What a Crazy, Mixed-Up Final Four

[TCNC53]

The question I have is: what's the point of the tournament?

Is it to determine who the best team (national champion) of the year is?

Or is it to reward a team that gets hot?

Basketball is a game that suffers a ton of influence from outside factors compared to other sports (officiating variations between games, for example). A team can get hot despite sucking all year. If they win it all, are they really the best team? There's a reason basketball and baseball in other levels have multiple games per round to really draw out who the best team is.

I understand liking chaos and the Cinderella stories and all that, but it's a farce to call the tournament winner the "national champion" of a season.

Hottest team in March wins. Period. Everyone thought Duke was going to win it all because they were on a roll coming into March. We checked that reality then got beat by a hot team. That’s March madness in a nutshell. Hockey and Baseball say the champ is decided by best of seven. Can’t really do that in College B-Ball, so I guess this is what we have to settle for - but it’s not about the best team - it’s about the hottest team for a three week period.

 

[Pennheel]

I disagree,but then again maybe it's just me. None of the teams are double digit loss teams and neither are they terrible.Yeah, for ratings, it might take a dive with the names on the jersey.Then again,we're fans and that shouldn't matter. Last year,you had 4 national championship programs and Bluebloods make it with Carolina and Kansas playing in the national championship game. It will be different this year,and I for one welcome the party.

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

Wonder what it feels like to go to a final four? Sadly we will never know with our coach.

 

[Delmar]

At least I won't be losing any quality time watching these last few games. Maybe cornhole or bowling will be on.

Me either. Guessing this will be the worst ratings of any Final Four ever. No interest whatsoever. Only people interested will be grads of those schools and bettors.

 

[Pennheel]

UCONN is in it so I don't think it's going to do terrible ratings. There's been worse. Of course I'm a basketball fan first and foremost so it's no matter to me one way or the other.... I'll watch anything... I can also understand if you're a fan or alumnus on this message board for Tennessee and don't care either way.

 

[Lawrence Wright]

Wonder what it feels like to go to a final four? Sadly we will never know with our coach.

Feels good man…feels good. Even if it’s been nearly ten years ago.

If UT breaks through and makes the Final Four, you have to put it on your bucket list.

 

[atilla]

I don't care, either positively or negatively about the "best" team rhetoric. To me it is the best and most exciting sporting event in the world, along with the world cup.

 

[Voldog1998]

Wonder what it feels like to go to a final four? Sadly we will never know with our coach.

Second round Rick

 

[Voldog1998]

I got one team right in my final four and that was UCONN

 

[Voldog1998]

Has there ever been a final four with all number one seeds?

 

[Lawrence Wright]

I’m looking forward to Iowa-South Carolina on the women’s side.

Best player vs best team.

 

[NO SIR EEE]

Has there ever been a final four with all number one seeds?

Men's
2008- Kansas, Memphis, UCLA, North Carolina

Women's
1989 Auburn, Louisiana Tech, Maryland, Tennessee
2012 Baylor, UConn, Notre Dame, Stanford
2015 UConn, Maryland, Notre Dame, South Carolina
2018 UConn, Mississippi State, Notre Dame, Louisville

 

[Jax_Vol]

I like Miami and Florida Atlantic to play in the final with Miami winning it all.

Miami is getting their act together across the board; the women's team put NIL funds to good use.

I vote to go ahead and replace Florida w/Miami in SEC.

We can visit South Beach for road games, instead of that urine smelling bowling alley snack bar in gainesville.

 

[Voldog1998]

Miami is getting their act together across the board; the women's team put NIL funds to good use.

I vote to go ahead and replace Florida w/Miami in SEC.

We can visit South Beach for road games, instead of that urine smelling bowling alley snack bar in gainesville.

Miami still stinks in football though

 

[Jax_Vol]

Miami still stinks in football though

So does floriduh.

 

[Voldog1998]

So does floriduh.

True

 

[DiderotsGhost]

It's the most "made for TV" postseason of all the major sports, college or pro.

You can argue that any kind of playoff format isn't the best way to pick a champion. Especially in a sport/league where every team can play every other team (can't do that in any college sport, but could in some professional sports).

I think NBA's best-of-7 works pretty well. Albeit, there aren't 320+ NBA teams, so a lot easier to implement than for the NCAA.

That said, all the pro sports league are diluting their product by adding unnecessary playoff teams. NBA did it with the stupid play-in (is there really a case that the 20th best team in a league of 30 deserves to make a playoff?)

As much as I'm a critic of all these leagues adding more playoff teams, at least the best-of-7 format works pretty well. The NCAA tournament is just chaos. No one in their right mind could argue it selects "the best team". It's a carnival spectacle and it's fun to watch, but outside of possibly UConn, there's not a legit case that any of the Final Four teams are even among the top 5 in the nation.

 

[Lawrence Wright]

I think NBA's best-of-7 works pretty well. Albeit, there aren't 320+ NBA teams, so a lot easier to implement than for the NCAA.

That said, all the pro sports league are diluting their product by adding unnecessary playoff teams. NBA did it with the stupid play-in (is there really a case that the 20th best team in a league of 30 deserves to make a playoff?)

I think the NBA play-in tournament was created to keep teams from tanking, while allowing players and coaches a better chance of getting any applicable bonuses for making the playoffs.

But yeah I agree with you, it’s unnecessary.

