Central Regional Talk

[Alfred33]

The only problem I see with that would be the attendance would be abysmal without a host team or a dog in the fight. Division 1 draws no matter who is playing because it's March Madness and people are interested, but early round games in D2... I don't see it. Maybe there isn't that much value in that to anyone... I don't know. Outside of the host team's sessions, the attendance is hit or miss anyway, I guess.

[#WolvesNation]

The GAC plays a 22-game conference schedule, two games vs each of the other eleven.

Thank you. In the NSIC we play half the conference twice (14 games) and the other half of the conference once (8 games) for a 22 game schedule as well.

So in the case where they're playing everyone twice in the GAC, it would be an advantage to the GAC schools over the NSIC IF the NSIC school plays the bottom half of the conference more times than the top of the conference (assuming wins against both opponents) like Northern did this year. However, it would also appear to be an advantage to an NSIC school if they played and beat more teams from the top half of the conference in comparison to the GAC where they play everyone twice, no matter what.

[MisterWizard]

[GrifFan]

So how do you fix it? Easy to make a statement without making a pitch to make it better.

That's the rub. If I'm counting right there are 23 conferences - there's no way to divide that into eight regions evenly. Plus the SC region with just two conferences has two of the largest in it - there's no combination that's going to be much better.

I know some will make the argument against regionalization, which is valid, but I'm not convinced there's any collection of people that could put together a "best 64" that looks much better than the current model.

[Randy]

They used to have the region alignment vary by sport to try to equalize things but somewhere along the line it was decided that the regions should be the same for all sports except football.

[Thepeman]

So how do you fix it? Easy to make a statement without making a pitch to make it better.

[schnautza]

Not exactly the takeaway I was looking for. My point was that regionalization is pretty dumb if you are trying to get the best 64 teams in the country into the bracket, since many regions are stronger than others and may have up to 12 teams that should be considered top-64, while others may only have 4-5.

[Moorhead123]

Excluding Puerto Rico and reclassifying schools, the numbers are:

South Central: 33 (17+16)
Southeast: 35 (11+12+12)
West: 36 (11+12+13)
East: 37 (9+14+14)
South: 37 (13+13+11)
Midwest: 41 (12+12+16+1, though realistically Oakland City shouldn't be counted with their mostly non-D2 schedule)
Central: 42 (12+14+16)
Atlantic: 43 (11+12+18+2)

In sports that a significant number of members don't sponsor, they actually adjust the regional bracket sizes. For instance, in baseball the West region has a 6-team bracket. Of course, as long as each region gets a spot in the round of 8, the size of the regional bracket doesn't mean that much. Men's soccer went to four regions this year, but when it had eight the Central region had only 9 schools total and a two-team regional bracket for a spot in the national quarterfinals, basically giving those teams a two-round bye.

[Moorhead123]

I'm not sure the number of teams in the region matters as much as the number of conferences and quality teams. In most regions, there are 3 teams. That's 3 auto-bids.
There are a few regions that seem to be stacked every year - Midwest, Central, West. Others seem to be pretty light with a couple dominant teams, like East, Southeast, Atlantic.
Having 3 auto-bids gives 3 lower teams the chance to get in, if they can get hot at the right time. In the Midwest, it seems like there are always 3-4 teams that SHOULD have made it, while an autobid or two pushed somebody out. Doesn't really have anything to do with the number of teams in the region, but more to do with how many top-tier contenders are concentrated in one area. I'm not sure how they'd fix that unless they did away with the regionalization all together and went wit 64 bids at large across the country.

[Inkblot]

Excluding Puerto Rico and reclassifying schools, the numbers are:

South Central: 33 (17+16)
Southeast: 35 (11+12+12)
West: 36 (11+12+13)
East: 37 (9+14+14)
South: 37 (13+13+11)
Midwest: 41 (12+12+16+1, though realistically Oakland City shouldn't be counted with their mostly non-D2 schedule)
Central: 42 (12+14+16)
Atlantic: 43 (11+12+18+2)

In sports that a significant number of members don't sponsor, they actually adjust the regional bracket sizes. For instance, in baseball the West region has a 6-team bracket. Of course, as long as each region gets a spot in the round of 8, the size of the regional bracket doesn't mean that much. Men's soccer went to four regions this year, but when it had eight the Central region had only 9 schools total and a two-team regional bracket for a spot in the national quarterfinals, basically giving those teams a two-round bye.

[Brandon]

They tried to equalize that type of inequity in football.

[Brandon]

Not flagrant and good no call.

Thank you. I will argue about football all day but always defer in basketball.

[Inkblot]

OK- the three Puerto Rico schools are in the South region- Bluefield & Salem International are in the Atlantic, and Oakland City is in the Midwest.

Above post has now been edited to reflect that.

https://web3.ncaa.org/directory/memb...&sportCode=MBB

For all intents and purposes, the Puerto Rico schools don't exist in basketball. They're not eligible for the postseason and don't count as D2 opponents for anyone.

Also, in the South Central, the RMAC has 16 members while the LSC has 18 for men's basketball and 19 total with Texas Woman's (but still only 18 in women's basketball, as Dallas Baptist doesn't sponsor it).

[schnautza]

I'm not sure the number of teams in the region matters as much as the number of conferences and quality teams. In most regions, there are 3 teams. That's 3 auto-bids.
There are a few regions that seem to be stacked every year - Midwest, Central, West. Others seem to be pretty light with a couple dominant teams, like East, Southeast, Atlantic.
Having 3 auto-bids gives 3 lower teams the chance to get in, if they can get hot at the right time. In the Midwest, it seems like there are always 3-4 teams that SHOULD have made it, while an autobid or two pushed somebody out. Doesn't really have anything to do with the number of teams in the region, but more to do with how many top-tier contenders are concentrated in one area. I'm not sure how they'd fix that unless they did away with the regionalization all together and went wit 64 bids at large across the country.

[Devin Albertson]

The other bad part of this seeding (that plays no part in the committees decision) is that Southern and NSU will have the most visiting fans of any of the other teams and are now playing in same Saturday session as NW so good luck with getting a seat or even a ticket to the first round.

Will make for a fun, but chaotic Saturday night.