New Sunbelt Tournament

[spacemonkey]

It will give a good chance for a higher rated team making the NCAA. I guess they gave up on selling any tickets for the tournament. If your team is a 1 or 2 seed they will only play two games. My first glance and reaction....I DON"T LIKE IT. I understand why, but the tournament is so much fun. Cinderella will be completely worn out by the time they get to play a top seeded team.

[AppGrad78]

I like the new format. There’s still a chance for a Cinderella showing, only now Cinderella will need to finish in the top eight or better in the regular season. Those bottom six will have a rough row to hoe.

[Stonewall]

Attendance is ummmm lackluster as it stands. Don’t see this helping.

[scatman77]

Any first semester Physical Education, Recreation major knows that you never give any byes if at all possible unless the number of participants is not a multiple of 2-4-8-16, etc. Plus you never give byes into the semifinals; they should come early. I'm not sure what the SB braintrust is thinking here but I'm not a big fan of the brackets.

[spacemonkey]

They are trying to force our highest ranked team into the ncaa tournament hoping to get a better higher seed and therefore a possible winnable game against a 4/5 seed instead of a 1/2 seed first round match up. A win in the ncaa tournament gives the conference ncaa tournament credits ( credits translate to $)

[BambooRdApp]

I like the format. Regular season matters even more ..

[Bigdaddyg1]

If you finish 9th or worse in any conference regular season you really have no business playing in the Big Dance. Rolling through a regular season and finishing 1st or 2nd should absolutely provide a reward. Is this the proper solution? Probably not but there is always an issue with any format. We benefited from a magical run several years ago then got bounced in the goofy playin game. I’ve always thought that if they want to expand the tournament format add several regional type playin games for that Tuesday/Wednesday and give the top 4 overall seeds a first round bye into the weekend.

[AppinVA]

I used to think that every team deserved a shot at the conference tournament, and I wish we still could, but as the numbers went from 12 to 14, it’s become unwieldy. Take the top 10, have the lowest four out of that play-in at the higher seeds on Tuesday and take the top eight to Pensacola.

And move back to the last week. We aren’t the Big South or the MAAC, so let’s not act like it.

[Stonewall]

Dave Schultz Locked on Sunbelt gives a good take on the new set up.

[agentpaul001]

I like the adjustments. All the more reason to perform in the regular season. I agree having bottom seeds play at home for a few days would be nice. Push attendance with the higher seeds.

How many would risk booking a hotel only to see your team not play… ideally a tight three or four days…

[AppGrad78]

After losing in the semis last spring, the hotel where we stayed at in Pensacola allowed us to cancel the remaining portion of our reservation without a charge.