http://collegebaseball360.com/ncaa-looks-at-changing-college-baseball-tournament-format/ http://collegebaseball360.com/ncaa-looks-at-changing-college-baseball-tournament-format/#comments Wed, 15 Dec 2010 14:20:07 +0000 http://collegebaseball360.com/?p=14150

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There’s a chance the NCAA College Baseball Tournament could have a different look in the future. At its recent meeting, the NCAA Division One Baseball Committee discussed two possible new formats.

The current format starts with 16 four-team regionals conducted in double-elimination format. The winners then advance to eight super regionals with the winners advancing to Omaha.

The first alternate format would included 32 first-round regional sites that would pit two teams in a best two-out-of-three series. Winners of those series would advance to eight four-team super regionals, which would be conducted in a double-elimination format. This format essentially flip-flops the formats of the current regionals and super regionals.

The other alternate format would be for the entire tournament prior to the College World Series to be conducted in best two-out-of-three series. That option would require an additional weekend to be added to the tournament. It would start with 32 first-round best of three series, followed by 16 best of three series, followed by eight more best of three series, with the winners advancing to the CWS.

The second alternate format would allow 32 teams to host first-round regionals, which would potentially allow more northern teams to host postseason play. However, the NCAA notes the format would also the need for hiring more umpires and institutional staff. It would also require more travel.

DI Baseball Committee Chairman Tim Weiser

“Some committee members feel that our regular season is being played in best two-out-of-three or three-out-of-four formats,” committee chair Tim Weiser told NCAA.org. “If the regular season is being driven in that fashion, some believe that postseason play should be in a two-out-of-three format.”

That argument has a lot of merit, considering virtually every conference plays three-game series over the course of the year. The Patriot League also conducts its conference tournament in best two-of-three fashion. Here’s what we said about it in our 2010 Patriot League Preview:

The Patriot League has probably the most unique postseason tournament format in college baseball (it’s also probably the most fair).  The Patriot League Baseball Championship is conducted as a field-of-four tournament over two weekends.  The two higher seeds host first round best-of-three series pitting the No. 4 seed at the No. 1 seed and the No. 3 seed at the No. 2 seed. The championship best-of-three series will be played at the site of the highest seed remaining. The Patriot League champion earns the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

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Regional Capsules For the 64 Team Field

Top 8 National Seeds

CLICK HERE for a podcast with comments from selection committee chairman Tim Weiser.

Following are capsules for each Regional (we’ll continue to add them as we complete them).  Regionals with one of the top eight national seeds are followed by the regional it would be paired with for the Super Regional Round.  EG-Arizona State is the #1 national seed and the winner of its Regional will face the winner of the Fayetteville, AR Regional.

By clicking-on the “2010 College Baseball Tournament Field Of 64″ heading above this page will expand to fully support the Regional capsules.

Want even more in-depth statistical analysis?  Chase Titleman from our partner site, Road2rosenblatt.com, has his Key Stats Indicator breakdowns for the #1 Seeds, #2 Seeds and #3 Seeds for this weekend’s Regionals.  Click any of the links to see them.

Tempe (Arizona St.) #1 National Seed

Fayetteville (Arkansas) Regional

Austin (Texas) #2 National Seed

Ft. Worth (TCU) Regional

Gainesville (Florida) Regional #3 National Seed

Coral Gables (Miami) Regional

Myrtle Beach (Coastal Carolina) Regional #4 National Seed

Columbia (South Carolina) Regional

Charlottesville (Virginia) Regional #5 National Seed

Norman (Oklahoma) Regional

Los Angeles (UCLA) #6 National Seed

Fullerton (Cal St. Fullerton) Regional - Televised By ESPNU

Louisville (Louisville) Regional #7 National Seed

Norwich (Connecticut) Regional

Atlanta (Georgia Tech) #8 National Seed

Auburn, AL (Auburn) Regional

By Conference Breakdown of NCAA Bids

ACC- 8

Pac 10 – 8 (Most bids in conference history)

SEC – 8

Big 12 – 5

Big East  – 3

Southern – 3

Sun Belt – 3

Big West – 2

C-USA – 2

Mountain West – 2

A Rundown Of Tourney Participants We’ve Talked To

Garrett Wittels-Florida International

Chad Arnold-Washington State

Bryant Cotton-St. Louis

Danny Brock-St. Louis

Jim Wren-Dartmouth

Blake Cooper-South Carolina

Max Willett-New Mexico

Justin Howard-New Mexico

B.A. Vollmuth-Southern Mississippi

Pierre LePage-UConn

Thomas Royse-Louisville (Video)

Dan McDonnell-Louisville (Video)

Dave Esquer-Cal (Video)

George Horton-Oregon (Video)

MORE

NCAA Selection Committee Chair Tim Weiser

TCU Regional-Stephen Francis

Tim Weiser

Comments From The NCAA Baseball Selection Committee Chair

After Monday’s announcement of the field of 64 for the 2010 NCAA Division One Baseball Championship,  selection committee chairman Tim Weiser fielded questions from the media in a conference call.  Hear what Weiser had to say about the selection process, determining national seeds, North Carolina’s inclusion in the tournament and more.

Selection

CLICK HERE to see the field of 64.

A Look At  When Selections Will Be Announced

• At the conclusion of conference tournament championship games the 30 teams that win those championships and thus receive automatic bids to the tournament will be known.  CLICK HERE to see the current list of teams that have claimed bids.
• The 16 Regional tournament hosts sites will be announced at approximately 3:30 pm Eastern Time.  Collegebaseball360.com will post the sites as soon as we get them.  Keep an eye on our Twitter (@CB360updates) and Facebook feeds as well.

