NCAA Tournament vs. College Football Poll and Bowl System

#1
T

therealUT

Rational Thought Allowed?
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#1
Which do you think is the better system for determining the best team in the country and which do you think produces a more watchable product?

Personally, I say that the poll system is usually better at determining the best team in the country over the entire season, yet, the NCAA tournament as a whole is more entertaining to watch.

I just think that the NCAA Tournament is more inclined to determine the hottest team more often than not, not the best team.
 
#3
#3
to be perfectly honest, i think they both kind of stink, but both are the best thing going in sports today.

here's why....

people decide the rankings, even though the BCS has all these formulas etc...the two human polls are what's used to fact 2/3 of the BCS ranking, so they have the most weight. like it or not regional bias does exist, and that's why people should be left out of the equation. It's not an objective view of things at all.

The NCAA tourney you will say is a play off, and of course you'd be right, but there are 64 teams in this playoff. 64.....that's a lot. And who determines seeding? People. Again, objectivity, is not always present when the seeds come out. No way every committe member sees each and every team of the 64, wait, it's 65 now, play in the regular season.

For me, if you were going to have the best of both worlds, you take the best teams in the nation based on the rankings and let them play.

In football, you'd take the top 16 teams, seed them based on ranking (one note here, i think you should have to win your conference to make these so called playoffs, and then you could take the next 4 highest ranked teams as "wild cards"), and go play. Still use the rankings as what you'd go by, but making it somewhat objective cause conf. champions get automatic bid (i also think all conf. championships should be determined the same way, dont' care how, as long as they are all the same).

In Bball, same type of thing, but reduce the feild to 32. no more mid major crap. Nice stories and all, and Lord knows George Mason made a great run, but are you really telling me they should have been in the final four over Duke, Uconn, Texas, Nova, Memphis? (yes, i know they beat Uconn, but let'em play in the big east and play Uconn, Nova, WVU, Pitt etc...twice a year)

Of course this is fantasy land, and as much as i think both could be better, neither one are all that bad either. both get more pub and contraversay than anything else in sports(besides the NFL that is). The selection committee in bball is scrutinized every year and gives everyone something to talk about for a week before the tourney starts. then you have 3 weeks of bball, and until the final four this year, it was a great tourny with close games.

Same with the BCS....we can't stop talking about it, it's at the forefront of sports stories in the fall....it's a bloody mess full of contraversy and story lines galore. Plus, is there a regular season in all of sports that means as much as college football? i mean let's face it, we got a play off. it's the 12 games from the end of August to the beginning of December. And i'd hate to see that devalued.

And at the end of the day, both generate huge amounts of $$$$ for schools and TV......which is what it's all about anymore anyway.


So they both suck, but you got to love it...... :clapping:
 
#5
#5
(GAVol @ Apr 4 said:
Leave it just the way it is.
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if they changed it now, what in the world would there be to talk about huh?

I really don't think either one should be changed, simply because they are both so interesting. But if competition was the only thing that mattered, there are better ways to determine champions. but we all know competition is not the sole factor.....$$$$ is the only factor today.
 
#6
#6
Colin Cowherd talked about this the other day and made a good point. The stadiums are full, the TV revenue is flowing and no matter how much people complain it isn't going to make them watch any less.
 
#7
#7
yep...i know i haven't boycotted anything...and the thing about football that i do love is the regular season meaning so much. with any other sport, if you miss a regular season game, so what? And that goes for other teams as well.....i'll watch as many college football games as i can in a given weekend, because more times than not, they are going to mean something down the line......

and i truly would hate to see that devalued. can you imagine the following: ah, so what, we lost to Alabama, we still made the playoffs??? gimmie a break.
 
#8
#8
I completely agree with that point jakez. I love that we play Florida in September and our National Championship hopes ride on the outcome of that game.
 
#9
#9
Exactly . . . In basketball you can start watching in late February and see everything that matters. In football you start watching around Labor Day and hold on for dear life. In effect, it's a 4 month long playoff.
 
#10
#10


The NCAA tournament cannot be beat from the entertainment perspective. There is nothing even close to the drama of it.

If you wanted a truer picture of who is the "best" team overall it would probably make sense to take the top 16 and have them engage in multiple game playoffs, like the NBA. The problem of course is picking the 16 and the bias arguments come into play on that.

Witness George Mason. Now, they may not have truly been one of the top four teams around, but hard to see how you say they are out of the top 16 and in a playoff system they surely get NO votes at all to get in it.

All in all I guess you have to go with what you've got. And even if the NCAA tournament is just a snapshot of the life of a team, it is still that much better than a pure poll system with all of its imperfections of subjectivity.
 
#11
#11
Even in only a best of 3 playoff series, do you believe that George Mason beats Michigan State? North Carolina? UConn?
 
#12
#12
(therealUT @ Apr 4 said:
Even in only a best of 3 playoff series, do you believe that George Mason beats Michigan State? North Carolina? UConn?
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The first two, yes, I do. The third, probably not.
 
