On contrition and expansion
Note to Kalin Lucas: Really, no need to apologize for bailing on interviews after Sunday's game. Athletes do it all the time, it was more than understandable considering the circumstances -- and honestly, who cares about us anyway?! Under-informed, over-fed.
In all seriousness, Lucas stepped up impressively Monday, apologizing and then taking the blame for the loss. Then Tom Izzo spent a lot of time talking about the loss, Lucas and the LCD stuff that is getting way more attention than any of this team's structural shortcomings.
As is often the case the day after a loss, Izzo downplayed the negatives and had a more hopeful outlook on where this team can still go. On distractions, he said the NBA talk is being overplayed, and that he's really talking about any of the things (preseason hype, injuries, academic, social) that are getting in the way of basketball focus. He doesn't think there are any problems in the locker room, but more closeness is needed. And that will hinge in part on stronger leadership. Lucas and Draymond Green are the guys Izzo said he will lean on to provide it.
Let's stick to range rebounding and cross screens for a while, eh?
Links: A gamer, a notebook and a sickly OSU star who has to be in the final two (along with John Wall) for national POY awards.
Now on to a little project readers Dave Honhart of Cincinnati and Eric Wall of Brighton put together. It's a plan for NCAA Tournament expansion. I'm violently opposed to expanding the tournament, and I hope you are, too. But these guys have some interesting ideas in case Jim Boeheim gets his way. Here goes:
1) Problem: We do not want to see the number of at large bids dramatically increased. No one wants to see the 9th and 10th place Big Ten and ACC teams battling for bids, which is what would happen with 61 at large bids.
Solution: So instead, give each and every conference two automatic bids. They can assign these however they like. We would recommend giving one to the regular season champ and the other to the conference tournament champ. This means there are 62 automatic bids and still 34 at large bids. It also ensures that the smaller conferences get more representation, since this is where all the recent growth in Division 1 has occurred. Since this would now give the power conferences an extra automatic qualifier, they would probably each get one extra team in, but not a dramatic shift that would dilute the pool.
2) Problem: A team could win both the regular season championship and the league tournament championship.
Solution: First of all this should be rewarded. More on that later. But in this case, the league could award the second bid in any way they see fit. We would recommend giving it to the second place finisher in the league’s regular season.
3) Problem: Expanding the field could decrease the importance of the regular season.
Solution: Now that 32 teams would receive byes, give these byes to teams that have achieved something in the regular season. Here's our thought: In order to be eligible for a top-8 seed (and a bye) a team must win either their regular season or tournament championship. If the number-5 team in the nation doesn't do either and reaches the tournament, then too bad . . . the highest seed they are eligible for is a 9-seed. Make them work a little harder since they didn't win anything in the regular season. Obviously there would be more teams eligible for top-8 seeds and byes than there are spots. It would be up to the tournament committee to assign seeds and decide which teams would get the byes.
4) Problems: Seems like there ought to be a reward for a team that wins both the regular season championship and the tournament championship. Also it seems like the committee would never select a small league champ (like for example the Sun Belt winner or Patriot League winner) for one of those precious byes. Also seems like championship week on ESPN could take a hit in excitement if one of the teams in the championship games of small-school conference tourneys has already punched their ticket to the big dance.
Solution: Any team that wins its regular season championship and tournament championship is guaranteed a bye and a seed of no lower than 8. Mathematically it is possible that this could happen in all 31 leagues . . even if it did you'd still have enough spots, with one left over. This also guarantees that teams who have already won the regular season championship would take their league tournament seriously.
5) Problem: The traditional first four days of the tournament (Thurs-Sun) are the four best days of the year. Don't mess with them! The schedule for the Regionals and Final Four are also perfect. Don’t mess with them. Finally, you don't want to make the season start any earlier (overlapping with football) or go any later (overlapping with the Masters and baseball.) You also don't want teams sitting around for a week to play . . . so when do you play these 32 opening round games?
Solution: Play them on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday winners advance to Thursday games. Wednesday winners advance to Friday games. This puts us on the same schedule as always. It just means half the teams have already played and will have to win 3 games in 5 days to reach the sweet 16. With the AAU schedules everyone played during high school days . . no problem. The only real impact is it means people will have to get their brackets in quicker!
So . . there's our solution. What do you think?
Well, I think they make some very good points. Hopefully we'll never have to see this plan in action. You don't mess with something that is (with the exception of the pointless play-in game) perfect! Weigh in, please, and don't hold back. The next two days are furlough days for me, so there will be plenty of time to debate.
