Even with win, BG can no longer gain bye. 5/6 seed only

[Matty B]

Is there any other conference that does this, at any level, for anything?

Yes, the Big East does EXACTLY this, for men's basketball (they have 16 teams but only the top 12 make the conference tourney). Last year, UCONN was the 8 seed and they had to and DID win 5 straight games to get an automatic bid to the big dance. One could probably argue that they made the most of that ticket as well.

[transfer2BGSU]

Yes, the Big East does EXACTLY this, for men's basketball (they have 16 teams but only the top 12 make the conference tourney). Last year, UCONN was the 8 seed and they had to and DID win 5 straight games to get an automatic bid to the big dance. One could probably argue that they made the most of that ticket as well.

UCONN won what? Eleven straight to close out the year?

[TG1996]

The Horizon League does something similar, if not identical, and I believe EVERY game is played at the site of the higher seed, or at the very least, the semis & finals are played at the home of the conference regular season champion.

[Warthog]

I absolutely love the new tournament format and think it's probably the smartest thing the MAC has done for hoops in a LONG time.

Reward the regular season. This conference needs to do everything in its power to ensure that the very best teams are the ones making the big dance. That's the only way we'll ever consistently win NCAA games (and that means way more money).

+1. Conference tournaments are all about money. There needs to be this new format's kind of advantage to actually reward teams that had great regular season and make it harder for the mediocre team to pull an upset or two and suddenly be in the NCAA field.

[JWEIII]

The Big East does it. They're a 200 team league, and the top four teams get byes into the quarters. The lower teams have to win five games in five days to win the tourney.

Guess I'm alone on this one. I just can't wrap my head around the fact that 4 teams are essentially getting 10 byes. It screams "THE FIX IS IN." I'm cool with byes, rewarding regular season play, and all. But to automatically put a team in the semifinals dosen't pass the smell test to me. Something rotten in Cleveland (insert Browns/Cavs/Indians joke here).

I like the Big East's format. Put top 4 in the quarter finals (in a 16 team league). But 2 teams getting automatic bids to the semifinals in a 12 team league? How about 1&2 automatic quarterfinal bid, and 3&4 get bye to the second round (campus/first round/second roung/quarter/semi ect). But I guess my opinion dosen't matter. Sigh...

[Flipper]

I agree with the smart people who posted before me. This new set up is the aces...

[gmartin]

The Big East does it. They're a 200 team league, and the top four teams get byes into the quarters. The lower teams have to win five games in five days to win the tourney.

Guess I'm alone on this one. I just can't wrap my head around the fact that 4 teams are essentially getting 10 byes. It screams "THE FIX IS IN." I'm cool with byes, rewarding regular season play, and all. But to automatically put a team in the semifinals dosen't pass the smell test to me. Something rotten in Cleveland (insert Browns/Cavs/Indians joke here).

I like the Big East's format. Put top 4 in the quarter finals (in a 16 team league). But 2 teams getting automatic bids to the semifinals in a 12 team league? How about 1&2 automatic quarterfinal bid, and 3&4 get bye to the second round (campus/first round/second roung/quarter/semi ect). But I guess my opinion dosen't matter. Sigh...

You don't think 16 conference games is a big enough sample size to warrant a trip to the semis. We could just get rid of the conference tournament and award the bid to the regular season champ.

[bgsufalcon24]

The Big East does it. They're a 200 team league, and the top four teams get byes into the quarters. The lower teams have to win five games in five days to win the tourney.

Guess I'm alone on this one. I just can't wrap my head around the fact that 4 teams are essentially getting 10 byes. It screams "THE FIX IS IN." I'm cool with byes, rewarding regular season play, and all. But to automatically put a team in the semifinals dosen't pass the smell test to me. Something rotten in Cleveland (insert Browns/Cavs/Indians joke here).

I like the Big East's format. Put top 4 in the quarter finals (in a 16 team league). But 2 teams getting automatic bids to the semifinals in a 12 team league? How about 1&2 automatic quarterfinal bid, and 3&4 get bye to the second round (campus/first round/second roung/quarter/semi ect). But I guess my opinion dosen't matter. Sigh...

You don't think 16 conference games is a big enough sample size to warrant a trip to the semis. We could just get rid of the conference tournament and award the bid to the regular season champ.

That'd be fine with me. It's good enough for the Ivy League anyway...

[hammb]

The Big East does it. They're a 200 team league, and the top four teams get byes into the quarters. The lower teams have to win five games in five days to win the tourney.

