Editorial: NCAA basketball has playoff system right
March 1, my bracket looked like this: TCU, Auburn, Oregon, Wisconsin, LSU, Stanford Arkansas and Boise State going to the Elite Eight.
My tournament proceeds as follows: TCU wins everything. Auburn’s leading point guard is involved in a $500,000 scandal, Andrew Luck hits the game winning shot for Stanford in the Final Four round and Oregon records the first ever 180-point game (while wearing eight different uniform combinations throughout the course of the tournament).
LSU claims to have “tiger bleauxd.”
Wait, wrong sport, genius.
This is basketball. To epitomize the level of attention I pay to the college basketball season apart from March, I think I went to school with a guy named George Mason.
Needless to say, my March Madness bracket was built mainly out of incredibly safe picks, baseless guessing and maybe a few flips of a quarter.
Which must be the formula used in the BCS football rankings.
The only good thing about the month of March for NCAA football fans is something to point to that makes playoff sense. A tournament. How novel.
NCAA basketball has had it right since 1939 upon the conception of a national tournament to decide the best of the best.
As of 2011, 68 teams who made the “dance,” battled bracket by bracket and to the victor, a more elite bracket was awarded.
NCAA football has had it wrong since 1998.
What is that quote? “Defense wins championships?” Not in NCAA football. Computers and Cam Newton’s father win championships.
So how can this be corrected? John Wooden would say “tournament.”
Here’s how it should be broken down.
The champion teams as decided by conference record and aggregate point differential from overall records from the power conferences anchor six major regions (like the four in basketball). The mid-majors and smaller DI schools are eligible by record to compete in the tournament according geographically to where that school aligns with the power conference.
For example, Liberty (representing the Big South) might play in the same bracket anchored by Virginia Tech (representing the ACC).
The tournament begins at the end of regular season with each conference determining a conference champion.
From that pool, teams play in regional brackets, just like in high school, or NCAA March basketball. Wins advance teams through their regional brackets on to higher levels.
What about the Bowl system? The Bowl system is still employed, but for a different cause. The bowls are merely locations that host tournament play, rather than inherent championships.
For example, the Elite Eight “Bowl” for the southeast region may feature two teams competing in the Sugar Bowl, trying to advance to the Final Four which may be held at a bidded-on location.
Playoffs have been the vehicle for defining championships from Pop Warner all the way to the NFL.
From junior high hoops to March Madness.
Playoffs? In college football?
Yes, Jim Mora. Playoffs.