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Ohio Basketball Topic
Topic: New MAC Tournament Format Announced
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bigtillyoopsupsideurhead
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Posted: 8/18/2011 2:03 PM
According to Jeremy Guy, the MAC Director of Communication the new format will include the one/two seeds getting byes into the semi finals, 3/4 seeds into the quarter finals. 

http://www.mac-sports.com/News/tabid/969/Article/136246/MAC-Announces-New-Basketball-Tournament-Format.aspx

http://twitter.com/#!/JGuyMAC
Bobcat Love
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Posted: 8/18/2011 2:08 PM
So funny. We are 5 years behind the WCC on this.

They did it to protect the likes of Gonzaga, Saint Marys, and San Diego (at the time) as ranked teams with a risk of being knocked out of the conference tourney early.

We are doing it to protect 17-12 Northern Illinois who surely has losses to Naperville CC and SIU-Carbondale, and us at 18-11 with big wins over Morgan State, Fayetteville State, and Neptune.
bigtillyoopsupsideurhead
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Posted: 8/18/2011 2:21 PM
One good part of this is that the division champs are no longer guaranteed a top 2 seed. Seeding is straight by record 1-12. 
MFRONE
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Posted: 8/18/2011 2:39 PM
bigtillyoopsupsideurhead wrote:expand_more
One good part of this is that the division champs are no longer guaranteed a top 2 seed. Seeding is straight by record 1-12. 

How is that good? Teams don't play a balanced schedule in the MAC. A team from the shouldn't get the benefit of playing a much weaker MAC schedule to get a better seed in the tournament.
The Optimist
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Posted: 8/18/2011 3:08 PM
MFRONE wrote:expand_more
One good part of this is that the division champs are no longer guaranteed a top 2 seed. Seeding is straight by record 1-12. 

How is that good? Teams don't play a balanced schedule in the MAC. A team from the shouldn't get the benefit of playing a much weaker MAC schedule to get a better seed in the tournament.

The MAC West is consistently worse then the MAC East, and it shows in their MAC records...  Even though they get to play each other.  Count me on board for this being a good thing.
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Scott Woods
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Posted: 8/18/2011 4:02 PM
They should have gone the extra step and eliminated the divisions.  I don't understand the need for them in basketball.
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Bobcat Love
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Posted: 8/18/2011 4:20 PM
We copied the WCC 5 years late. At that rate, we'll copy the SEC in 2045 and eliminate divisions.
Jeff McKinney
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Posted: 8/18/2011 4:36 PM
The Horizon also does something like this, though their whole tournament is on campus sites. 

Love...not all conferences need to implement the same ideas at the same time.  Maybe this is the best timing for the MAC. 
giacomo
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Posted: 8/18/2011 4:49 PM
I like what the Horizon does. The highest seed gets the home game through the championship game. It protects your best team.
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Posted: 8/18/2011 4:52 PM
Ah, the Tridents of Neptune.............can't wait.
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shabamon
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Posted: 8/18/2011 5:14 PM
Scott Woods wrote:expand_more
They should have gone the extra step and eliminated the divisions.  I don't understand the need for them in basketball.


Regional proximity? Travel budgets?

At first I thought this was a terrible idea. Why mess with a good thing? The more I think about (and after I actually drew out what the bracket would look like), I'm okay with this. Finishing first or second is a HUGE accomplishment because you only have to win two games in the tournament to win the championship. Finishing third or fourth is still a solid deal since you have to win only three games to win the championship, plus you're playing a team that played the day before, so there might be some slightly tired legs. Finish fifth or lower and you've got a terrible road to win it all. Now you have to win five games in row including four in consecutive days. Yikes.

EDIT: Nevermind on non-conference play. Found what I needed.
Last Edited: 8/18/2011 5:23:21 PM by shabamon
UpSan Bobcat
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Posted: 8/18/2011 5:58 PM
Ultimately, this should be a good thing for Ohio, if we reach the levels we expect (where we will consistently be in the top four). I've always like the set up of other conference tournaments like this. It gives more meaning to the regular season. And as UConn showed in the Big East tournament, it's not impossible to win five straight conference tournament games.
Athens
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Posted: 8/18/2011 7:10 PM
shabamon wrote:expand_more
They should have gone the extra step and eliminated the divisions.  I don't understand the need for them in basketball.


