Big Ten Tourney new format


That will make it virtually impossible for one of the bottom 4 teams to ever win it. The championship would be their 5th game likely against someone playing their 3rd.
 

That will make it virtually impossible for one of the bottom 4 teams to ever win it. The championship would be their 5th game likely against someone playing their 3rd.

And I would have thought it was their poor performing players that led to the bottom 4 finish that would make it nearly impossible to win the B1G Tournament.
 

And I would have thought it was their poor performing players that led to the bottom 4 finish that would make it nearly impossible to win the B1G Tournament.

The bottom line is that it's happened before, but it won't happen again, and it's because of the format.
 



And I would have thought it was their poor performing players that led to the bottom 4 finish that would make it nearly impossible to win the B1G Tournament.

The question is whether a team that already is penalized because they aren't very good (finished in the bottom 4) should also have the disadvantage of playing 2 more games. If it had been my decision (and we're all probably glad it wasn't), I'd have played 12 teams in 6 games on day one and then you'd be at 8.

I wonder if the decision had more to do with 6 games hard to play in just one day.
 

Double byes means they want to have a tourney, but don't want any change in the final seedings in the NCAA
 

The question is whether a team that already is penalized because they aren't very good (finished in the bottom 4) should also have the disadvantage of playing 2 more games. If it had been my decision (and we're all probably glad it wasn't), I'd have played 12 teams in 6 games on day one and then you'd be at 8.

I wonder if the decision had more to do with 6 games hard to play in just one day.

Selection Sunday has had good commentary on this in the past. But I believe his contention has always been the logistical problem of trying to play six games in one day (unless you had multiple venues) is what dictates this format.

Unrelated....I don't really have a problem with the bottom four teams having the most difficulty winning the tournament. It puts a bigger emphasis on the regular season to try to get out of the bottom four.
 

Projected BTT bracket (August)

Wednesday, March 11
#12 Penn State vs. #13 Northwestern
#11 Indiana vs. #14 Rutgers

Thursday, March 12
#8 Nebraska vs. #9 Maryland
#5 Illinois vs. Penn State/Northwestern winner
#7 GOPHERS vs. #10 Purdue
#6 Iowa vs. Indiana/Rutgers winner

Friday, March 13
#1 Wisconsin vs. Nebraska/Maryland winner
#4 Michigan State vs. Illinois/Penn State/Northwestern winner
#2 Ohio State vs. GOPHERS/Purdue winner
#3 Michigan vs. Iowa/Indiana/Rutgers winner
 



Selection Sunday has had good commentary on this in the past. But I believe his contention has always been the logistical problem of trying to play six games in one day (unless you had multiple venues) is what dictates this format.

Unrelated....I don't really have a problem with the bottom four teams having the most difficulty winning the tournament. It puts a bigger emphasis on the regular season to try to get out of the bottom four.

What's interesting is that when we get to 16 teams in the conference, we'll likely have no byes and 4 games to win it. Which will actually be easier than the 14 team format for the bottom seeds and harder for the top seeds.
 

If it ever gets to that (16 teams), there's probably no going back. They'd probably keep it at 5 days. Seeds 9-16 would play Wednesday to get it to 12 teams, then go from there on Thursday. Seeds 1-4 still would get double byes to Friday.
 





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