Dreaming Up Enjoyable MTEs for Followers Who Truly Like College Basketball

We are lastly winding down MTE Season – that’s, “Multi-Team Event” Season for these simply becoming a member of us – and the theme thus far, sadly, has been Corporate Money.

That shouldn’t be the theme of something ever, after all. Corporate cash and enterprise capital spoil every thing. And simply since you’re used to it during the last couple of years – between the College Basketball Crown, the enlargement of the NCAA event with no recourse for mid-majors to play extra high-major opponents, and nearly each growth in faculty soccer, doesn’t imply now we have to just accept the brand new actuality of school basketball. Looking, after all, at you, Jeff Goodman.

The Players Era Festival has been all the fad, and although lots of the media would have you ever imagine it’s the very best factor for school basketball because the invention of the shot clock, lots of true faculty basketball enjoyers have been seeing through the BS. It’s a sloppy, disorganized occasion created for a small few tv executives and company donors who don’t care how sloppy or disorganized it’s as a result of it makes them extra money. And a number of the faculty basketball personalities you used to suppose had been in your facet in selling the magic of giving small guys their likelihood had been out full bore selling the factor.

Sure, a number of the matchups have been high-powered and, in concept, enjoyable to observe. The small crowds, baffling 18-team construction with point-differential tiebreakers, and unfair distribution of a foolish quantity of NIL cash aren’t enjoyable. Not to say the capitalist CBB system, this perpetuates the place the wealthy applications get richer, and fewer and fewer mid-majors get legit pictures to get assertion wins and make deep runs. Now it’s popping out that the Players Era Festival is being backed by a private equity firm with ties to the United Arab Emirates. It’s actually an instance of cash as soon as once more destroying the issues we love.

So I’m gonna push again on that a bit bit. Why don’t we create enjoyable MTE’s that followers would get a kick out of watching? Tournaments based mostly on regionality? Wouldn’t it’s enjoyable to have a “King of the Region” kind event? How about different issues, like a complete event with groups having a particular colour or mascot?

Are they going to occur? Probably not, as long as we dwell in a late-stage capitalist society. Are they objectively superb concepts? Absolutely.

The concepts for a few of these MTE’s, particularly the bigger ones, had been born out of a few issues. Number one, I really like the Big 5’s format of dividing teams into pods, after which having the pod groups play one another based mostly on their end. Second, I’ve been watching lots of World Cup qualification this yr, and I really like the concept of enjoying a event each 4 years, and seeding it by averaging metrics from the final 4 years. And sure, particularly within the larger tournaments, whereas a number of the earlier rounds/pool play video games could also be a bit unbalanced when it comes to crew energy, by the top of the event, there shall be good, enjoyable matchups that might be good win alternatives for any crew. Besides, each crew has buy-games/cupcake video games anyway; this facilitates it just a bit extra.

We’re gonna begin off easy, like a brand new rock band easing into their set with a recognizable cowl (which, being in a few rock bands now, is just not one thing I’d advise. Go massive or go dwelling). This one isn’t a brand new thought. The Beanpot, as all Bostonians know, is an annual event between the 4 Division I Boston-area faculties, initially and most notably in males’s and girls’s hockey, but additionally in different sports activities like baseball and girls’s rowing. The Basketball Beanpot was really performed earlier than, within the ‘60s and ‘70s, before it fizzled out due to lack of interest.

Let’s carry it again. And, I’d say, no want to carry it in The Garden or something if we concern it received’t promote out. Let’s do a smaller area, possibly rotating between one of many on-campus arenas. And Boston College, in anticipation that your supporters might make this argument, your basketball crew isn’t now or ever ready to refuse “playing down” to mid-majors and risking tanking your NET. Your NET is already tanked by default since you’re Boston College. Give the followers a bit one thing to have enjoyable with.

Alternates: MIT, UMass Boston, UMass, the opposite Massachusetts faculties

Hopefully, in no matter afterlife does exist, there is no such thing as a sports activities playing. If the Saints are hanging out in stated afterlife, although, I think about they may make playful bets with one another when their groups are in competitors on Earth.

“Hey Joseph, get an actual-size Woj tattoo on your chest if my Bonnies beat you today.”

