NCAA Tournament Time: Choosing a Real Champion

Mike Merril analyzes the NCAA college basketball tournament and the NCAA football bowl system. Is it really the true way to chose the ultimate champion?

by Mike Merrill (Contributor)

7

482 reads

Sports

March 13, 2008

NCAA, College Basketball

It's NCAA tournament time so get your brackets ready. March is a month of beauty for NCAA basketball, when they show their football counterparts how to choose a true champion.

First of all, who wants to see a battle between the calculated two best teams in the country when you could see a finale between any two of the 65 teams voted on subjectively by a committee?

I can't wait for that Bucknell/Drake championship.

Who wants to argue about 10 BCS teams when you can argue about 65 tournament teams? Of course the fourth place team in the ACC deserves a shot at the title! My god, at least they weren't fifth.

Who wants to see a match-up between equally talented teams when I can see Kansas beat down American University repeatedly with an infield rake? Oh how I love those 120-67 games that help us determine a true champion.

Why would you want a regular season that means anything when you could just have half the teams enter a big free-for-all at the end of the year to determine a champion?

I propose a 256 team championship tournament. Maybe we could bring in the NIT teams, Division II, Division III, Canada, Europe, High Schools and the Globetrotters for one big battle royal!

Your office bracket would take up the entire white board, it would be epic.

I love the idea of a team like Wofford coming into the tournament at 14-16 after winning their conference tournament, shooting 75% from 3-point land for six games and being crowned the best team in the nation. If you can't have a champion who just happens to be the hottest mediocre team at the time, you're system is as flawed as Eliot Spitzer's marriage (too soon?).

In case you're wondering, I'm being a bit facetious. I do like the NCAA Basketball tournament. I just think no system is without its flaws.

Sports

482 views

Share:

  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Print

comments (7) write a comment »

  1. Who would want to see the 2004 13-0 Auburn Tigers football team get a shot at a national championship? The BCS certainly wouldn't.

  2. HAHAHA...Nice article!

    Don't be looking past Drake though!

  3. The best thing about the tournament is not the championship. I cannot even remember who won last year (wait Florida) or two years ago (maybe Florida?!?!?). But I can tell you that when I was 13 I won 120 dollars in my dad's office pool. Then again when I was a sophmore in college I won 300 dollars in a bracket (THANK YOU MELO). I can tell you that the brackets that I did w/ my friends for the last 2 years was won by a cheat!! (NO, I CANNOT PROVE IT, BUT HE DID SOMEHOW) The tournament is the best time of the year because of the brackets, not the champion!!

    1. While I agree with you that the gambling on this stuff is fun, the ultimate goal isn't for you or me to win our office pools. It is to use the best method to find the best champion. The major argument against the BCS is that College Basketball has a much better system, but in College Basketball's system, how often do you actually get the 2 best teams from start to finish playing each other?

    2. Mike, that's the point of the college basketball postseason system. You don't know who the two best teams are until they play it out on the court.

  4. American University has a damn good team this year.

    It isn't going to get blown out by 60 by anyone.

    Maryland may not have had the greatest year ever, but they were still a solid ACC team and American knocked the Terps off at home.

    Just sayin'.

    I'm not entirely sure what the point of your article is other than to criticize the tournament for giving the small schools a shot at glory.

    This is what college sports should be all about.

    1. Anonymous,

      The point of the article is just a "be careful what you wish for" message. Sure, the tournament is great, but maybe the BCS isn't as bad as we think it is. I like giving the small schools a chance, but even a school like George Mason can only hang on for so long against the big boys.

write a new comment


Edit this Article Article History

About the Author Mike Merrill (contributor)

  • 8 articles written
  • 11 comments posted
  • 0 fans

FREE SPORTS TEXT ALERTS

  • Get team scores and news sent to your cell phone during and after each game.
  • We do not charge for these services, but standard messaging rates or other charges apply.
  • Cancel anytime by replying STOP to any message.

Step 1: Choose a team

League:

Step 2: Enter your phone number

( ) -
Standard Messaging Rates or other charges apply. To Opt-out text STOP to 4INFO (44636). For more information text HELP to 4INFO (44636). Contact your carrier for more details.

Want to write for Bleacher Report

We are a community of fans who write about sports. And we're growing.

Learn More and Sign Up »

Headlines from College OTR