#14
#14
A Division 1 football tournament would be a real conflict with the bowl system especially for the games outside the BCS. While don't expect anybody to agree with me, here's what I'd like to see:... Finish up the BCS games over New Years, have the final polls, then the weekend the NFL Conference championships are decided on Sunday, play a National Championship game on the Saturday before between #1 and #2 of the final poll. Of course, it would be expecting too much for all 3 polls to come up with the same #1 and #2 so here we go again.

No opinion on the NCAA basketball tournament. It's fun to watch, especially if you're prone to root for the underdogs.
 
#15
#15
I think the NCAA tourney is about as good a method as they can reasonably come up with. Not much room for improvement.

I don't like the BCS. I'd rather see a hybrid of the old system where other bowl games meant something. Scrap the BCS and go back to Rosebowl, Sugarbowl, Fiestabowl, etc. just don't let the bowls pick teams in mid-November like it was going. We still see split championships with the BCS - why not go back to the system where the other bowls actually meant something - too much hype on the MNC BCS game.
 
#16
#16
(volinbham @ Apr 12 said:
I think the NCAA tourney is about as good a method as they can reasonably come up with. Not much room for improvement.

I don't like the BCS. I'd rather see a hybrid of the old system where other bowl games meant something. Scrap the BCS and go back to Rosebowl, Sugarbowl, Fiestabowl, etc. just don't let the bowls pick teams in mid-November like it was going. We still see split championships with the BCS - why not go back to the system where the other bowls actually meant something - too much hype on the MNC BCS game.
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The old way paired up conference champions in major bowls, and rarely paired the top two teams in a championship style game. Some games meant more, however, rarely did the NC hinge on bowl outcomes.
 
#17
#17
In 2 of the last 3 years, the BCS Champ game left out a team that deserved a shot (USC and Auburn).

My point is that the BCS game is not really an NC game - it just looks like one sometimes. Since it's really not decided on the field via a playoff system, the old way where there might be 2 or 3 that lay claim is as legit to me (and more interesting) plus at least some of the other bowls matter. :twocents:
 
#19
#19
(NCGatorBait @ Apr 12 said:
I'll take March Madness over the BCS crap anyday..much more excitement. PLAYOFFS!! :devilsmoke:
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I agree, that for 3 weekends in the spring, college basketball is more exciting than college football. However, because of the current system, college football is very exciting not just twelve weekends in the fall, it is exciting all year round.
 
#20
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(therealUT @ Apr 12 said:
I agree, that for 3 weekends in the spring, college basketball is more exciting than college football. However, because of the current system, college football is very exciting not just twelve weekends in the fall, it is exciting all year round.
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yeah I'll be real excited when UF plays western carolina this yr :whistling:
 
#21
#21
(NCGatorBait @ Apr 12 said:
yeah I'll be real excited when UF plays western carolina this yr :whistling:
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How many "meaningful" games did Florida win during the regular season this year??? And, yet, they still won the national championship.
 
#22
#22
(therealUT @ Apr 12 said:
How many "meaningful" games did Florida win during the regular season this year??? And, yet, they still won the national championship.
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enough to make the tourney and have a chance like the other 65 teams to bring home the crown. Lose one game in football and 99% of the teams are out of contention.
 
#23
#23
Exactly my point, which is why the regular season in football is leaps and bounds more exciting than basketball. I would much rather have 12 weeks upon which the championship hinges on than 3...just me.
 
#24
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(therealUT @ Apr 12 said:
Exactly my point, which is why the regular season in football is leaps and bounds more exciting than basketball. I would much rather have 12 weeks upon which the championship hinges on than 3...just me.
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It is an interesting temporal difference The football BCS asks the question, "Who is the best team this year?" The NCAA basketball tournament asks "Who is playing the best basketball in March?" Don't get me wrong, I mean, in basketball we have all agreed to decide the national champion using the tournament and I am proud of Florida for its accomplishment, trust me. But in football it is more wholistic an approach, I would have to concur. Doesn't mean one is right or the other wrong, just the way it is.

 
#25
#25
(volinbham @ Apr 12 said:
In 2 of the last 3 years, the BCS Champ game left out a team that deserved a shot (USC and Auburn).

My point is that the BCS game is not really an NC game - it just looks like one sometimes. Since it's really not decided on the field via a playoff system, the old way where there might be 2 or 3 that lay claim is as legit to me (and more interesting) plus at least some of the other bowls matter. :twocents:
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that's the one big thing about the BCS i don't like....if you aren't in the BCS, then who cares? that is sad.


But the one big positive about the BCS, you do get games between 1 and 2 that would have never happened in the old system. Miami v Ohio St and USC v TX would have never happened had there been no BCS....Nor would USC v Oklahoma or LSU v Oklahoma. From that standpoint, it is good. at least we're getting to see the teams play....it's not perfect, but it's better than what we had in the old system.
 
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