NCAA?

[311hawk]

what is it doing with the men's tourney? I get the play in games...ok fine.

Now I know they changed the format where you have teams from different regions playing at same site. I don't like it, but I understand they are trying to get more local teams' fans to the games. It makes the brackets and sites much more confusing.

Now the kicker...I can live with the above but I cannot live with them calling the obvious 1st round games the 2nd round just because of the play in round. Come on people...is nothing sacred?

 

[SpiderRico]

I don't understand any of it, to be honest.

The old addage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is an old addage because it's true. The only thing you can do by messing with a perfect product is muck it all up and that's what the NCAA has managed to do here.

Look, when they made the move to 64 teams back in 1985-1986, it became the perfect sporting event. It was like Michelangello putting the finishing touches on the Cistine Chapel. Now the NCAA has taken the Cistine Chapel of sports and drawn mustaches on God and Adam and called it an improvement.

 

[Igothawked]

what is it doing with the men's tourney? I get the play in games...ok fine. Now I know they changed the format where you have teams from different regions playing at same site. I don't like it, but I understand they are trying to get more local teams' fans to the games. It makes the brackets and sites much more confusing.Now the kicker...I can live with the above but I cannot live with them calling the obvious 1st round games the 2nd round just because of the play in round. Come on people...is nothing sacred?

They did this all last year, so it is not new. It is quite strange though.

 

[olivecourt]

what is it doing with the men's tourney? I get the play in games...ok fine.

Now I know they changed the format where you have teams from different regions playing at same site. I don't like it, but I understand they are trying to get more local teams' fans to the games. It makes the brackets and sites much more confusing.

Now the kicker...I can live with the above but I cannot live with them calling the obvious 1st round games the 2nd round just because of the play in round. Come on people...is nothing sacred?

I don't know about sacred, but it's needlessly confusing. The real people at fault, though, are the TV people who follow the NCAA's lead on this. Just put your foot down and call the games what they are: the round of 64 is the first round, the round of 32 is the second round, etc. If you need a name for the play-in games that doesn't make them sound like they aren't a real part of the tournament, just call them the First Four.

Unfortunately, if past history is any guide everyone will be following the NCAA's Newspeak within a year or two. Remember how people complained about the FBS/FCS change? Everyone uses it now. And don't get me started on B1G...

 

[Bond007]

In my opinion it really doesn't matter. Sweet 16. Elite 8. Final 4. Champs. That's what really matters.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

Agreed with everything above.

And this is a VERY minor quibble on my part, but (and I assume they will do this again this year) but does anybody find it annoying that they are now painting EVERY court in the ENTIRE tournament the exact same black and blue format?

Yeah, color of the court doesn't matter.. But there's been times the past couple years where I'll have one of the games on, I'll leave the room for a few minutes, and then come back and after a couple minutes it dawns on me that they switched to another game while I was out and I'm not watching the same game I was. Just because the courts are exactly the same. I liked it when you could see the court and instantly know which region/game you were watching.

And yeah, the "pod" system, if that's what they still call it, is weird, too. A game in Albuquerque, NM is in the East Region. WTF? And sometimes teams playing at the same site are not the teams that would be facing each other in the 2nd (oh excuse me, the "third") round. It's just odd.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

Unfortunately, if past history is any guide everyone will be following the NCAA's Newspeak within a year or two. Remember how people complained about the FBS/FCS change? Everyone uses it now. And don't get me started on B1G...

Oh yeah, that drives me nuts and already you don't ever hear anybody refer to the conference as "The Big Ten" anymore. B1G, B1G, B1G... All you ever see.

And you are correct, the newspeak will be commonplace soon enough. But I refuse to conform!

 

[311hawk]

Part of the greatness of the tourney IMO was seeing teams getting shipped out of their element (region) and playing in wierd places lice Boise and Seattle, ect... It was a true tournament with you having to beat the teams that were at your site to move on.

All of the floors, building were unique and that was what made it more fun. I HATE that they want all the courts to look the same. Again, I get that they are trying to get more fans at the games of the local teams. You can do that without making things confusing and sterile.

 

[Bags76]

The real problem is the Pod format they are using. It used to be the 8 teams at a site would have to go through each other..now out of the 8 teams at a site only 4 are technically fighting it out. I think it has taken out some of the magic of a upset, say a 1 gets beat by a 8 or 9 in the second round the fans of the other 2 teams remaining in that region will no doubt root for the upset but it doesn't have the direct impact like it used too.IMO