I’m certain they’d wish to know, identical to we’d wish to know, who the very best “Saint” crew is in faculty basketball. So let’s give it to them. With the lack of a number of Saints Francis (Saint Franci? Saints Francises?) during the last couple of years, we now have eight Saint groups in basketball, good for an MTE.

With eight groups, you could possibly play it in a number of other ways. You might do a regular eight-team, three-game occasion at a impartial website. You might play one campus recreation and two at a impartial website. I assume you could possibly play three campus video games and one at a impartial website. The geography of the scenario is a bit difficult as now we have 5 faculties in comparatively shut proximity within the mid-Atlantic area, two on the Mississippi, and Randy Bennett and the Gaels principally midway to Australia. I vote for 3 video games, three days, one impartial website. And what higher place to host than the Holy City: heat and sunny Charleston, South Carolina?

(We had been additionally down for doing the Sainthood Battle: Hispanophone Version with each San and Santa, however most of these had been in the identical convention, and we’ll see lots of them within the subsequent MTE proposal…)

I grew up in Southern California and went to video games at Pauley Pavilion as early as I can keep in mind, and I had a blast. Especially within the previous rickety place, earlier than the sterilizing makeover. Of course, the video games in opposition to Arizona and SC had been enjoyable, not even as a result of the opponents had been nice, however as a result of they had been all in our area: West coast, Pac-10 basketball.

This might shortly devolve into a chunk about Pac-12 nostalgia, however actually, it’s extra in regards to the Death of Regionality in faculty athletics. Aside from like, the MAC and the Southland and a few sprawling western conferences, regionality has largely disappeared. Wouldn’t it’s so enjoyable to have a regional MTE?

I all the time liked the concept of the Big 5 championship, though it was all the time bizarre with 5 groups, and wished SoCal had one thing comparable. Similarly, I used to be all the time fascinated by simply what number of native groups there have been in our area, whose followers would drive a few hours to see their Cal State Fullerton Titans or UC Riverside Highlanders put up a struggle in opposition to UCLA.

I believe an superior mannequin could be to play a event as soon as each 4 years. In a SoCal Cup yr, you could possibly get the common metrics of every crew during the last 4 years, and seed the groups accordingly. Then bracket out the groups into 4 pods, and play spherical robin on campus. Similar to the Big 5 event, the 4 first-place groups would play a mini two-game event at a impartial website, and the 4 second-place groups, and so forth. Unlike the Big 5 although, which appears to have set pods, I believe the bracketing of groups based mostly on metrics during the last 4 seasons would permit for brand new, thrilling combos.

A pair extra wrinkles that you just’ll see right here and in a number of the different larger brackets to return – to start with, I believe it’s good to maneuver groups round to keep away from placing too many groups from the identical convention in the identical pod. For occasion, I switched UCSD and UC Riverside under to keep away from having three Big West groups in the identical pod (UCSD is shifting to the WCC subsequent yr). The different factor is the problem of the place the campus video games shall be performed. I believe, typically, the house crew will host, aside from one twist, with the top-seeded crew enjoying on the lowest-seeded crew. This signifies that seeds one and two will host two video games every, and seeds three and 4 will host one. The UCLA’s and USC’s of the world most likely wouldn’t like enjoying video games in Bakersfield and Northridge, and the company cash infused into the event wouldn’t permit that to occur, however it will be so cool to see the smaller gyms packed to the gills only one time when a big-name crew involves city.

Check out the sector under. There is a few good basketball right here!

Oh, you want a northern model of that, you say? Then as a substitute of a two-game event on the Intuit Dome and The Pond, make it a three-game event on the Chase Center and the Kings’ area? And as a substitute of the SoCal Cup title it thePacific Pow-wow? Say no extra! (God that title sucks, we’ll give you one thing higher when the concept is formally adopted.)

Admittedly, the Northern Region – particularly, incorporating the Oregon and Washington faculties – is way more unfold out. Fresno State isn’t taking a bus experience to Seattle. But the imaginative and prescient is simply too good.

Alternates: Southern: UNLV, any of the Arizona faculties, Northern: Gonzaga, Washington State, Nevada

One extra purely geography-based one for enjoyable, and it’s going to finish on the Mecca of school basketball. We’re going to have a battle for the Apple.

