Understanding the NCAA Basketball Tournament
College Basketball's March Madness Gets Fully Broken Down
NCAA's March Madness is the time of the year when college basketball fans tune in to fill out their brackets and hope to predict this year's Cinderella team. Placed conveniently between the NFL and MLB seasons, March Madness is the perfect escape for a fan searching for a few short weeks of excitement sandwiched between months of commitment. The competition in the NCAA Tournament is unrivaled, where an entire season hangs in the balance every single day, and for most teams, this starts before any brackets are filled out, in the conference championship tournaments. With all the excitement that surrounds March Madness, it is easy to get lost in the talk of RPI's and bursting bubbles, so this guide was provided to break down what goes into the NCAA Tournament.
Automatic Bids and Conference Championships
The first step in selecting the field for the NCAA Tournament is to give automatic births to each team that wins its conference. These bids are earned through 30 individual conference tournaments where the winner gains a "ticket to the big dance". The 31st automatic birth goes to the winner of the Ivy League, who does not hold a conference tournament.
Selection Sunday
Held during the Sunday before the NCAA Tournament officially begins, the remaining 34 At-Large bids are given out to those teams that the Selection Committee deems are worthy enough to enter the tournament. The Selection Committee consists of ten officials who deliberate over each team in Division 1 Basketball and fill out the rest of the tournament field. The Selection Committee is supposed to make objective decisions based on each team's strength of schedule, quality wins, and RPI, among other things.
What is RPI?
College Basketball's Ratings Percentage Index is a mathematical formula aimed at determining the nation's best teams. The RPI takes into account three factors: team winning percentage (WP), opponents' average winning percentages (OAWP), and opponents' opponents' average winning percentages (OOAWP). Recently, the RPI began weighing road wins more heavily than home wins, and subsequently home losses would be more detrimental than road losses. The official formula is as follows:
(25% * WP) + (50% * OAWP) + (25% OOAWP)
As explained above, winning percentages must be adjusted accordingly with home wins (and road losses) being multiplied by 0.6 and road wins (and home losses) being multiplied by 1.4.
This final RPI will be a number between 0 and 1, where the higher RPI will belong to a better team. The RPI will be listed in one of two ways: the decimal result from the above equation, or the number indicating where the team ranks in RPI.
How Does the Seeding Work?
The most common misconception about seeding in the NCAA Tournament is that teams are seeded based on when they gain entrance into the "dance". When teams earn their automatic bids by winning their conference tournament, they are in no better place than a team that has to be chosen by the committee on Selection Sunday, except that they don't have to wait nervously for ten people to decide their fate a few days before the tournament begins. The truth is, most small-mid major conference winners will be a 14-16 seed and get ousted in the first round of the tournament by far superior opponents. The teams that get the At-Large bids are usually teams that the Selection Committee feels has not only earned the right to play in the tournament, but is a legitimate contender to make some noise once they get there. Remember this: teams that are considered "on the bubble" (teams that are perceived to be neither in nor out) are not fighting for a 16th seed, but rather an entry into the tournament, at which time the appropriate seed will be given. Furthermore, it would be unfair for a number 1 seed to have to play a team that clearly might be able to knock them off in the first round when they should technically be able to coast against a team that is just happy to be at the "big dance".
Final Four: The Championship of March Madness
Most newcomers to the tournament will find confusion over the fact that there are four of each seed, and eventually it is possible for two teams with the same "rank" could meet. This is because the Final Four is the first championship of the NCAA Tournament. There are four "regions" in the tournament, and each region has 16 seeds. These teams will eliminate each other until only one team remains, and gains birth to the NCAA Final Four. Simply winning one's region is a major victory in itself, and is celebrated as so, where the teams are given a few days off before finally competing for the chance to play in, and ultimately win, the NCAA College Basketball National Championship.
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