Get Rid of Conference Tournaments

I will be honest; I could do without conference tournaments.  They are unrealistic, overhyped, and frustrating.

As a subscriber to this sports blog, you inevitably ran into the ESPN “Championship Week!” commercials.  Also, as someone who reads my likely meaningless words, you probably see eye-to-eye with me on many issues, including how annoying these commercials were.  The hype for these conference tournaments is unbelievable.   Do you really care who wins the Horizon League?  I don’t, until I see a bracket.  And yet, we are berated by an onslaught of inconsequential basketball games – even in the major conferences.  Don’t get me wrong, I love watching college basketball, but I am just trying to get you to see conference tournaments for what they really are: money-makers for television networks.

You may not all agree with me, in fact, for some people, the conference tournament is an image of hope, as sitting atop the figurative Aggro Crag representing a grueling, 4-day tournament is an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.  An automatic bid essentially erasing 4 months of poor play, and replacing a dreadful season with, believe it or not, a conference championship!  Can you believe it folks; it only takes 4 wins to make the NCAA Tournament. 

For some people the conference tournament is a source of fear (see: Penn State, St. Mary’s, San Diego State, etc.).  Teams like Cleveland State (52 RPI, only 2 wins against the top 50, one of those coming in the conference tournament) stole a bid from an arguably more deserving team like St. Mary’s, whose only sin was having their star player get hurt, or Penn State, whose unforgivable transgression was scheduling a relaxed non-conference schedule. 

The reason that this fear exists is simply because teams KNOW they are in.  It is really not surprising that during “Championship Week” there are so many upsets.  The classic upset follows the formula of teams playing for their lives vs. teams that only care about seeding.  If anyone watched the Pitt Game, or the LSU-Miss. State game, you know they didn’t give it their all.

The lack of effort stems from a natural human reaction to a meaningless game: apathy.  If LSU won the SEC would they have gotten a higher seed than 8 seed?  Maybe, but they would not likely have gotten a much higher seed than a 7.  So, what difference does it make to LSU if they lose to Mississippi State and get a day off instead of playing for a conference tournament championship?  Exactly, nothing.

So, unlike any other tournament in major sports, conference tournaments are completely unrealistic.  College Basketball teams never play more than 2 games a week, except in this tournament.  Even in the NCAA tournament, teams get a day off between matchups.  In a conference tournament, teams have to play 3-4 days in a row to win the tournament.  Do good teams really want to wear themselves out for 3 more days before eventually receiving that inevitable #1 seed?  Pitt didn’t, Michigan State didn’t mind settling on a #2.

So, I ask you this.  Would you really miss the conference tournament?  If they moved the NCAA tournament a week earlier (thereby making it really March madness, instead of March/April madness), would you care?  Would you feel outraged if you were a Miss. State fan?  Or would do you sympathize with the Penn State fan?  I guess my point is the season is 30+ games in duration, while the conference tournament is 3-4 games long.  Clearly the longevity of the regular season is a much better representation of a team’s success.  So erase the conference tournament and make the selection committee’s job a little easier because I think most see my point and could really take or leave the conference tournament.