Andy Katz of ESPN has figured out the 2 scenarios the NCAA can use for the new 68 team format. This is from [URL=”http://espn.go.com/”]ESPN.com[/URL]
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But let’s face it: There are essentially only two real choices.
The first scenario is to add three more games to the existing opening-round model. That would mean taking the bottom eight automatic qualifiers and having them play for the four No. 16 seeds. The games would either remain in Dayton or be at the site of where the 16-seed would play the No. 1 later in the week.
This model would cause the least disruption in the bracket and would essentially create on Selection Sunday an either/or matchup in each region.
“That’s the obvious one, to seed the teams in a true manner from 1 to 17 and call it a day,” Guerrero said.
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This would definitely make it easier to create the bracket and work it out with the networks to be televised.
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The second major scenario that Shaheen will broach with Slive and his colleagues is to take the last eight teams in the at-large field and square them off against each other in four opening-round games.
But here’s where it gets a bit tricky. The last eight at-large schools are not all equal. So Shaheen said you would have, for example, two teams possibly playing for a 12-seed in the West, maybe two other teams playing for an 11 in the South, perhaps two teams going for a 10 in the Midwest, and two teams vying for a 12 in the East.
The Selection Sunday bracket would have, just like the opening-round game in previous years, alternates on those seed lines. So a 5-seed might have the winner of, say, Mississippi State and Virginia Tech as its 12th-seeded opponent. Shaheen said the prep work for the No. 5 seed would be to prepare for either team, and after the Tuesday or Wednesday opening-round game, the 5 would have two days to prepare for the winner in a first-round game.
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The second theory sounds a lot more exciting and could really jump the excitement even more for the tournament. There are always pros and cons for every idea so it will be interesting to see what they determine.