Guess I'm alone on this one. I just can't wrap my head around the fact that 4 teams are essentially getting 10 byes. It screams "THE FIX IS IN." I'm cool with byes, rewarding regular season play, and all. But to automatically put a team in the semifinals dosen't pass the smell test to me. Something rotten in Cleveland (insert Browns/Cavs/Indians joke here).

I like the Big East's format. Put top 4 in the quarter finals (in a 16 team league). But 2 teams getting automatic bids to the semifinals in a 12 team league? How about 1&2 automatic quarterfinal bid, and 3&4 get bye to the second round (campus/first round/second roung/quarter/semi ect). But I guess my opinion dosen't matter. Sigh...

You don't think 16 conference games is a big enough sample size to warrant a trip to the semis. We could just get rid of the conference tournament and award the bid to the regular season champ.

That'd be fine with me. It's good enough for the Ivy League anyway...

Like I said, that is definitely the ideal solution, but there is money to be made off a conference tourney so they play the tourney.

It's not a "fix" when the teams that get those free rides earned them by playing the best during the 16 game regular conference season. They deserve every advantage they receive.

And I also firmly believe that anything that ensures the best MAC team is the one making the dance is a GOOD thing for this conference. An NCAA tournament team effectively doubles the payout the MAC gets from the NCAA. That's a really big deal for a one bid conference.

[BGSU33]

The Big East does it. They're a 200 team league, and the top four teams get byes into the quarters. The lower teams have to win five games in five days to win the tourney.

Guess I'm alone on this one. I just can't wrap my head around the fact that 4 teams are essentially getting 10 byes. It screams "THE FIX IS IN." I'm cool with byes, rewarding regular season play, and all. But to automatically put a team in the semifinals dosen't pass the smell test to me. Something rotten in Cleveland (insert Browns/Cavs/Indians joke here).

I like the Big East's format. Put top 4 in the quarter finals (in a 16 team league). But 2 teams getting automatic bids to the semifinals in a 12 team league? How about 1&2 automatic quarterfinal bid, and 3&4 get bye to the second round (campus/first round/second roung/quarter/semi ect). But I guess my opinion dosen't matter. Sigh...

You don't think 16 conference games is a big enough sample size to warrant a trip to the semis. We could just get rid of the conference tournament and award the bid to the regular season champ.

That'd be fine with me. It's good enough for the Ivy League anyway...

If we had that format, we'd have finally earned a trip to the NCAA Tournament! Several times in fact, including a few year ago. But I do enjoy the conference tournament. I would just enjoy it more if we could ever win the damn thing. That is something no one has ever seen, because BG has never, ever done it. I know there are some of us on this board who saw and or remember BG being in the NCAA Tournament way the hell back in 1968, but I would guess many are in the same boat as me as either not being born or not old enough to remember. But whether you are 18 or 88, none of us have witnessed BG winning the MAC Tournament. We made the finals a decade ago (2002) and lost to Kent State the year they advanced to the Elite 8. We also made the finals in 1983 when we hosted the damn thing, having lost to Ohio in Anderson Arena after having swept OU in the regular season. And we lost in the finals in the first year of the MAC Tournament in 1980 to Toledo.

[BGSU33]

A MAC East team has won the MAC Tournament the last seven consecutive years (and very likely will be eight);

Ohio - 2005
Kent State - 2006
Miami - 2007
Kent State - 2008
Akron - 2009
Ohio - 2010
Akron - 2011

However, the entire MAC West has (WMU, CMU, EMU, Ball State, Toledo and NIU) have all won the MAC Tournament at least once. Only BG and Buffalo have not won the MAC Tournament and UB joined the MAC way after BG and not too long ago.

Ball State has made 29 appearances in the tournament and won 7 titles, Ohio made 29 and won 5, Kent State made 27 and won 5, Miami and EMU both made 29 and won 4, and BG made 27 and won none. Akron made 15 and won 2, CMU made 18 and won 2, NIU made 15 and won 1, Toledo made 27 and won 1, and WMU made 25 and won 1. Buffalo has made 11 and won none.

I have watched loaded BG teams in 1997, 2000 and 2002 led by some of our best players ever in Antonio Daniels, Anthony Stacey and Keith McLeod fall short. We just can't win the tournament and until we do, I will continue to expect us to fall short. It's all we have ever done. I wish like hell we'd win it, just once, but seeing is believing for me at this point.