An interesting nugget... the S-Curve is finally here!

[scottdude8]

Talking about the pandemic tournament on game day, an interesting nugget of info: the tourney this year will be based on a pure S-curve! Makes sense since geographic priority doesn’t matter with everything in Indianapolis, but very rarely does the NCAA do things that make sense, haha.

This could end up being an interesting case study for whether a true S curve, rather than the convoluted seeding metrics currently used, might make for a more competitively balanced tourney. And for those people on the board have been crying out for an S-curve for years, enjoy!

Other interesting changes: the tourney will be condensed so that it isn’t always Thursday-Sunday games... looks like the entire tourney is going to be in three weeks as opposed to four. So less rest could perhaps help deeper teams and/or make it harder to prepare for unexpected or unusual matchups.

Like everything this year, will be interesting to see how these changes affect everything.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Talking about the pandemic tournament on game day, an interesting nugget of info: the tourney this year will be based on a pure S-curve! Makes sense since geographic priority doesn’t matter with everything in Indianapolis, but very rarely does the NCAA do things that make sense, haha.

This could end up being an interesting case study for whether a true S curve, rather than the convoluted seeding metrics currently used, might make for a more competitively balanced tourney. And for those people on the board have been crying out for an S-curve for years, enjoy!

Other interesting changes: the tourney will be condensed so that it isn’t always Thursday-Sunday games... looks like the entire tourney is going to be in three weeks as opposed to four. So less rest could perhaps help deeper teams and/or make it harder to prepare for unexpected or unusual matchups.

Like everything this year, will be interesting to see how these changes affect everything.

Whoa. The crunch of games is a huge difference. Where do you see this information? Would love to read more.

[pfrduke]

See discussion here, for example:

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/2021-ncaa-tournament-some-march-madness-dates-shift-as-full-schedule-and-locations-are-set/

[CDu]

Minor quibble, but for the “top-60”, the tournament isn’t actually shorter in any meaningful way. The regular tournament was always 3 weeks. The play-in games were all that got scrunched. For the rest of the tournament, it is shorter by 1 day (first round starting Fri/Sat instead of Thursday/Fri, Final Four still finishing Sat/Mon). They just took away the rest for the play-in games by pushing them back a couple of days since there is no travel.

[SavDukeGrad]

I wish we could go back and play the 2013 tournament with a true S curve. :mad:

And while we’re at it, re-seed the 2019 tournament.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Minor quibble, but for the “top-60”, the tournament isn’t actually shorter in any meaningful way. The regular tournament was always 3 weeks. The play-in games were all that got scrunched. For the rest of the tournament, it is shorter by 1 day (first round starting Fri/Sat instead of Thursday/Fri, Final Four still finishing Sat/Mon). They just took away the rest for the play-in games by pushing them back a couple of days since there is no travel.

As a team that very conceivably could be in the First Four, this would mean three games in five days, coming shortly after a run in the ACC tournament.

[SavDukeGrad]

Interesting discussion this morning on Game Day. Will some top tier teams, favorites to win the national championship, opt out of their conference tournaments? Would they want to risk COVID exposure in their conference tournament a week before, and risk missing the NCAA tournament? Gonzaga? Baylor? Others? I could actually see this happening.

Would there be any ACC teams that might opt out? Right now, based on their recent performances, Virginia is the only ACC team in this tier imo. Others may separate themselves in the next month and a half. Would any of these teams opt out of the ACC tournament? This will definitely add a new wrinkle to the tournament.

[scottdude8]

Minor quibble, but for the “top-60”, the tournament isn’t actually shorter in any meaningful way. The regular tournament was always 3 weeks. The play-in games were all that got scrunched. For the rest of the tournament, it is shorter by 1 day (first round starting Fri/Sat instead of Thursday/Fri, Final Four still finishing Sat/Mon). They just took away the rest for the play-in games by pushing them back a couple of days since there is no travel.

Thanks for clarifying there, my bad!

[Nugget]

Also, it’s still not quite going to be a true S-curve, as they will continue to apply bracketing principles like not having teams from the same conference in the top 4 in a given region and avoiding conference rematches prior to the Elite 8 depending on how many times teams played in the regular season. With as many high seeds as the Big 12 will get and the likely cluster of Big 10 teams around the 2-6 seed lines, I’d expect to see some deviations from a true S-curve.

[awhom111]

Also, it’s still not quite going to be a true S-curve, as they will continue to apply bracketing principles like not having teams from the same conference in the top 4 in a given region and avoiding conference rematches prior to the Elite 8 depending on how many times teams played in the regular season. With as many high seeds as the Big 12 will get and the likely cluster of Big 10 teams around the 2-6 seed lines, I’d expect to see some deviations from a true S-curve.

The thread title seems a little mean. I think that our Nugget is already plenty interesting.

[johnb]

The thread title seems a little mean. I think that our Nugget is already plenty interesting.

Ha.

It’s odd for Duke to be on the early bubble. After the Pitt game, it occurred to me that this could be the 2nd time that Capel contributed to our not making the tournament.

[gofurman]

Ha.

It’s odd for Duke to be on the early bubble. After the Pitt game, it occurred to me that this could be the 2nd time that Capel contributed to our not making the tournament.

Is 1995 the last time Duke didn’t make the NCAA ?

[Kedsy]

Is 1995 the last time Duke didn’t make the NCAA ?

Yes. (Unless you count 2020, when nobody made the NCAAT.)

[gofurman]

Yes. (Unless you count 2020, when nobody made the NCAAT.)

Thanks. We made it in 2020. Unc did not

[arnie]

Thanks. We made it in 2020. Unc did not
I can assure you local Cheats fans and some commentators will say Duke missed the NCAA tourney two consecutive years (if we fail to make it this year).

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Given what happened when we cancelled two games, I suspect the media vultures to circle if K announces we aren't entertaining NCAA bids this year due to COVID.