Those Other Tournaments
The NCAA Tournament committee is a tricky bunch. Every season it proves it cares more and more about one thing – selling tickets and enticing television audiences (hence, the pod system, fodder for a whole different column). Like a Madonna – Britney Spears kiss, the NCAA Tournament sometimes feels like manufactured tripe. But in its quest to sell out arenas and garner Nielsen rating points, the committee sometimes stumbles upon a good idea. This year’s brackets, while not spectacular, did contain a few interesting manufactured matchups:
Michigan State v. Gonzaga – A second round matchup that never happened that would have pulled at the heartstrings of Jud Heathcote, former MSU coach and die-hard Gonzaga fan.
Syracuse v. Maryland – A matchup of the last two national champs.
UConn v. DePaul – A second round matchup between Jim Calhoun and his former assistant, Dave Leitao
There is always some discussion if the NCAA purposely puts these teams together, often making coaches face old schools or former assistants. And I can assure you that they definitely do it on purpose. While I think the “tension” of a coaching change is not a good reason to force a matchup (for example, those that thought Illinois should face Kansas this season), I do think there is some merit to getting two teams together that otherwise would never play. And almost all of these involve intra-state rivalries. I believe that every state that has four or more Division-I college basketball teams should have an in-state tournament early in the season.
This tournament should be sponsored by the NCAA (since they are so fond of forcing teams to play each other) and should occur in a semi-neutral large arena. Also, these tournaments should be exempt from the NCAA’s current ridiculous limit on pre-conference tournament games. They can easily make these tournaments exempt because student-athletes should miss minimal class with an in-state tournament, thus eliminating significant travel for most teams.
Each school in the tournament will get appropriated a designated amount of cash received from the gate, the television revenue, etc., and the tickets will be evenly distributed. Of course, there will be a requisite amount of tickets available to the public.
Most large schools complain that they don’t want to play smaller intra-state schools because they have nothing to gain. And they’re right. Larger schools are better off playing a higher-profile opponent in a desirable recruiting area than potentially losing face in a loss to an in-state opponent. With this tournament, however, the large school finally has something to gain. It’ll receive significant media exposure, an opportunity to sell tickets for in-state but off-campus alumni, make some portion of the gate, and lastly quell the political chatter that accompanies intra-state rivalries. Oh, and potentially win a nice shiny trophy and bragging rights. The smaller schools would have to earn a matchup with the large state schools, but still receive significant gate and exposure from the tournament.
I’ve taken the liberty of putting together four such tournaments to further enhance this brilliant proposal (although not entirely original).
Indiana State Tournament: Why not start in the state most associated with hoops? The site would be the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, perhaps the best arena to watch a basketball game in the country. This tourney could potentially pit Purdue vs. Notre Dame, a game played just once in the last 38 years (in this season’s NIT). It also gives upstarts Butler and Valparaiso a chance to gain some measure of respect, as well as allow Purdue and Indiana to meet on a neutral court. Evansville and IPFW miss out after terrible seasons. Here are the matchups:
Indiana vs. Valparaiso
Purdue vs. IUPUI
ND vs. Indiana St.
Butler vs. Ball State
North Carolina State Tournament: This would arguably be the best state tournament of them all. Held in the Charlotte Coliseum., this would pit some of the nation’s best teams against each other. This could include North Carolina vs. Duke for a third time or N.C. State vs. Charlotte.
Duke vs. Davidson
North Carolina vs. UNC-Greensboro
N.C. State vs. UNC-Wilmington
Wake Forest vs. Charlotte
Illinois State Tournament: Finally, DePaul gets its much-desired matchup with Illinois, if it can win a couple of games. UIC and Southern Illinois get a shot at a high-major team, while Bradley can use the trip to recruit Chicago. Eastern Illinois, Western Illinois, Chicago State and Loyola miss the cut. The games would be played at the United Center in Chicago.
Illinois vs. Northern Illinois
DePaul vs. Illinois State
Northwestern vs. Bradley
UIC vs. Southern Illinois
Wisconsin State Tournament: While Marquette and Wisconsin would have to end its yearly battle to make this tournament work, it might well be worth it for both parties. The Golden Eagles would get to play the game every year in its home arena, the Bradley Center, easily the best venue in Wisconsin for this event. The Badgers would be guaranteed a yearly trip to Milwaukee, its largest alumni base and important recruiting ground.
Wisconsin vs. UWGB
Marquette vs. UWM
Of course, there are some problems with the tournaments. Some teams already are scheduled to play each other every year such as Cincinnati and Xavier. I say cancel the yearly game and settle it in the tournament. Some matchups may occur as many as five times in one season (pre-season, twice in conference, once in conference tourney, post-season). I say some already occur four times, what’s five times? Some schools will have a huge advantage based on the locale of the tournament. I say tough – there’s never really a truly neutral site anyway. Perhaps the only problem that concerns me is the fact that this event would lose its appeal after a few years, ala inter-league baseball. But it’s a chance I’m willing to take.
The NCAA should be crafting this as I write, dreaming of an Ohio State vs. Cincinnati final, dreaming of sold-out arenas in numerous states, and dreaming of bad blood turned into good basketball. It’s about time the NCAA did something right outside the month of March.
