Gone are the days of Regionals and Sectionals. Gone are the days of playing the same 4-8 teams all year and knowing who's gonna make it before December hits. Now we have the two playoff tournament structure. How I think it works:
- Top 8 get automatic bid to nationals
- Second 8 get to choose which of the playoff tournaments they go to, in order of rank
- Bottom 8 get assigned a playoff tournament by the selection committee
- The 25th ranked team cries and hopes for a better season next year
A lot of pressure is going to be on the selection committee (seeding committee?) and I bet there's going to be some hurt feelings. Are your feelings hurt yet?
The real interesting part is seeing how the selection committee will do it. Any early predictions on what team will be the most pissed off?
It will definitely make teams have to try harder to get recognized. Those teams who just sit around in their own region and slide in through regionals and sectionals won't be able to anymore.
I think it's more important than ever to make sure people around the league recognize your team! I see teams with FB pages and live streaming games and it has definitely helped me decide where my own team lies. Ultimately, if I think we are outside the Top 24, I'm going to find tournaments where I can go play those teams ahead of us. I'm excited to see if these changes make the league better!