-balance that provided since the same people did both, but maybe it segmented the conversation so that the selection process didn't squeeze out too much time for building the bracket.

Considering the NCAA wants to announce the brackets CBS and ESPN style-esque now... we are never going to see those names released ahead of time again.

The teams selected don't have to be announced like they were in the those years... just passed from National Selection Committee (submitted by 10:00 PM Sunday night or the like) to National Bracketing Committee.


The result is that, come selection Monday, all of the fingers aren't pointing at the same people for both perceived blunders... one group is to blame responsible for the selection and another altogether (disconnected completely from the selection) is to blame responsible for the brackets.


Apart from this, based on the interviews conducted by Dave this year, I'd love to see a situation where the selection process from start to finish is done double-blind-style. All of the teams are assigned a random number but are compared ONLY with the criteria shown.

It doesn't matter what conference a team is from. It doesn't matter who the team's non-conference opponents were. It doesn't matter if a team was #2 in their region or #6. None of these are criteria*  (*I acknowledge that common opponents are a criteria, as are head to head, but the actual teams don't need to be known). There will be no "eye test" possible because:

Team 5478:  .625/.599/4-7    1-0 vs Team 6857
Team 8943:  .680/.591/4-5    0-2 vs Team 6857

Who gets in?

EDIT: Maybe more appropriate question: Who gets in first?  I don't think that anyone had Emory (Team 8943) out of the tournament... but Carthage (Team 5478) didn't get picked ahead of them, as was prognosticated here... or at all.

I'd still take the second team.  The SOS is real close and they both won 4 against RRO, while playing a lot of those games.  I see the winning percentage difference as large enough not to worry about common opponents.

[Ralph Turner]

For a year or two the committee released the participants on Sunday night and the bracket the next day.  I don't know how much of a check-and-balance that provided since the same people did both, but maybe it segmented the conversation so that the selection process didn't squeeze out too much time for building the bracket.

Considering the NCAA wants to announce the brackets CBS and ESPN style-esque now... we are never going to see those names released ahead of time again.

The teams selected don't have to be announced like they were in the those years... just passed from National Selection Committee (submitted by 10:00 PM Sunday night or the like) to National Bracketing Committee.


The result is that, come selection Monday, all of the fingers aren't pointing at the same people for both perceived blunders... one group is to blame responsible for the selection and another altogether (disconnected completely from the selection) is to blame responsible for the brackets.


Apart from this, based on the interviews conducted by Dave this year, I'd love to see a situation where the selection process from start to finish is done double-blind-style. All of the teams are assigned a random number but are compared ONLY with the criteria shown.

It doesn't matter what conference a team is from. It doesn't matter who the team's non-conference opponents were. It doesn't matter if a team was #2 in their region or #6. None of these are criteria*  (*I acknowledge that common opponents are a criteria, as are head to head, but the actual teams don't need to be known). There will be no "eye test" possible because:

Team 5478:  .625/.599/4-7    1-0 vs Team 6857
Team 8943:  .680/.591/4-5    0-2 vs Team 6857

Who gets in?

EDIT: Maybe more appropriate question: Who gets in first?  I don't think that anyone had Emory (Team 8943) out of the tournament... but Carthage (Team 5478) didn't get picked ahead of them, as was prognosticated here... or at all.

I'd still take the second team.  The SOS is real close and they both won 4 against RRO, while playing a lot of those games.  I see the winning percentage difference as large enough not to worry about common opponents.

0.055 on the winning percentage is almost 1 1/2 games on a 25 game schedule. That offsets the 1-0 vs 0-2 consideration.

[89Pirate]

This is probably not the right place for this, but the bracket challenge bombed on me and wouldnt let me finish and I cannot edit them either...what gives? I was down to the final 4 too...

[7express]

York completely blowing the doors off of Rhode Island College 35-12.

[SgtPaul]

Centre has a two point lead in a high scoring affair in the other game tonight 45-43 over LaGrange at the half.

[Mr. Ypsi]

This is probably not the right place for this, but the bracket challenge bombed on me and wouldnt let me finish and I cannot edit them either...what gives? I was down to the final 4 too...

Send a PM to Pat - he is really good about responding.

[SgtPaul]

Centre wins and York looks like they will finish off an easy win at Rhode Island College.

[magicman]

The first game of the NCAA tournament is history and the Centre Colonels defeat the LaGrange Panthers by a final score of 78-71.

York(NY) defeated Rhode Island College by a 79-54 margin.

[gordonmann]

Hm. Maybe the CUNYAC got the right team in the tournament after all.

Seriously, nice win by York.

[ronk]

This is probably not the right place for this, but the bracket challenge bombed on me and wouldnt let me finish and I cannot edit them either...what gives? I was down to the final 4 too...

When u get to the final picks, the last side u were working on will overlay the other side, leaving only a few letters of the teams to click on, but u can still do it; it happened to me.