The Wacky NCAA (Updated 11/5 @ 2 p.m.)
Some random thoughts on the brackets:
Does anyone out there understand the NCAA? It’s Round 4 of Oshkosh/Platteville in the first round? I wonder if that has ever happened before. My predictions didn’t make that matchup, nor two MIAC teams meeting in the first round, necessary.
Whitewater to the Central and Wash U/Calvin to the Midwest? Wash U was going to have to fly to St. Paul anyway, so I guess the NCAA can get away with that one. Driving Wash U to Kenosha makes sense. It’s a good tradeoff for Oshkosh in many ways. I just didn’t think it would happen. Losing WW is never a bad thing, but Hanover and Calvin in the Midwest? It didn’t have to be like that.
Anyway, Oshkosh has to beat Platteville, Wash U and Carthage to get to nationals. Not the best scenario but one that can be done.
Two byes out west? A cost-saving measure. There’s no other reason. Just about every team has to fly to Hayward, Calif. Save money or create better, fairer regionals? The NCAA emphatically has said “Save money.” Why oh why are there 6-team regionals?
Instead of giving Wittenberg the bye that it earned, the NCAA chose to not spend a few more dollars and fly one more team. The NCAA simply chose to make Wittenberg’s road to Bloomington a bit easier by shipping Calvin.
UPDATE: In any event, one more flight and the west would not have its ridiculous 6-team regional. I know it’s happened in the past, but ONE more team … C’mon, NCAA.
By my count, seven teams have to fly as it is – Wash & Lee, Emory and Piedmont to Sherman, Texas; and Colorado, Puget Sound, Nebraska Wesleyan and Pacific Lutheran to Hayward, Calif. Would eight teams flying break the NCAA? As you might guess, the 6-team regional is bothering me right now.
Full disclosure: Of the 61 teams in my regional predictions, I only had 45 in the right place, although the NCAA made it hard to get much right this year.
-Ricky Nelson
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