Monday, May 31

• The entire 64-team tournament field will be announced live on ESPN at 12:30 pm Eastern Time.
• During the show 34 teams that receive at-large tournament bids will be revealed.
• Seeding for each regional, Top 8 National seeds and which regionals will match-up for Super Regionals (but not Super Regional sites) will be unveiled.
• The selection show will last 30 minutes.
• Approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the selection show NCAA Selection Committee Chairman Tim Weiser will field questions from the media in a conference call.  That call will not air live to the public, but Collegebaseball360.com will post audio from that Q & A session on our Podcast page.

Monday, June 7

• The Eight Super Regional host sites will be announced at approximately 11 pm Eastern Time.
• Four Super Regionals will begin on Friday, June 11, while the other four will begin on June 12.

Friday, June 18

• The eight Super Regional winners will be in Omaha, NE for “practice day” and press conference at Rosenblatt Stadium.
• Collegebaseball360.com will be there to provide as much video and audio content as possible on our site.

Saturday, June 19-Wednesday, June 30

• The College World Series takes place for the last time at Rosenblatt Stadium.
• Collegebaseball360.com will be there to provide video, audio and other daily coverage as possible on our site.

CLICK HERE to see more details on the at-large selection process and Regional, Super Regional & CWS formats.

CB360 Conference Tournament Central Page

A Look At The Selection Process & Tournament Format

CLICK HERE to see the up to date list of teams that have received automatic bids.

According to the NCAA’s 2010 Division One Baseball Championship Handbook (PDF)  here is how at-large selections are made:

• The committee uses the Rating Percentage Index (RPI), a computer program that provides the committee with (1) the institution’s Division I winning percentage, (2) opponents’ success and (3) opponents’ strength of schedule. The RPI is an additional tool used in the evaluation of at-large teams. Please note that the adjusted RPI takes into account a bonus/penalty structure. Bonus and penalty values will only be used for non-conference games.
• Regular-season conference standings and/or conference postseason competition shall be considered by the committee when selecting at-large teams.
• The committee may consider comparing data of individual teams, including, but not limited to, overall record, Division I record, overall RPI rank, non-conference record and RPI rank, conference regular-season record and conference tournament results, road record and RPI, last 15 games’ record, its record against teams ranked 1-25, 26-50, 51-100, 101-150 and below 150 in the RPI, head-to-head record, common opponents’ record and input from regional advisory committees.
• Make no mistake…RPI is a huge factor in the selection and seeding process.
• Regional host sites will be announced on Sunday, May 30, while the field of 64 will be announced on Monday, May 31 (Memorial Day).

The same criteria is also used in determining seeding for Regionals and the top eight national seeds.  The top eight national seeds are essentially the eight teams that (at least in theory) should make it to the College World Series.  Top eight seeds are guaranteed they would not have to play each other until the CWS.

It should also be noted that while making last year’s at-large selections 2009 Selection Committee Chairman, Tim Weiser, added an additional selection criteria to the process “Who are you least gonna wanna play,” is how Weiser explained how some teams were picked over others.

Here’s how the tournament is formatted:

Regionals

• Sixteen four-team regional tournaments take place at different locations around the country.
• Ordinarily, all regional and super regional tournaments are located on or near the campus of one of the competing institutions; however, a regional or super regional tournament may be scheduled at a neutral site provided advance approval is obtained from the Division I Championships/Sports Management Cabinet.
• The committee shall attempt to place regional tournaments so that maximum national balance can be obtained, preferably at least one regional in each of the eight Division I baseball regions.
• Except for the 16 No. 1 regional seeds, the pairings for the regionals, whenever possible, will be based on closest geographical location of the teams to the tournament sites. Teams may be moved outside their regions, if necessary, to balance the bracket, or if the proximity to an opponent outside the region would be comparable and a better competitive match-up would occur.
• Two teams from the same conference cannot be placed in the same regional.
• Teams from the same conference and seeded first in their respective regional will be placed on the bracket to avoid meeting in the super regionals.
• Typically, #1 seeds host regionals, but it is possible for a #2 seed to host.
• Teams are seeded 1-4, with the #1 seed playing the #4 seed and the #2 seed playing the #3 seed on the first day of the tournament.
• The tournament is played out in a double-elimination format, with the winner advancing to one of eight Super Regionals.

Here’s the Regional format:
Day 1
Game 1—No. 1 vs. No. 4
Game 2—No. 2 vs. No. 3
Day 2
Game 3—Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2
Game 4—Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2
Day 3
Game 5—Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4
Game 6—Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5
Day 4
Game 7—If necessary, same teams as in Game 6.

Super Regionals

• Two teams will play a best two of three format to determine the Super Regional winner.
• Super regional competition takes place at on-campus sites or alternate sites approved by the baseball committee.
• Consideration for hosting shall be given to the higher seed, including the eight national seeds, if a suitable hosting proposal has been received (e.g., meets financial guarantee and quality of facility criteria). If the higher seed has not submitted a proposal, the lower-seeded team will host if their proposal is acceptable.
• If the super regional match-up is between equally seeded teams, the committee shall review the hosting proposals according to the site selection criteria (e.g., quality and availability of the facility, revenue potential and other available accommodations) to determine the host. If only one of the teams has submitted a
  proposal, that team shall host if the proposal is acceptable.
• Winners of the eight super regional tournaments will qualify for the Men’s College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.

Here’s the Super Regional format:

Day 1:  Game 1—Team A vs. Team B
Day 2: Game 2—Team A vs. Team B
Day 3: Game 3—If necessary, Team A vs. Team B.

College World Series

• The eight winners of the super regional competitions will advance to the Men’s College World Series.
• Two four-team bracket will play a double-elimination tournament to determine the bracket champions (similar to the regional format).
• The MCWS Finals best two of three format consists of single games Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (if necessary), June 28-30.
• The College World Series begins on Saturday, June 19 at Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium.