2 Losses
Nevada (26-2)
3 Losses
Ohio State (26-3)
Memphis (25-3)
UCLA (25-3)
4 Losses
Wisconsin (26-4)
Kansas (26-4)
Davidson (26-4)
Winthrop (25-4)
interesting bubble links
interesting bubble links
CBS Sportsline Field Projection: http://cbs.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/story/9805295
Pat Forde of ESPN.com recently made a point that conferences with tournaments where not all teams qualify makes them less exciting. However, I feel that whatever excitement is lost in the tournament is made up for during the regular season. It makes each conference game that much more important, instead of just affecting a team's seeding in a 3-4 day tournament that may or may not mean anything for more than one team. In a major conference like the Big East, only the top 12 of 16 teams qualify for the Big East tournament. So in February, those teams at the bottom are scrambling for wins just to qualify. It raises the effort of the players and the meaning of the games.
Take the Ivy League, which is the only Division I conference that does not have a tournament and instead awards its NCAA tourney berth to the regular season champion. To me, evaluating a team over two months of games is much more indicative than over a few days of games. So this makes sense and makes for exciting basketball. Each game has meaning in the race for the regular-season conference title, which actually means something other than denotation.
While I love the 'conference tournament season,' I would like to see a few more leagues give their NCAA tourney berths to the regular season champion, and other leagues cut back on the teams that qualify for their conference tournament. I mean, after a 1-15 conference record, does Iona deserve a "second" chance to win the national title? Not in my book.
Pat Forde of ESPN.com recently made a point that conferences with tournaments where not all teams qualify makes them less exciting. However, I feel that whatever excitement is lost in the tournament is made up for during the regular season. It makes each conference game that much more important, instead of just affecting a team's seeding in a 3-4 day tournament that may or may not mean anything for more than one team. In a major conference like the Big East, only the top 12 of 16 teams qualify for the Big East tournament. So in February, those teams at the bottom are scrambling for wins just to qualify. It raises the effort of the players and the meaning of the games.
Take the Ivy League, which is the only Division I conference that does not have a tournament and instead awards its NCAA tourney berth to the regular season champion. To me, evaluating a team over two months of games is much more indicative than over a few days of games. So this makes sense and makes for exciting basketball. Each game has meaning in the race for the regular-season conference title, which actually means something other than denotation.
While I love the 'conference tournament season,' I would like to see a few more leagues give their NCAA tourney berths to the regular season champion, and other leagues cut back on the teams that qualify for their conference tournament. I mean, after a 1-15 conference record, does Iona deserve a "second" chance to win the national title? Not in my book.
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