Post by big5explorer on Sept 30, 2013 7:32:47 GMT -5
I've been thinking about this one for a while, and I've come to the conclusion that early season games are much more important to teams and conferences than games at season's end. Many coaches, fans, and analysts seem oblivious to this.
Here's why I think the early season game carries so much weight:
Teams play most, if not all, of their out-of-conference games during the first 1/4 of of the season. During this time the conferences construct nearly all of their résumé and establish their ranking in comparison to other conferences. If a conference like the A10 wins a ton of games early, and pockets quite a few upsets, they'll get 4 or 5 teams into the NCAA. If the A10 gets plastered early, and comes up with few quality wins, they'll get 2 or 3 teams in. Look at the Pac12 last year as another good example. They got only 3 teams into the tourney. And Oregon, the Pac12 champ, got a 12 seed. Last year's Mountain West is another great example. They established their #1 ranked confernce RPI early, and held onto it, despite their teams beating one another up. And they got 5 teams into the Tourney. The ACC, with all their tradition and notoriety, only got 4.
So did the Mountian West really deserve 5 teams? After all, none of them made the sweet 16. I'll argue that question is moot. It doesn't matter. Their conference teams won early and often against non-confernce teams and had trumped the ACC on Selection Sunday. They got 5 chances to win the National Championship. Because of how they did as a conference in the first 10 games of the year.
Here's why I think the early season game carries so much weight:
Teams play most, if not all, of their out-of-conference games during the first 1/4 of of the season. During this time the conferences construct nearly all of their résumé and establish their ranking in comparison to other conferences. If a conference like the A10 wins a ton of games early, and pockets quite a few upsets, they'll get 4 or 5 teams into the NCAA. If the A10 gets plastered early, and comes up with few quality wins, they'll get 2 or 3 teams in. Look at the Pac12 last year as another good example. They got only 3 teams into the tourney. And Oregon, the Pac12 champ, got a 12 seed. Last year's Mountain West is another great example. They established their #1 ranked confernce RPI early, and held onto it, despite their teams beating one another up. And they got 5 teams into the Tourney. The ACC, with all their tradition and notoriety, only got 4.
So did the Mountian West really deserve 5 teams? After all, none of them made the sweet 16. I'll argue that question is moot. It doesn't matter. Their conference teams won early and often against non-confernce teams and had trumped the ACC on Selection Sunday. They got 5 chances to win the National Championship. Because of how they did as a conference in the first 10 games of the year.
