FanPost

How I Would Improve Championship Week/Selection Sunday

Hello, college basketball fans!

We're in the middle of Championship Week and Selection Sunday will be here before you know it. While this week is exciting for us fans there are things I'd like to see happen to make things better.

* Move bracket show to later Sunday night

Currently the show starts at 5:30pm ET, shortly after the Big Ten final. It gives very little time for bracketologists to put together their final brackets and the Selection Committee limited time as well. Also I believe the Big Ten often gets screwed because the final ends too late and they can't change their bracket in time. Last year Michigan State should've been a #1 seed but was denied. If it remains on CBS, the ideal time would be 9pm ET/6pm PT or 10pm ET/7pm PT for one hour. If the conference finals finishes at 6pm there would be 3-4 hours to finalize the bracket.

* Change format for bracket show

Last year the four #1 seeds were announced at the beginning of the show. I am not a fan of that. In previous years, they announce the overall #1 seed and unveil their regional bracket, then the second overall #1 seed and their bracket, and so on. I liked that format better since the last #1 is a mystery until the last regional is revealed. In my latest bracket, the West would be last and fans wouldn't be sure if Gonzaga or Oregon is the #1 seed. I'd return to that format. I also would like the First Four games revealed last. That way the last four at large teams have to wait until the end of the bracket to find out. It adds to the suspense.

* More Sunday conference finals

A long time ago the Big East final aired on Sunday. Until recently the ACC final was also on Sunday. If the finals are on Sunday then the semifinals are Saturday which gives more weekend games to watch. I'd move the ACC and Big East finals to Sunday to go along with the Big 10, SEC, and AAC, keeping the Big 12 and Pac-12 on Saturday.

* Move WCC and MVC finals to Championship Week Saturday

I don't like the MVC final ending a week before Selection Sunday. That means any at large candidates are forgotten by Sunday while the major conferences play later in the week and are fresher in the Selection Committee's minds. The WCC final in my opinion is also too early. The MVC and WCC are at least at the top strong conferences and deserve later finals. Let the early finals be reserved for real mid majors and low majors.

* Make 14/15 team conference tournament brackets "pure" brackets.

The normal 14 team format for the Big Ten and SEC are seeds 11-14 playing in the 1st round, seeds 5-10 and the 1st round winners playing in the 2nd round, and seeds 1-4 and the 2nd round winners in the QF's. So some teams only need to win three games to win the championship while others need to win five games. I'd rather make it more even. So in a 14 team format, only the top 2 get byes while the rest play in the round of 16. This way the most number of games any team has to win is four (at least until a conference expands beyond 16). In a 15 team format (ACC), only the #1 seed gets a bye. To reward the higher seeds, I would have them play the first day so the winners get a day off before the quarterfinals.

Using this year's ACC seeds, the matchups would be:

Wednesday: #2 Florida State vs. #15 Boston College, #3 Notre Dame vs. #14 Pittsburgh, #4 Louisville vs. #13 NC State

Thursday: #5 Duke vs. #12 Clemson, #6 Virginia vs. #11 Georgia Tech, #7 Virginia Tech vs. #10 Wake Forest, #8 Syracuse vs. #9 Miami

#1 North Carolina would get a bye to the quarterfinals (Friday). The 2-4 seeds (or the teams that upset them) get a day off on Thursday while their QF opponents will have to play back to back days. The 2-4 seeds will still have to win 4 games but it's 4 in 5 days while the 5-12 seeds would have to win 4 in 4 days. In the Big Ten, the top two seeds would get byes and there would be only two 1st round games on the first day. The formats for conferences with 10, 11, or 12 teams wouldn't change.

* Set tournament schedules putting more popular teams/games in prime time.

On Thursday afternoon, North Carolina and Villanova play the first game of the day while Kentucky gets the first game on Friday afternoon. Kansas plays the second game on Thursday afternoon. In addition, Duke and Louisville, one of the biggest QF games in a conference tournament is also in the afternoon. This is because the bracket format in most conferences have the #1 seed play in the afternoon and the game times are determined before the seeds are determined. Meanwhile In the NCAA, the schedules are set after the brackets are determined.

I'd have the game times determined after the matchups are determined although for the 2nd day of the 1st round and the QF's teams on the same side of the bracket all play in either the afternoon session or the night session.

For this year's ACC, the marquee teams are North Carolina and Duke so they and the top half of the bracket get night games on Thursday and Friday as well as the later afternoon game on Saturday while the bottom half gets the afternoon games on Thursday and Friday and the early afternoon SF on Saturday. It works well this year but if the Tar Heels and Blue Devils are on opposite halves of the bracket one of them would still have to play in the afternoon session.

Using my format,

Wednesday games: #2 Florida State vs. #15 Boston College, #3 Notre Dame vs. #14 Pittsburgh, #4 Louisville vs. #13 NC State

Thursday: Afternoon Session: #6 Virginia vs. #11 Georgia Tech, #7 Virginia Tech vs. #10 Wake Forest, Night Session: #5 Duke vs. #12 Clemson, #8 Syracuse vs. #9 Miami

Friday: Afternoon Session: FSU/BC vs. VaT/WF, ND/Pitt vs. Va/GaT, Night Session: UNC vs. Syr/Mia, Lville/NCSt vs. Duke/Clem

Saturday: Bottom half bracket first, top half bracket second.

In other conferences, I'd have Villanova, Kansas, Kentucky, and Arizona-UCLA in night sessions. Right now only Arizona-UCLA are the only ones in prime time.

So these are my suggestions to make Championship Week more enjoyable.

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