Conference Tournaments

[tspangsorigin]

I would love to see a feature dealing with the conference tournaments. Maybe information dealing with the bubble teams.

Thanks,
Tom

[Scrutinous]

Thanks for the request, Tom, and sorry this slipped my notice for over a week.

Features like this basically come down to: how much work, and what is the benefit. We want to be a superior source for the national tournament, to really help people understand the history of the tournament and provide tools to make well-informed bracket picks.

At this point, I think conference tournament information is lower on the priority list because it doesn’t directly support that national tournament mission. If Bracket Master becomes more successful, there will be opportunities to expand the app’s focus. I think this concept also addresses the inclusion of the NIT tournament, which others have requested. Documenting the accomplishments of the “69th Best Team” isn’t essential for us at this time.

As for bubble teams, that request is closer to our dictates. In the run-up to Selection Sunday, it is certainly of interest who is in and who is out. My misgiving is that I don’t see it as being historically interesting information once the field is selected. Knowing who didn’t make the tournament doesn’t really help you pick who might win the tournament. We’ll give this some thought and consider how the information might be presented by the app.

We enjoy the conference tournaments. The one-and-done scenario creates some great drama. I thought this year’s Big East tournament was particularly intense with most games being supremely competitive. However, it isn’t the greatest method for selecting the most worthy teams for the big dance.

Take for example, Akron from the Mid-American Conference. They finished tied for third in the conference with a 24-9 overall record, ranked by Ken Pomeroy as #131. Toledo was the regular season champion of the MAC, 26-7 overall, KenPom ranked #90. Toledo lost a conference tournament semifinal to Akron, and so they are left out of March Madness. Akron isn’t a bad team, but you can make the argument that we aren’t going to see the MAC conference’s best team.

With all this said, please, readers, make your requests known so that we can shape the roadmap for this app. We want to be continually making Bracket Master better for you.

[Author]

Posts