The Solar Belt Convention Match has an outrageous bracket

Everybody loves an underdog story in March. The NCAA Match has turn out to be an establishment within the sports activities world due to the upsets every year. Followers of all totally different groups come collectively to look at a scrappy underdog nobody had heard of two weeks in the past take a Blue Blood all the way down to the wire.

These upsets assist put groups, and generally a whole convention, on the map. So you may perceive why a mid-major convention may need to put a thumb on the size a little bit to assist its greatest groups attain the Large Dance.

The Solar Belt Convention introduced in August it might change the convention event format. In line with the press launch the modifications had been an effort to “prioritize the worth of the 18-game convention regular-season.” In real-world phrases that meant giving the groups that completed the common season with the most effective data a bye deep into the convention championship. This, in and of itself, isn’t uncommon. Loads of conferences permit their high groups a straight cross into the quarterfinals. However that’s the place the SBC made issues a bit extra attention-grabbing.

As a substitute of going with a extra conventional 14-team bracket the place even the worst of groups would solely have to get sizzling for a day or two earlier than having an opportunity at dealing with off in opposition to the convention’s greatest workforce, the Solar Belt has created an absolute gauntlet for groups. It appears to be like extra like rising up via the ranks of Mortal Kombat than a basketball event.

The highest two seeds within the convention get a QUINTUPLE bye!

An 11-seed would want to win seven video games in a row. Seven straight days of profitable basketball with no break. The underside 4 groups may very well be on a five-game win streak earlier than taking part in a very contemporary and rested high seed. That is Edge sending the final man over the ropes of the Royal Rumble simply to flip round to a Randy Orton RKO.

The factor is, that is completely genius.

Not solely is it only a ridiculous bracket certain to get everybody’s consideration, it is going to completely assist the convention on the subject of the NCAA Match.

Successful a convention common season championship is de facto onerous. Mid-Main groups must survive the early season matchups in opposition to a litany of Energy Convention opponents then flip round and battle on daily basis inside their very own convention. The groups that win the common season titles in Mid-Majors are genuinely good groups. However in contrast to their extra well-known counterparts, meaning completely nothing. One unhealthy night time within the convention event nearly definitely ends the season.

So doing what the Solar Belt has carried out considerably improves the percentages of the most effective groups really profitable the convention. Subsequently sending a convention’s greatest consultant to the NCAA Match.

Some might have a look at this variation and see it as an answer with no downside. How usually does the most effective workforce not win anyway? Nicely, it seems, fairly a bit. Final yr alone 11 groups exterior of the Prime 2 within the common season convention rankings received a convention event, with 5 of these groups ending with a file at or under .500 in convention. That’s a number of upsets and a number of conferences most likely aggravated at its NCAA Match illustration.

To additional drive residence the purpose, solely two of these 11 groups reached the spherical of 32 with the common shedding margin of 21 factors within the spherical of 64. These aren’t enjoyable video games. Of the 5 groups that made the event with convention data at or under .500, one misplaced within the play-in spherical and didn’t see the spherical of 64. The remaining 4 had been blown out by a mean of 27 factors.

Faculty basketball tournaments are nonetheless unpredictable and any workforce on any given night time… blah blah blah.

That is giving followers precisely what they need. Most school basketball followers love seeing upsets within the NCAA Match. However discovering out that 17-18 Montana State knocked off Montana to win the Large Sky championship is, nicely, mainly a footnote.

Actually, the most effective case situation is a type of 4 backside groups within the Solar Belt really does go on a run. The faculty basketball world would like to focus in on the Solar Belt for a few days in early March as they find out about Coastal Carolina stunning the convention and reaching the quarterfinals. However for the Solar Belt’s sake, they’d a lot quite see an really good workforce win the automated bid.