BB: NCAA committee makes a good decision

[sdcoug]

To encourage more good teams/program to play more games on the road they're giving more value to beating a top 60 team on the road than beating a top 35 team at home. Hopefully this will help programs like SDSU - those considered quality non-P6 - to get more home games against other top 50-75 ish teams. 

They'll also move away from RPI in a couple years. 

Highlights:
- Next year, teams aiming for the NCAA tournament will be evaluated according to quality home wins (top 30 in the RPI), neutral site wins (top 50) and road wins (top 75). The tiers expand from there with the same criteria.
- "The emphasis of performing well on the road is important, as was the need for teams not to be penalized as much for road losses. Beating elite competition, regardless of the game location, will still be rewarded, but the committee wanted the team sheets to reflect that a road game against a team ranked 60th is mathematically more difficult and of higher quality than a home game versus a team ranked 35th. We feel this change accomplishes that."
- The move also signals an ongoing move away from the RPI, largely a raw strength-of-schedule metric that values quality wins and minimizes the impact of location, as a significant factor in the committee's decisions. Per the NCAA release, the committee expects to employ a new composite metric by the 2018-19 season after meeting with various experts in recent months.
- This adjustment could encourage a shift toward more high-profile road games for contenders and perhaps the restart of true home-and-home series that coaches have squashed in recent years due to fears they'll damage their resumes.

Hopefully this will at least give non-P6 teams a fighting chance for more home games, leading to more potential wins & ideally get away from the fact that nearly all at-large berths are now going to P6 programs. 

It's about time. It's a no brainer that losing to a top 30 team on the road doesn't hurt you, but they've needed to encourage good teams to play more on the road which isn't happening. Really hurts the MWC, since most of their games against good teams are played on the road. 

Road wins more valuable

[mactec]

Why are they still even using RPI?

I like the move, but they should at least be using some metric that uses Margin of Victory/Tempo. We've had better metrics than RPI for decades. Kenpom, Sagarin, and even ESPN's BPI are 100x better than RPI.

[ab]

No matter what the NCAA does, some deserving teams will not make the Big Dance. That's just the way it is.

[therealoracle]

Jul 14, 2017 11:33:21 GMT -8 ab said:

No matter what the NCAA does, some deserving teams will not make the Big Dance. That's just the way it is.

SDSU two years ago?

TRO

[sdcoug]

Jul 14, 2017 11:33:21 GMT -8 ab said:

No matter what the NCAA does, some deserving teams will not make the Big Dance. That's just the way it is.

True, but right now the non-deserving teams tend to all be non-P6. Something needs to be done to curb the tide. Used to be at least 1/3rd of at-large teams were non-P6; now it's less than 15% (4-5). 

A 7th place P6 team who only played non-P6 teams at home during non-conference shouldn't be rewarded for beating them. 

[aardvark]

P6

Jul 14, 2017 10:05:50 GMT -8 sdcoug said:

To encourage more good teams/program to play more games on the road they're giving more value to beating a top 60 team on the road than beating a top 35 team at home. Hopefully this will help programs like SDSU - those considered quality non-P6 - to get more home games against other top 50-75 ish teams. 

They'll also move away from RPI in a couple years. 

Highlights:
- Next year, teams aiming for the NCAA tournament will be evaluated according to quality home wins (top 30 in the RPI), neutral site wins (top 50) and road wins (top 75). The tiers expand from there with the same criteria.
- "The emphasis of performing well on the road is important, as was the need for teams not to be penalized as much for road losses. Beating elite competition, regardless of the game location, will still be rewarded, but the committee wanted the team sheets to reflect that a road game against a team ranked 60th is mathematically more difficult and of higher quality than a home game versus a team ranked 35th. We feel this change accomplishes that."
- The move also signals an ongoing move away from the RPI, largely a raw strength-of-schedule metric that values quality wins and minimizes the impact of location, as a significant factor in the committee's decisions. Per the NCAA release, the committee expects to employ a new composite metric by the 2018-19 season after meeting with various experts in recent months.
- This adjustment could encourage a shift toward more high-profile road games for contenders and perhaps the restart of true home-and-home series that coaches have squashed in recent years due to fears they'll damage their resumes.

