Sunday, March 10, 2002
NCAA to redraw tournament map
Will keep teams closer to home despite seedings
The Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS — When the NCAA Tournament bracket is released today, it will have the familiar interlocking lines ready for the names of teams advancing toward the Final Four. The big difference will be geography.
Chicago could be part of the West, Sacramento part of the Midwest.
A first- and second-round site could have two No.1 seeds playing there, while some venues may be without a No.1 or No.2 seed. Some lower-seeded teams might even be staying close to home.
Welcome to the 2002 NCAA Tournament, where change and flexibility are the rule.
“The teams on the first line will stay in their region, and then we'll put them in the actual pods,” tournament selection committee chairman Lee Fowler said. “If there is any way we can keep them closer to home, we'll do that, too.”
The selection committee can achieve that goal because of a rule change intended to limit travel in the early rounds.
In the past, eight teams have been placed into each of the eight subregionals. This year, the committee will place four teams into each “pod” and place two pods at each site. The teams then move on the next weekend to their assigned regionals.
With the added flexibility, the committee could place No.1 seeds from two regions in a site such as Chicago, while a site such as Albuquerque may be left without a top seed.
“That could happen, where there's not a No.1 or No.2 seed at a site,” Fowler said. “But the good thing under the new system is that they would have more teams with local interest or conference interest playing at their site.”
The change was made after last season when three teams from the Washington, D.C., area — Georgetown, Maryland and George Mason — plus Hampton, which is from southern Virginia, were sent to Boise, Idaho for the first and second rounds.
But as much as things change, some things remain the same — such as the controversy over at-large selections.
After opening the season 13-0 and cracking the AP's Top 25 for the first time in 53 years, Butler finished 25-5 after losing in the opening round of the Horizon League Tournament — putting the Bulldogs among those teams awaiting their fate today.
Ball State, which opened the season by beating UCLA and Kansas on consecutive nights at the Maui Invitational, entered the Mid-American Conference Tournament 19-10. Did the Cardinals have to win the automatic bid or can the MAC get two teams in the field?
“I think any quality wins are important, whenever they come,” said Fowler. “Good wins are good wins, whether you get them early or get them late.”
But the biggest controversy could come from the NCAA's new rule and keeping teams closer to home.
Pittsburgh, for instance, is a first- and second-round site. The Pitt Panthers are ranked No.7 and could end up with a No.3 seed and still play in Pittsburgh.
Other teams, such as Loyola (Ill.), which won the Horizon League Tournament, could wind up in a similar situation since Chicago is a first-round site.
But Fowler said the committee will try to avoid placing a team such as Loyola, likely to be among the bottom seeds, virtually at home because the intention is to keep teams near home, not at home.
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NCAA to redraw tournament map
