Should NCS make Tournaments Smaller?

[ayalar09]

I was thinking about this today. I am all for players getting a chance to play in a playoff game, hence why there are 16 teams chosen now. But imagine if they cut that to 8 or 10 (with 1 and 2 getting byes)...the games would be a lot more competitive and the teams wouldn't have to waste money to travel hours away to get beat by 30+ points.

Example: Lets reorganize The D2 NCS Bracket it would be as follows:

1 - O'Dowd - Bye
2 - Moreau Catholic -Bye

First Round:
A) Cardinal Newman (3) vs. Newark Memorial (10)
B) Redwood (4) vs. Santa Rosa (9)
C) San Lorenzo (5) vs. Bethel (8)
D) Montgomery (6) vs. Northgate (7)

Second Round:
A vs. B. - Winner Faces MC
C vs. D - Winner Faces ODowd

Championship Game

 

[ayalar09]

D3 Bracket Would Look Like:

1. Salesian's - Bye
2. Campolindo - Bye

First Round
A) SPSV (3) vs. Sonoma Valley (10)
B) Albany (4) vs. San Marin (9)
C) SJND (5) vs. Sir Francis Drake (8)
D) Miramonte (6) vs. Piner (7)

Second Round:
A vs. B. - Winner Faces Campolindo
C vs. D - Winner Faces Salesian

Championship Game

 

[observer22]

I was thinking about this today. I am all for players getting a chance to play in a playoff game, hence why there are 16 teams chosen now. But imagine if they cut that to 8 or 10 (with 1 and 2 getting byes)...the games would be a lot more competitive and the teams wouldn't have to waste money to travel hours away to get beat by 30+ points.

Example: Lets reorganize The D2 NCS Bracket it would be as follows:

1 - O'Dowd - Bye
2 - Moreau Catholic -Bye

First Round:
A) Cardinal Newman (3) vs. Newark Memorial (10)
B) Redwood (4) vs. Santa Rosa (9)
C) San Lorenzo (5) vs. Bethel (8)
D) Montgomery (6) vs. Northgate (7)

Second Round:
A vs. B. - Winner Faces MC
C vs. D - Winner Faces ODowd

Championship Game

That looks fine, except that Benicia is a league champion, albeit a very weak league, but is not in your bracket. I don’t think there will be any playoff scenarios where league champs are not included. One could argue they should drop down to the D3 or D4 playoffs, but they’d drop a 4th or 5th place team like Northgate before dropping a league champ.

 

[ayalar09]

Replace the 10 seed with a league champ.

I agree that all league winners deserve to have a chance

 

[mansnothot]

If we had the ncs open this year how would you seed open and so on?

 

[damim]

I don't really have a problem with it. More money for the host schools, more games for teams. There are always going to be some teams that don't deserve to be in, but that's just the way it is. We have to remember that this is still high school basketball. It's not life or death. Let the lower seeds have their hope for a few days before it gets squashed! On the same note why is March Madness 64 teams? Might as well make it 16 or 32. It's all about the dollar, that's why....

 

[observer22]

On the same note why is March Madness 64 teams? Might as well make it 16 or 32. It's all about the dollar, that's why....

Actually it’s now up to 68 teams, as they don’t like to refer to them as play in games.

 

[observer22]

If we had the ncs open this year how would you seed open and so on?

That would be awesome. Have to start with Salesian as the top seed no question. Off the top of my head DLS, Dublin, SL & Logan from D1. Moreau & BOD from D2, Campo from D3, Branson from D4. That’s 9 solid candidates, and league champs CN & Liberty would be worthy as well.

I say add CP and make it a 12 team Open bracket. All 12 would get auto bids to NorCal. That would one heck of a tourney. Seeding would be very tough after Salesian. That still leaves out some very good teams like SH, Fortuna, MV, SJND & SPSV. 16 team bracket?

 

[SF_Mikey]

That would be awesome. Have to start with Salesian as the top seed no question. Off the top of my head DLS, Dublin, SL & Logan from D1. Moreau & BOD from D2, Campo from D3, Branson from D4. That’s 9 solid candidates, and league champs CN & Liberty would be worthy as well.

I say add CP and make it a 12 team Open bracket. All 12 would get auto bids to NorCal. That would one heck of a tourney. Seeding would be very tough after Salesian. That still leaves out some very good teams like SH, Fortuna, MV, SJND & SPSV. 16 team bracket?

NCS Open division would be the BOMB as it's a foregone conclusion in many of the divisions as to who will meet in the finals. Unlike the CCS there are more than enough top quality teams to make it extremely interesting / competitive. Maybe 12 teams with top four teams getting byes into second round? The only downside is that it would cheapen the D1-D5 championships but it would open those divisions up to the public schools instead of the traditional private school powers that run roughshod in those divisions with their unfair advantages over the publics IMO.

 

[da real]

Why deny great teams a chance to win a banner?

 

[ayalar09]

Why deny great teams a chance to win a banner?

It's very rare the double-digit seeds go far. Maybe an exception once every decade or so, but by making the NCS Tournament smaller, you are getting more competitive games. If the 16 seeds had a solid shot, than I would be all for it, but I think one of the main problem right now is too many teams.

 

[kiddman32]

Yup, not enough good teams in any division to have a 16-team bracket, and this goes double or more on the girls side... Only evidence you need to see is what St. Joe's did to Pinole Valley in the girls' first-round game last night. 33-0 at the end of the first, then St. Joe's stopped their pressure D and started subbing pretty liberally... This resulted in a 54-4 tally at the half. Fortunately for me, the boys game was the first half of the doubleheader, so I headed home.

 

[kiddman32]

Just looked again, and the St Joe's girls bracket was only 14 teams, with the top two seeds getting a bye. St. Joe's was the 3-seed, so got the softest foe. All the other games were at least nominally competitive.

Anyway... Seems to me that a 12-team bracket with all four of the top seeds getting a bye would suffice, both genders. So, if you're the 13th-best team and you think you did enough to get in, maybe ya shoulda won another game or two...

Of course, if they go to a NCS Open at some point, re-analysis of my above idea will need another look...

 

[da real]

It's very rare the double-digit seeds go far. Maybe an exception once every decade or so, but by making the NCS Tournament smaller, you are getting more competitive games. If the 16 seeds had a solid shot, than I would be all for it, but I think one of the main problem right now is too many teams.

I was referring to the idea of a ncs open.

 

[ayalar09]

I was referring to the idea of a ncs open.

I would be all for it. This year you would have seen a really good mix of teams.