Quadruple stupidity

[stan]

The NET and quad system is idiotic. The RPI was idiotic. It was, in fact, so stupid that the NCAA kept it a secret for years. It was only when someone on the committee blurted out the name to justify some totally ridiculous selections (IIRC Georgia and Oklahoma one year when they were barely above .500 for the season or the year that 7 of 9 ACC teams got in and one had a 5-9 conference record) that we even learned the monster had been created.

When number-crunching math heads (e.g. Jerry Palm et al) eventually reverse engineered the formula, the true heinousness of the beast became apparent to all the unwashed. Big Brother's curtain had been pulled and the beast was exposed in all its ugly deformity. They had no choice but to modify RPI to give it a bit of makeup, but that helped the mid-majors. Can't have that so they had to add some other hocus pocus to the process to protect the vested interests. Eventually we got to the latest deformed Frankenstein and all its assault on logic, not to mention truth, justice and the American Way.

The quad system makes no sense. Seriously. It's intellectual garbage. After reading the reports of some of the journalists who were allowed to play the selection committee game, it really does seem that the whole process is designed to exhaust and confuse the members until the NCAA staff just nudges them into the 'approved' final choices.

Use a ranking system that makes sense. Like KenPom. Or a collection of the very best ranking systems. But come up with a ranking system that incorporates all the relevant factors. All of them. Then use it. Leave it alone. No extra spice. Just use it. No BS. Use it like they started out using RPI back in the early, secret days. If it is valid ranking system which incorporates all the relevant factors, #29 is better than #51. Period. #36 is better than # 42. Not after peering through the smoke with mirrors while chanting Shakespeare. Not after stirring entrails or debating the holding capacity of the head of a pin. Just use the damn numbers. Or get a different rating system that applies the appropriate weights to each relevant factor.

Don't tell us that a rating system has any validity, but then not really use it. It either does or it doesn't. This partial pregnancy process is an abortion. And, as entrail stirring and smoke peering processes go, the quad stuff is worse than witches playing the Gong Show. It's a basketball version of Animal Farm. All rating factors apply equally to all schools, but some factors are more equal than others when we say so.

[stan]

In honor of this year's victim of Darth Vader, Indiana State, here's the Feinstein classic.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/c ... 02021.html

"There's no doubt in my mind that Darth Vader and his companions from The Empire (the other power conference commissioners) went into action last spring, summer and fall. This can't happen again, they told the committee members. The NCAA tournament, in spite of rumors to the contrary, isn't about what is best for basketball and what is most fair to the players and coaches. It is about us. It is about how much money we make from the tournament (millions) and how we use making the tournament as a tool (recruiting) to ensure that we keep making more millions.

Well, the committee members certainly got the message. No Death Star for them. "

Read it all.

[MrMac]

Excellent commentary: Feinstein and Brown.

[otherwildcat]

The proposed new criteria next year, losses to quad 3 hurt the most, will make it very challenging for non Power 4 conferences to book OOC games against the P4.
Princeton contacted 44 schools last year to play away at the P4 school and was turned down on every one of them.

[catnhat]

I bet we’d play Princeton home and away.

If we continue to have trouble scheduling we should play CofC and UNCW home and away. I could list others I’d like to see more than Wright State.

[citycat]

Wofford, UNCG, and UNCA are decent programs in communities where Davidson has alumni and fans from Davidson/Charlotte can drive easily.

If Furman still played in Memorial Auditorium, I'd include them, too.

I concur with catnhat about UNCW and CofC.

[otherwildcat]

I can guess at the answer, but why are not any ACC schools on the schedule?

[collegecoach8502]

ACC expanded their conference schedule so they have less non-conference games available. It's hard to play home and home series because the A10 wants us to play more home games than away games. When you remove the preseason tourneys, there are few opportunities to play home and home. Charlotte is already one of them.