I know I am in the minority, but I hate the NCAA Tournament. I think it's the worst way to crown a champion. There's no advantage to being a higher seed. Can we please get the first 2 rounds at home of the higher seed, and then move the sweet 16 on to neutral courts?
Highest seeds generally get something close to homecourt - UNC and/or Duke almost always get to play in Raleigh or Greensboro for example. Even when they aren't as close the tourney's structured so they travel less. The main advantage is that you're playing inferior teams, though.
I think the problem with actual HCA is scheduling and $. The NCAA doesn't want to have to use a tiny venue like Cameron Indoor for their marquee event when they could sell 4x the tickets in a bigger arena.
A couple problems I have:
1) Read a good article from Joe Lunardi explaining how poorly the committee did scheduling teams close to their respective areas. For example, I think Oregon is playing in Providence Rhode Island.
2) Right you're supposed to play an inferior team, but in this format it gives everyone an equal chance. That's fine if that's what you're going for, but then seeding is pointless. That's like Golden State playing a one game series against Utah on a neutral court. Utah could win that game even though they're the 'inferior opponent'
3) I get the money thing, and that's why the tournament will never change because of how much money it makes, but the Women's tournament have HCA in the first 2 rounds, so it can be done.
I respect your points but I don't think seeding is "pointless" when you're playing inferior teams. Even though everything gets settled on the court and everyone starts 0-0, there's a big difference between UNC having to play FGCU and USC vs, say, Purdue and Kentucky to get to the Sweet 16. Sure, the lower seed could win, but what's the alternative? Series are impractical, and any format that virtually guarantees the best team wins calls into question why those lesser teams should even be allowed in. Upsets are part of the equation and make the tournament more exciting in my opinion.
Oregon is playing in Spokane, Washington BTW.
1) You're right. It's fun to cheer for the 'cinderella team', and upsets are fun. That's why it'll never change.
2) The alternative: Play rounds 1 and 2 with a legit home court advantage. Cameron indoor, Dean dome, Carrier dome etc. If Yale wins on the road at Baylor that's a good win and good for them.
3) Won't get into it, but sure, I am ok with getting rid of automatic bids to lesser conferences, again it won't ever happen, but in college football a 12-0 MAC champion probably won't make a big time bowl, so why include a 14-19 Holy Cross?
4) I agree a 1 seed playing a 16 seed matters. The stats prove it. Never has a 1 seed lost. As you go down the list and get to that 8-9 matchup you start seeing them matter less. What advantage did Baylor have over yale yesterday? Or Little Rock over Purdue? They didn't have one, so that means that 5 seed was meaningless.
5) Sorry for the mess up on that Oregon statement, maybe if they win they need to go to Providence? I thought I remembered them being connected to Providence, but I could be totally mistaken.