Regional proximity? Travel budgets?

At first I thought this was a terrible idea. Why mess with a good thing? The more I think about (and after I actually drew out what the bracket would look like), I'm okay with this. Finishing first or second is a HUGE accomplishment because you only have to win two games in the tournament to win the championship. Finishing third or fourth is still a solid deal since you have to win only three games to win the championship, plus you're playing a team that played the day before, so there might be some slightly tired legs. Finish fifth or lower and you've got a terrible road to win it all. Now you have to win five games in row including four in consecutive days. Yikes.

EDIT: Nevermind on non-conference play. Found what I needed.


You've caught the 5 games to win the MAC Tourney if you are a 5-12 seed. If you are a 3 or 4 seed it only requires 3 games a huge advantage. Another element I see with this new format is a second round set of games at the Q. Previously, the quarterfinals featured 4 games, two of which were in an afternoon session hard to attend for fans. The new setup is all evening session, 2 games for the second round, quarters, semis and then 1 game for the finals. That would be a nice package of basketball for the hardcore hoops fan figuring that either Akron, Ohio or BG will probably show up in the second round and then from there the top MAC teams on the season. It will be a better way to get the students as 8 schools will make an evening session. Good 5 or 6 seeds could bank on 1st/2nd round wins to help position for CIT/CBI bid. 

http://www.mac-sports.com/Portals/20/NewMACBasketballTournamentFormat.pdf
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Pataskala
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Posted: 8/18/2011 8:35 PM
Scott Woods wrote:expand_more
They should have gone the extra step and eliminated the divisions.  I don't understand the need for them in basketball.


Couldn't agree more, especially since the division champs aren't guaranteed the #2 seed.  What's the point of division champs now?  Plus, with UMass joining the MAC for football, BG is likely to be put in the position of being in the West for football and the East for basketball.  Unless UMass joins the West, which robs them of natural rivals Temps and Buffalo.  Either way, it's a lousy situation and will cause a lot of confusion in geography classes.  Dump the divisions for hoops.
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Athens
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Posted: 8/18/2011 8:56 PM
If they are going to keep the basketball divisions then rename the football divisions MAC Atlantic and MAC Central to avoid confusion with basketball.
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anorris
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Posted: 8/19/2011 1:17 AM
shabamon wrote:expand_more
...(and after I actually drew out what the bracket would look like)...
Glad I'm not the only one who did this.
Taiwan BC
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Posted: 8/20/2011 5:29 AM
    While I agree that this is generally a turn for the better with regards to meaningful MAC play, I am worried about how it specifically relates to our team. Considering our recent past performance and how we have tended to peak at the end of the season, I wonder if Groce will have to change his game plan to move the peak forward.  Or, maybe he just won't care as long as he feels his team is playing the best that it can at the end of the season.
     For me, with this new format, I would rather be a pinch off my "ultimate game" but only have to play two games for the championship instead of 3 or possibly 5 games to win it all. That said, this format gives such an advantage to regular season performance that it will sometimes produce a NCAA bound team that is not the best team in the league at the end of the season.  I guess that's a trade that the MAC head office is willing to make for the sake of a more exciting, meaningful MAC season. 

Alright, does that last bit make sense? 
Brian
     
     
     
     
Bobcatbob
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Posted: 8/22/2011 10:21 AM
Taiwan BC wrote:expand_more
    That said, this format gives such an advantage to regular season performance that it will sometimes produce a NCAA bound team that is not the best team in the league at the end of the season.
     
     


Which, to me, brings us closer to recognizing the lunacy of season ending tournaments altogether.  They do not determine a conference champion in many cases, they merely serve as "play in" opportunities for everyone else.  I don't like 'em no matter how the seeding is determined, as long as the regular season champion's NCAA bid is in jeopardy.  I say this in full knowledge of the factt hat OU would have missed it's two (?) most recent NCAA appearances but for successful tourney runs.  Sorry.
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