The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that the NCAA should do the following:
1. Suspend conference tournaments.
2. Invite 256 teams -- virtually every NCAA Division 1 team that played at all this year, given that some conferences like the Ivy League completely shut down.
3. Seed all the teams via their own rankings , and play two rounds the weekend usually set aside for conference tournaments. That leaves you with 64 surviving teams.
4. On Selection Sunday reseed those 64 teams in a big televised event, just like always.
5. Proceed with their planned tournament.
You could play the first two rounds on the home court of the better seeded team -- a bonus for doing well in the regular season. And -- in a year when schedules were crashed, some teams lost easy wins, others dodged tough games and so on, everyone would have at least a chance to compete for the title, which is the justification for mid-major conference tournaments.
By canceling conference tournaments you'd greatly reduce the risk of the virus spreading and knocking teams out late in the eyar because of an infected player.
And it could be great TV -- all the mid-majors who never get a shot would finally have it. There'd be tons of seeming upsets in the first two rounds as no-name schools took out the tenth-best, and overrated ACC school.
This is the best available model -- for this broken year.
1. Suspend conference tournaments.
2. Invite 256 teams -- virtually every NCAA Division 1 team that played at all this year, given that some conferences like the Ivy League completely shut down.
3. Seed all the teams via their own rankings , and play two rounds the weekend usually set aside for conference tournaments. That leaves you with 64 surviving teams.
4. On Selection Sunday reseed those 64 teams in a big televised event, just like always.
5. Proceed with their planned tournament.
You could play the first two rounds on the home court of the better seeded team -- a bonus for doing well in the regular season. And -- in a year when schedules were crashed, some teams lost easy wins, others dodged tough games and so on, everyone would have at least a chance to compete for the title, which is the justification for mid-major conference tournaments.
By canceling conference tournaments you'd greatly reduce the risk of the virus spreading and knocking teams out late in the eyar because of an infected player.
And it could be great TV -- all the mid-majors who never get a shot would finally have it. There'd be tons of seeming upsets in the first two rounds as no-name schools took out the tenth-best, and overrated ACC school.
This is the best available model -- for this broken year.