 

[05_never_again]

I think NBA's best-of-7 works pretty well. Albeit, there aren't 320+ NBA teams, so a lot easier to implement than for the NCAA.

That said, all the pro sports league are diluting their product by adding unnecessary playoff teams. NBA did it with the stupid play-in (is there really a case that the 20th best team in a league of 30 deserves to make a playoff?)

As much as I'm a critic of all these leagues adding more playoff teams, at least the best-of-7 format works pretty well. The NCAA tournament is just chaos. No one in their right mind could argue it selects "the best team". It's a carnival spectacle and it's fun to watch, but outside of possibly UConn, there's not a legit case that any of the Final Four teams are even among the top 5 in the nation.

I don't really disagree. If NCAAB wanted to shift their postseason more towards "best way to determine a champion" from "made for TV chaos," they'd reduce the number of teams and go best-of-3 from probably the Elite Eight onwards, but they'll never do that because the format they have now is such a hit. The expanded NCAAT is probably the best thing the NCAA ever did, for their own sake.

Any best-of-7 playoff format is good for determining a champ, and I agree that the NBA dilutes their product by allowing so many playoff teams in. It seems like only the top 3 seeds or so in each conference really have a chance of winning it all, and the low seeds are almost always dispatched quickly. However if people watch it then they are going to continue to play those games.

I will say that in the NHL, quite often low seeded teams make playoff runs or even win Cups, so there might be something to allowing the top 8 teams in each conference into their postseason. If you are able to win 4 best-of-7 series, or win 3 out of 4 best-of-7 series to get to the Final, you pretty clearly were among the best teams in the league even if you had a mediocre regular season.

 

[CAVPUT]

At least I won't be losing any quality time watching these last few games. Maybe cornhole or bowling will be on.

I think it's great. You get some teams that defy all odds and get a chance at something usually reserved for the blue bloods of the sport. I'm sick of the same old names always showing up in the final 4. This is....well...refreshing.

 

[LouderVol]

I think it's great. You get some teams that defy all odds and get a chance at something usually reserved for the blue bloods of the sport. I'm sick of the same old names always showing up in the final 4. This is....well...refreshing.

I don't mind it being new schools, or even small schools. especially in basketball. the only thing is NO ONE considers these the best teams in the sport. And its not a "they should be favored to win the tournament" consideration for me, its "they should have been in the discussion at some point this season as one of the best teams" as people have pointed UConn is the only one to get into the conversation. I would be saying the same thing if UT was in it. We clearly weren't the best team during the season, and if we were in the FF over FAU it would be the same situation.

Its really hard for me to look at a 32ish game sample size, and say "nah that doesn't tell you who is the best", and then look at a 6 game sample size and say "yeah this clearly defines the best team".

 

[Pennheel]

I don't mind it being new schools, or even small schools. especially in basketball. the only thing is NO ONE considers these the best teams in the sport. And its not a "they should be favored to win the tournament" consideration for me, its "they should have been in the discussion at some point this season as one of the best teams" as people have pointed UConn is the only one to get into the conversation. I would be saying the same thing if UT was in it. We clearly weren't the best team during the season, and if we were in the FF over FAU it would be the same situation.

Its really hard for me to look at a 32ish game sample size, and say "nah that doesn't tell you who is the best", and then look at a 6 game sample size and say "yeah this clearly defines the best team".

While I love the tournament format as it is and don't ever see it changing, A best of 3 winner would be a better way to decide a champion. However, it's a matter of great coaching and having a game plan each game. Nine times out of ten the best team usually wins. While none of these teams are bad, this is the outlier. Then again,I feel the same way about a 4 team playoff in college football not being the best way of figuring out a national champion. The FCS playoff is much more entertaining. I don't agree with twelve teams which is going to happen, I will enjoy it more when that happens.

 

[Raebo]

On the women’s side, what is the lowest seed to ever win? It seem like the finals are almost always 1 and/or 2 seeds because of the lack of parity. Honestly, the women’s tourney is boring until elite 8 or even final 4.
On the men’s side, it is extremely tough for a lower seed to win 6 straight games against higher seeded teams so a big part of the intrigue is watching to see if they can do it. Even the 1st round is interesting to see which top team is going fold. This year I think the top seeds were weak compared to other years. If any of the final 4 teams played Purdue this past month, I wouldn’t be surprised if they beat Purdue 5 times or more.
If I could, I would limit the # of teams to 32. No more than 4 or 5 teams from any conference. And get rid of all these conference tournaments.

 

[Dadof2Vols]

I am good with the 12 team.

With unbalanced conference schedules, the SEC didn’t get the best two teams in SEC football CG.

OH well.

 

[tbwhhs]

On the women’s side, what is the lowest seed to ever win? It seem like the finals are almost always 1 and/or 2 seeds because of the lack of parity. Honestly, the women’s tourney is boring until elite 8 or even final 4.
On the men’s side, it is extremely tough for a lower seed to win 6 straight games against higher seeded teams so a big part of the intrigue is watching to see if they can do it. Even the 1st round is interesting to see which top team is going fold. This year I think the top seeds were weak compared to other years. If any of the final 4 teams played Purdue this past month, I wouldn’t be surprised if they beat Purdue 5 times or more.
If I could, I would limit the # of teams to 32. No more than 4 or 5 teams from any conference. And get rid of all these conference tournaments.

The lowest seeded womens champions was a 3 twice (1994 UNC, 1997 Lady Vols)