Conference Tournament Format

[profgeek]

What is the tournament format of the WCC tournament? I live in Ohio Valley Conference land (Murray State is OVC), and last year they completely altered their tournament to a very interesting format. There are 11 teams in the conference. Of those, the top 8 regular season finishers qualify for the tournament (other 3 are out ... no play-ins or anything). This started last year, is called a "merit" format, and works like this:

Day 1 - 5 vs. 8, 6 vs. 7, 1-4 get byes
Day 2 - 5/8 winner vs. 4, 6/7 winner vs. 3, 1-2 get byes
Day 3 - 5/8 vs. 4 winner vs. 1, 6/7 vs. 3 winner vs. 2
Day 4 - championship

With this format, high seeding means byes. 1-2 seeds are automatically in the semifinals. In my opinion, this puts a lot more emphasis on the regular season than straight seeding, as the tournament is 4 days in a row. Getting to the championship game for a low seed would mean playing 4 straight days. In a traditional 8 team tournament, you'd play 3 days in a row if you were the top seed, whereas in the merit system, the 1 and 2 seeds would play, at most, two days in a row. I find this an interesting format and just wondered if the WCC does anything like this.

[SpiffCoug]

This is what the WCC does. I like this format. It makes the conference season actually matter and rewards teams for winning and playing well in conference. One other thing the WCC will do that will greatly benefit BYU is not playing on Sundays. The semifinals are on Saturday, but the championship game isn't until Monday. Plenty of rest for the Cougars