Bye Bye Double-bye

[goodgreatgrand]

Proposal to eliminate the double-bye will be discussed at upcoming conference meeting (assuming they dont spend the entire time talking about the B10 expansion)

"I wanted everybody to play four games," Boeheim said. "It's the right way to do it and everybody agreed to it last year, but a couple coaches changed their minds and screwed it up because they were going to be good and didn't want to jeopardize their seeding with an upset loss to a bad team.

"It was the right way to do it. For the first four, the advantage is that you play Tuesday and you rest your players Wednesday. Now, you have three games. Same old way. Plus, you're playing 16. If you can't beat 16, you shouldn't be in it.

"I mean, what kind of conference are we playing in? The league is supposed to revisit this in May but they're holding out for more TV money if the No. 1 team has to play Tuesday. What's that? A couple hundred thousand dollars per school? What's that mean?"
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/2010/03/12/2010-03-12_schedule_an_orange_crusher.html

"I'm not for the double bye," Pitino said. "It doesn't keep you sharp enough. I think they [a lot of other coaches] think that also. It could change. I would like it to change."

"No one knows basketball more than Rick Pitino, Bob Huggins, Jim Calhoun or Jim Boeheim," Gavitt said. "I trust their judgment explicitly."

http://ncaabasketball.fanhouse.com/2010/05/20/big-east-likely-to-eliminate-double-bye-from-hoops-tourney/


I hope Buzz isnt one of the coaches holding out on changing the format. Regardless, Ive got to believe that if Calhoun, Boeheim, Pitino and Huggins vote for the change, it will happen. Plus, notice that all of those coaches have football teams? Wonder if those coaches, AD's now have some more leverage....?
hoops-tourney/

[TallTitan34]

There's a shocker. Boehiem wants something changed after it didn't go his way.

[Nukem2]

There's a shocker. Boehiem wants something changed after it didn't go his way.

True... .   Given the diminishing worth of conference tourneys (except for those on the bubble), why would any sane coach complain about getting a double-bye.  As an aside, the conference tourneys will really be made irrelevant (other thna in terms of $$$) when the move to 96 is made in the near future.

[goodgreatgrand]

Because according to Boeheim and Pitino, a double-bye doesnt keep a team sharp. I can see the logic in that. If a team gets a double-bye, that team could probably go a full week without playing a game (from the last game of the season to the first game of the conference tournament. How many other times in a regular season does a team go without playing for an entire week? And as a coach, do you really want your team to have all those days off prior to the ncaa tournament? Good teams should be hitting their stride at that point in the season and playing is the only way to stay "sharp." Perhaps this is why "sane" coaches dont like the format.

Plus, if you go almost a week before playing a conf tourney game and then lose it, that same team will go another week before playing their first round ncaa game. Unless your team is riddled with injuries, I dont see the benefits of that.

[77ncaachamps]

Shouldn't the elimination of a double-bye then mean one less regular season game?

[Brewtown Andy]

Because according to Boeheim and Pitino, a double-bye doesnt keep a team sharp. I can see the logic in that. If a team gets a double-bye, that team could probably go a full week without playing a game

MU has been playing a game on Saturday or Sunday before the BET every year, so if you're doing that, you're only going 3-4 days without a game at most.

[chapman]

MU has been playing a game on Saturday or Sunday before the BET every year, so if you're doing that, you're only going 3-4 days without a game at most.

That's why it seems like the coaches are just whining.  When Syracuse loses on Tuesday or Thursday next year Boeheim will want it changed again because getting two days off before the opening game wasn't enough to rest his players and higher seeds deserve rest.

[Marquette84]

MU has been playing a game on Saturday or Sunday before the BET every year, so if you're doing that, you're only going 3-4 days without a game at most.

Saturday to Thursday (when the double-bye teams played) is 5 days.   Granted, its not a full week, but its not "3-4 days at most" either. 

That's why it seems like the coaches are just whining.  When Syracuse loses on Tuesday or Thursday next year Boeheim will want it changed again because getting two days off before the opening game wasn't enough to rest his players and higher seeds deserve rest.

This is an unfair rip on Boeheim.  He criticized the double bye format even BEFORE this years tournament--even when he knew his team was getting the rest.  He's been pretty consistent about playing 4 games--keep in mind he won the tourney in 4 games in 2006, and went to the final in 4 games in 2009 (including the 6 OT game).

In the meantime, when 3 of the top 4 seeds lose their first game (and the 4th barely wins), it is probably a sign that something is wrong with the format of the tournament. 

Shouldn't the elimination of a double-bye then mean one less regular season game?

No.  The entire tournament counts as one game regardless of how many games you actually play.

[Brewtown Andy]

Saturday to Thursday (when the double-bye teams played) is 5 days.   Granted, its not a full week, but its not "3-4 days at most" either. 

So go pick a BE team at random and tell me how often they went 5+ days without a game this season.  I'm guessing it'll be 4 or 5 times at least.

[TJ]

I never understood why they instituted it in the first place, so this is good.  There's 16 teams... just play a normal bracket.

[goodgreatgrand]

The Big East basketball coaches unanimously voted to get rid of the Big East tournament's double-bye format at the league's spring meetings Tuesday morning.

The new format, which is expected to be approved by the league's athletic directors on Wednesday and then must be voted on by the league's presidents, would pit the No. 1 seed vs. No. 16, No. 2 vs. No. 15, No. 3 vs. No. 14 and No. 4 vs. No. 13 on Tuesday's opening day of the 2011 tournament.

[Spotcheck Billy]

So go pick a BE team at random and tell me how often they went 5+ days without a game this season.  I'm guessing it'll be 4 or 5 times at least.

just look at Marquette's schedule last season:
11/29 FSU then 12/5 NCST
12/12 WI then 12/19 UNF
1/09 Villanove then 1/17 Prov
2/06 Prov then 2/13 USF

IIRC, all BE teams had 2 one week byes last season