Breaking Down Changes in NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection

On Thursday afternoon, the NCAA Selection Committee chair Ron Wellman announced a handful of changes to its bracketing process, effective this season.

No, they didn't get rid of RPI, so yes, you will still have to accept the fact that it is one of the primary criteria evaluated by the committee.

However, the amended rules drastically reduce the restrictions on when teams from the same conference can play each other in the tournament as well as how much the conferences are required to be spaced out across the regions.

On behalf of bracketologists everywhere, this is amazing news.

At first glance, they might not seem like big changes, but let's take a look at what the changes are, how they differ from last season and why it makes the bracketing process much less complicated.

Some Conference Opponents Can Meet Earlier in Tournament

What changed?

If two teams played each other once during the regular season (including conference tournaments), they can meet in the third round.

If two teams played each other twice during the regular season (including conference tournaments), they can meet in the regional semifinals.

If two teams played each other three times during the regular season (including conference tournaments), they can meet in the regional championship.

How is this different from last year?

In the past, teams from the same conference were not allowed to meet until the regional finals regardless of how many times they played during the regular season. The exception to the rule was if nine or more teams were selected from a conference—in which case it would otherwise be mathematically impossible to put all of the teams into the eight sub-regions.

What is the impact?

These rule changes pretty much completely scrap last year's policy, perhaps because of how frustrating it was to seed the Big East this past March.

They sent eight teams to the tournament, which meant they had to be equally distributed across each of the eight sub-regions. If any of the teams needed to be moved, it got...complicated.

For example, if Cincinnati was projecting as a No. 9 seed but suffered a loss necessitating a drop to a No. 10 seed, that means they would have to move to a different sub-region—one which was already inevitably occupied by another Big East team.

That other Big East team would then need to be moved whether they deserved a shift or not. If they weren’t placed into the sub-region that Cincinnati came from, it would then impact a third Big East team.

You can probably imagine how much of a domino effect such a move could have under the old rules.

Now, you could theoretically have up to eight teams from the same conference in the same region. They would never actually do that, but don't be surprised if four or five teams from the ACC go to the East region, or if half of the Big 12's representatives compete for the Midwest's spot in the Final Four.

This not only makes it less complicated to build a “legal” bracket, but also increases the flexibility to try to put higher seeds closer to home by not worrying quite as much about a different bracketing rule.

Conferences Can Be Less Distributed Across the Regions

What changed?

The top four teams from each conference must go into separate regions if all four teams are receiving a No. 4 seed or better.

How is this different from last year?

Previously, the top three teams from each conference were required to be placed in different regions, no matter their seed or how many teams the conference sent to the tournament.

What is the impact?

Last season, the SEC only sent three teams to the tournament—Florida to the South region, Missouri to the Midwest region and Ole Miss to the West region. If they were to send three teams again this season, they could all potentially remain closer to home in the South region, provided they each didn’t play each other three times during the season.

It’s my opinion that they made this rule because of the West region.

No offense to those of you West of the Rockies, but there are only three conferences out there worth much of anything—the Pac 12, the Mountain West and the West Coast. The old rules more or less prohibited those conferences from sending more than one team to the West region and playing closer to home.

Furthermore, because so many of the elite teams would rather play in one of the other three regions, the West region kind of became a dumping ground for the mid-range teams who weren’t quite good enough to get priority seeding in their conference and/or were displaced by one of the western conference teams that had to be placed in different regions.

Under this new rule, it seems likely that we’ll see at least two teams from each of those western conferences in the West region—assuming they’re each strong enough to be multi-bid conferences.

Geographical Advantage for Top Four Seeds

What changed?

The top four seeds from each region will not be placed into a “home-court disadvantage” in the second round.

How is this different from last year?

The previously stated rule was that the top five seeds would not be placed into a home-court disadvantage, but ask UNLV if that actually held true.

What is the impact?

The Runnin' Rebels earned a No. 5 seed last season and were forced to play the California Golden Bears in San Jose, which is all of 50 miles from where Cal plays its home games in Berkeley.

(And, oh by the way, Cal and UNLV had already played each other earlier in the season, so that pairing broke two of the committee’s golden rules.)

As such, this apparently isn’t much of a rule change from last year. The top 16 teams were already given as much home-court advantage as the eight pods would allow, and that won’t change. They’re just no longer attempting to also guarantee keeping the No. 5 seeds from being at a geographical disadvantage.

However, the previous two rule changes should go a long way in helping to keep the better teams closer to home, so it’s not as though they’re going to intentionally displace the No. 5 seeds.

Normal Rules Could Be Ignored for First Four

What changed?

The committee may choose to relax any principle in the event of two teams from the same conference taking part in the opening round games in Dayton.

How is this different from last year?

Though perhaps understood as an unspoken rule, no such official rule existed last season. First Four pairings were expected to follow all normal bracketing procedures.

What is the impact?

This is essentially a “Get out of jail free” card in case things get hairy on the bubble.

Even with all of the changes, there are still a ton of restrictions in regard to who isn’t allowed to play who in the second round of the tournament.

If a few of the teams in the First Four can’t play each other and/or one of the second-round opponents slotted to face a team from a play-in game, then the committee has a bit of a problem on its hands. Considering those “Last Four In” change on almost an hourly basis up until Selection Sunday, there are a lot of possible combinations in play.

With this rule, the committee is basically saying there’s only so much that can be done to avoid an “illegal” pairing in the opening round, so we’re going to have to cut them some slack if two or more of those teams hail from the same conference.