Ivy League considering post-season tourney?

According to Seth Davis at the CNN/SI website, the Ivy League has formed a "subcommittee of four athletic directors" to look into the idea of holding a post-season basketball tournament. Currently, the Ivy League is the only Division I conference that doesn't hold one.

Here's the article: [sportsillustrated.cnn.com]

Boo.

KeithK
Boo.

Why boo? (Sorry, I'm too lazy to go back and look for previous discussions on this topic.)

Josh '99

KeithK
Boo.

Why boo? (Sorry, I'm too lazy to go back and look for previous discussions on this topic.)

Hahahahahaha. KeithK considers the World Series a corruption of the baseball season!

On the other hand, I also say boo. I like the tradition of letting the regular season stand on its own. I like being the holdout. I like that the best team from our conference always goes to the tournament and our representative doesn't get stuck in the PIG. I'd also be upset if they allowed a postseason basketball tournament while (a) continuing to restrict the number of permitted hockey games and (b) declining to participate in the I-AA football playoffs.

I am not in favor of a tournament...with the Big Red's luck of late, we'd actually win the season title and lose in the first round of tournament....leaving us at home yet again.

ugarte

Josh '99

KeithK
Boo.

Why boo? (Sorry, I'm too lazy to go back and look for previous discussions on this topic.)

Hahahahahaha. KeithK considers the World Series a corruption of the baseball season!

On the other hand, I also say boo. I like the tradition of letting the regular season stand on its own. I like being the holdout. I like that the best team from our conference always goes to the tournament and our representative doesn't get stuck in the PIG. I'd also be upset if they allowed a postseason basketball tournament while (a) continuing to restrict the number of permitted hockey games and (b) declining to participate in the I-AA football playoffs.

Not participating in the I-AA football playoffs seems kinda stupid to me too, but that's another issue. The Ivy League doesn't have a problem with our hockey teams playing in the ECAC tournament or the NCAA tournament. That seems to be a better comparison than changing the number of RS hockey games, IMO.

Do any Ivy teams ever get invited to the NIT? Are they allowed to participate? Would the second team in the Ivy have any chance of winning a game in the NIT?

Josh '99
The Ivy League doesn't have a problem with our hockey teams playing in the ECAC tournament or the NCAA tournament. That seems to be a better comparison than changing the number of RS hockey games, IMO.

The comparison has its merits, but Ivy basketball plays as many games as its rivals during the regular season but has no conference tournament; hockey team plays fewer games than non-Ivy schools but does play in the ECAC tournament.

Ivy hockey teams also play in a conference with non-Ivy teams and may have to make concessions to keep from being a marginalized 6 team conference. I doubt that the non-Ivy teams would give up the conference tournament and the NCAA probably wouldn't let them play it without half of the teams eligible.

Yes, the ivies can play in the NIT. In '02, when Yale, Princeton, and Penn tied for the Ivy title both Yale and Princeton got invites to the NIT. Yale actually won in the opening round.

The chance of an ivy team making the field decrease a little bit this year, as the NIT field shrunk from 40 to 32 teams. On the other hand, ESPN no longer gets to pick the teams in the tournament (as they hand in the past).

Also of note to the Ivy tournament / no tournament debate is that the NIT guarantees the regular season winner of all conferences a bid if that teams fails to win their conference tournament.

Josh '99

KeithK
Boo.

Why boo? (Sorry, I'm too lazy to go back and look for previous discussions on this topic.)

Totally not worth rehashing this argument. I've been through it half a dozen times here at least and I know I'm in the minority. Thus the one word answer. If you want more then stop being lazy!

How convenient now that Princeton is 2-7 in-league.

ugarte
Ivy hockey teams also play in a conference with non-Ivy teams and may have to make concessions to keep from being a marginalized 6 team conference. I doubt that the non-Ivy teams would give up the conference tournament and the NCAA probably wouldn't let them play it without half of the teams eligible.

Why would we WANT to give up the ECAC tournament? The ECAC tournament is great.

Josh '99

ugarte
Ivy hockey teams also play in a conference with non-Ivy teams and may have to make concessions to keep from being a marginalized 6 team conference. I doubt that the non-Ivy teams would give up the conference tournament and the NCAA probably wouldn't let them play it without half of the teams eligible.

Why would we WANT to give up the ECAC tournament? The ECAC tournament is great.

We wouldn't. How could that possibly be my point? My point is that by cutting back on games in one stage of the season, hockey teams can "afford" the extra games in the tournament.

I don't doubt that - over time - the Ivy tournament could grow into something great. I'm still against it.

ugarte

Josh '99

ugarte
Ivy hockey teams also play in a conference with non-Ivy teams and may have to make concessions to keep from being a marginalized 6 team conference. I doubt that the non-Ivy teams would give up the conference tournament and the NCAA probably wouldn't let them play it without half of the teams eligible.

Why would we WANT to give up the ECAC tournament? The ECAC tournament is great.

We wouldn't. How could that possibly be my point? My point is that by cutting back on games in one stage of the season, hockey teams can "afford" the extra games in the tournament.

I don't doubt that - over time - the Ivy tournament could grow into something great. I'm still against it.

Sorry - looks like I misunderstood you. In any case, if the AD's/presidents/whoever are willing to allow extra games, I still don't see a problem with it. Yeah, it'd be nice to see them in hockey too, but I still don't see a problem with it.

RichH
How convenient now that Princeton is 2-7 in-league.

How deep in the barrel would the Ivies dig for a tourney? Would it just be the top four, or would they two top six and with two PiGs, or completely devalue the RS by sending all eight teams?

jtwcornell91

RichH
How convenient now that Princeton is 2-7 in-league.

How deep in the barrel would the Ivies dig for a tourney? Would it just be the top four, or would they two top six and with two PiGs, or completely devalue the RS by sending all eight teams?

The ESPN article clearly assumed that it would be all eight. I think if you want a tournament, you could kill two birds with one stone, here - make the tournament at least somewhat more respectable as a genuine metric of success by only letting the top four teams in. This also removes the problem of Thursday games interfering with academics, which is one of the main drawbacks for the Ivy Presidents. Top seed hosts, semifinals on Friday, consy and final on Saturday.

See? I should be an Ivy AD!

you can have Andy Noel's job.

you got my vote.