I believe the enjoyable half right here is, who will get invited? TV execs most likely need UConn in there, however Storrs is an efficient three-hour drive from the City. Also, do the New Jersey faculties take offense to being lumped in with the New York faculties and vice versa?

Just for enjoyable, as a substitute of doing movable pods like we did for the West Coast, we’re going to strive fastened, geographic pods right here, barely altered to permit for a bit extra even competitors. A little bit of intra-conference motion occurring, however having Hofstra and Stony Brook in something aside from a Long Island pod is simply legal. Apologies to those that take offense to the pod names, I plead ignorance as a West Coast transplant.

Alternates: Marist, Princeton, Connecticut faculties?

If you’re a fan of a crew that goes by Wildcats or Cougars, I hate to interrupt it to you that your crew’s nickname sucks. You needs to be embarrassed when your crew performs one other crew with the identical nickname after which it will get complicated after which they must specify which “Wildcats” or “Cougars” they’re speaking about.

So why don’t we take that confusion degree to the utmost. Everyone’s the Cougars and Wildcats. Make the commentators sweat a bit; they nearly can’t use “Cougars” and “Wildcats”, until they wish to make some humorous quip specifying which cats they’re referring to, and there are such a lot of humorous quips per recreation. It’s like a recreation of King’s Cup the place the query grasp makes a rule and no one can level or say one another’s title, besides on a dwell broadcast. Amazing. Also apparently I’m nonetheless a excessive schooler for needing to make use of “King’s Cup” to make a comparability.

Jokes apart, a part of the explanation it really works is as a result of there’s precisely 16 Wildcat and Cougar groups mixed. Here’s the bracket under, with the seeds adjusted barely based mostly on true seeding ideas to permit for slight geographical manipulation. The unique seeds, based mostly on the four-year common Kenpom score, is the seed given.

Also thought of: Panthers, Tigers, Lions

The Purple Nurple, introduced by Bop-It, particularly the Twist-it knob

Alright, now we’re actually going onerous, we’re as much as 32 groups now. Originally, I didn’t suppose that many groups wore purple, so I went manually selecting via this map and manually catalogued the entire groups till I noticed we had been getting up in direction of 30. Originally, I ended up with 30, however on that very day, I so occurred to come across a publish from our associates @T3Bracketology on Twitter quizzing their followers and later confirming there are a fair 32 groups with some purple.

So I went for it. I began with the highest eight seeds based on their common Kenpom rating within the final 4 years, and from there tried to steadiness every four-team pool each when it comes to common Kenpom and common seed as finest I might whereas retaining some semblance of regionality. Honestly, constructing this area and organizing the swimming pools particularly was simply essentially the most enjoyable a part of all of this.

Nobody would ever conform to this in a event this spread-out, however I nonetheless suppose it will be cool for the highest seed in every pool to play one highway recreation on the weakest crew within the pool. And clearly, it goes with out saying, however groups are solely allowed to put on their purple-focused dwelling and away jerseys. Any non-compliant groups shall be executed. (Looking at you, Clemson.)

Come on! This bangs so freaking onerous! Who’s with me!

The ‘Do You Look Good In Orange’ Classic, sponsored by Citizens for A Better Jeff Goodman

Okay, so I do know that is actually the identical precise factor, however as I stated, I had a blast constructing the pods and I actually couldn’t resist a light-hearted tease of our expensive good friend and biggest fan, Jeff Goodman. There’s solely 31 groups with orange per our good friend T3, so congratulations, University of Findlay in Ohio, you get to be our Division II consultant (largely on the again of your undefeated National Championship season nearly 20 years in the past).

Would Homefield be keen to create a Goodman-inspired merch for the champs?

The Oliver Purnell Classic

Did you already know that Oliver Purnell has by no means been fired from a head teaching job?

This might come as a shock to anybody that’s not a real Mid-Major Madness previous head. Surely, he soured on the Clemson fanbase after three first-round exits within the massive dance. And if not that, his 5 seasons at DePaul, none higher than 12-19, received him canned the day after his final Big East event exit.

Nope, that man left each job on his personal. Truly, it’s one of many exceptional wonders of the world. You might make the argument, naturally, that he’s the best coach of all time. We have to get all of his faculties collectively, play a bit event, and have fun the legend that’s him.