So this is 100% conspiracy theory with zero evidence at all. But hey, this is a message board. What better place to share this.
After the week ten regional rankings and now the playoff selections, I can’t help but wonder if some of the choices were meant to appease the conference. My thoughts started with Mo West being slated to make the playoffs in week 10 as long as long they beat MOSO. While they were absolutely deserving, it would have been a surprise to me that they would put 3 MIAA teams in and pass on a conference champion with only 1 loss in UIndy. I believe if they had won, that would have happened. Seeing the playoff matchups reaffirmed my thoughts. It makes zero sense that Grand Valley State opens with Ferris State, with their only losses being to an FCS team and Grand Valley. The NCAA has said they try to avoid in-conference match ups and Ferris State had a good enough resume to warrant a different match up. UCM and Pitt have way better match ups in round 1. It should have been GV vs. Henderson, and either Pitt or UCM playing either Ferris or UIndy. What they did is baffling. UCM has the best path to the regional finals and we could easily see Pitt vs. UCM again there.
Racy has been one of the more adamant voices for changing the current playoff model and to have the NCAA invest more into championships. If the NCAA has proven anything over time, it’s that they will resist change to the status quo as much as possible. Could the MIAA’s favorable playoff positions be the NCAA trying to give the MIAA better odds at making a deep run to try to quell the push to change the playoff format? Maybe so.
This probably carries zero weight to it, but I can’t help but wonder now seeing how things played out. Should be an exciting playoffs to watch either way.
After the week ten regional rankings and now the playoff selections, I can’t help but wonder if some of the choices were meant to appease the conference. My thoughts started with Mo West being slated to make the playoffs in week 10 as long as long they beat MOSO. While they were absolutely deserving, it would have been a surprise to me that they would put 3 MIAA teams in and pass on a conference champion with only 1 loss in UIndy. I believe if they had won, that would have happened. Seeing the playoff matchups reaffirmed my thoughts. It makes zero sense that Grand Valley State opens with Ferris State, with their only losses being to an FCS team and Grand Valley. The NCAA has said they try to avoid in-conference match ups and Ferris State had a good enough resume to warrant a different match up. UCM and Pitt have way better match ups in round 1. It should have been GV vs. Henderson, and either Pitt or UCM playing either Ferris or UIndy. What they did is baffling. UCM has the best path to the regional finals and we could easily see Pitt vs. UCM again there.
Racy has been one of the more adamant voices for changing the current playoff model and to have the NCAA invest more into championships. If the NCAA has proven anything over time, it’s that they will resist change to the status quo as much as possible. Could the MIAA’s favorable playoff positions be the NCAA trying to give the MIAA better odds at making a deep run to try to quell the push to change the playoff format? Maybe so.
This probably carries zero weight to it, but I can’t help but wonder now seeing how things played out. Should be an exciting playoffs to watch either way.
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