Hopefully this will at least give non-P6 teams a fighting chance for more home games, leading to more potential wins & ideally get away from the fact that nearly all at-large berths are now going to P6 programs. 

It's about time. It's a no brainer that losing to a top 30 team on the road doesn't hurt you, but they've needed to encourage good teams to play more on the road which isn't happening. Really hurts the MWC, since most of their games against good teams are played on the road. 

Road wins more valuable

Not trying to start anything here, but why would a good P6 program want to go play at a good non-P6 school? It would seem that the only team with something to lose would be that good P6 school.

[sdcoug]

Jul 14, 2017 13:46:32 GMT -8 aardvark said:

P6

Jul 14, 2017 10:05:50 GMT -8 sdcoug said:

To encourage more good teams/program to play more games on the road they're giving more value to beating a top 60 team on the road than beating a top 35 team at home. Hopefully this will help programs like SDSU - those considered quality non-P6 - to get more home games against other top 50-75 ish teams. 

They'll also move away from RPI in a couple years. 

Highlights:
- Next year, teams aiming for the NCAA tournament will be evaluated according to quality home wins (top 30 in the RPI), neutral site wins (top 50) and road wins (top 75). The tiers expand from there with the same criteria.
- "The emphasis of performing well on the road is important, as was the need for teams not to be penalized as much for road losses. Beating elite competition, regardless of the game location, will still be rewarded, but the committee wanted the team sheets to reflect that a road game against a team ranked 60th is mathematically more difficult and of higher quality than a home game versus a team ranked 35th. We feel this change accomplishes that."
- The move also signals an ongoing move away from the RPI, largely a raw strength-of-schedule metric that values quality wins and minimizes the impact of location, as a significant factor in the committee's decisions. Per the NCAA release, the committee expects to employ a new composite metric by the 2018-19 season after meeting with various experts in recent months.
- This adjustment could encourage a shift toward more high-profile road games for contenders and perhaps the restart of true home-and-home series that coaches have squashed in recent years due to fears they'll damage their resumes.

Hopefully this will at least give non-P6 teams a fighting chance for more home games, leading to more potential wins & ideally get away from the fact that nearly all at-large berths are now going to P6 programs. 

It's about time. It's a no brainer that losing to a top 30 team on the road doesn't hurt you, but they've needed to encourage good teams to play more on the road which isn't happening. Really hurts the MWC, since most of their games against good teams are played on the road. 

Road wins more valuable

Not trying to start anything here, but why would a good P6 program want to go play at a good non-P6 school? It would seem that the only team with something to lose would be that good P6 school.

That's the whole point & the reason behind the change. it's that mindset that has decent P6's only playing their tougher games at home during OC.  The committee wants to add value to winning on the road among the better programs, stating that beating a #75 team at home isn't going to help you but beating them at their place will. 

A team that has 5 home wins against #50-100 ranked teams isn't going to be looked as favorably as a team that has 3 home & 2 road wins against those same types of teams. In other words, they're going to start penalizing teams that only play tough games at home. 

The flipside is they're not going to penalize teams for losing on the road as much, including those good P6's. 

You still wouldn't go on the road to play a 200-ish team in theory, but the committee has to realize that beating a top 75 team at home is nothing like beating them on the road. 

[standiego]

The NCAA is finally putting it down in writing what they have been saying lately for getting selected for an at large bid for MM . They take a good look at the schedule a team plays - and the value of quality wins especially on the road or neutral court . Also see RPI rating dropping. Some MW schools have been doing this, including SDSU . Knowing the importance of the OOC . Believe MW presidents also tried to encourage this .

P6 schools do play numerous tough road games during their conference season , so do not expect that they are going to rush out and schedule games AT the MW mountain schools . Not playing that many more quality teams but difficult places to get to and play in altitude . Maybe some of the West schools in MW may get a few games . But P6 schools will be selective .

[aztecfan1]

I had to read most of this to understand that it's about basketball to know I didn't really care. Come on Coug!!! 😎

[azteccc]

I don't have the time at the moment to look at this in depth/make a post about my reasoning, but my initial thought is that this isn't really a positive for non-P5. It may not be a negative, either, but color me skeptical.