-- [ From: [log in to unmask] * EMC.Ver #2.5.02 ] --
 
OK, I'll opine about the change in the ECAC format.
 
Effects:
 
Another team gets a  home first round series  (good)
Another team attracts fans to Placid  (probably a wash)
Ugly Tuesday game doesn't happen anymore (very, very good)
Ugly Thursday game happens now (just as bad)
One SF is less interesting (bad)
1 seed has an easier ride to the NCAAs (good -- for them :-)
4+ seeds have a much harder path there (bad for the Cinderella stories)
 
The argument that this somehow benefits the student-athlete is specious: two
schools' players used to miss two extra days of classes, now one school's
players miss two days and another misses one extra day, while the
uncertainty of advance likely causes everybody lack of sleep.  A wash.
 
Also unclear is whether this will bring in any more cash for the ECAC.  Who
is going to make the trip up for the Thursday game, miss two days of school
(or work), for a 50% chance of immediate termination or, with a win, maybe a
75% chance of losing to the rested SF opponent?  But the possibility is
there, and the ECAC is entitled to experiment with ways of maximizing
revenue.  Probably one extra RPI or Cornell appearance per decade will
finance the cost of venue of the extra night.
 
About the effect on ECAC representatives to the NCAA: I think the enhanced
chance of the #1 winning the title and thus locking in a 1R bye in the NCAA
is the most dramatic effect.  In this way, the benefit to RS titlest
cascades from the ECACs to the NCAAs, and that's good.
 
Kinda interesting that after years of thinking "top 4 seed" as the goal of
the RS, now we'll all be thinking in a more pyrimidal fashion:
 
#1: great
#2-3: avoid the play-in, good
#4: get a home series but likely have to deal with play-in
#5: get a home series and a better shot at the show: great
 
I think this makes the contest for each "step" on the RS ladder more
significant, and that's good.
 
I would really like to hate this system, but the most Sustained Outrage I
can manage is that it breaks up the natural division of the F4 building into
corners-by-team, which I'm sure will make for some really ugly crowd configs
, and I also have a sneaking suspicion that attendence for the title game
will drop as now 3/5ths of the teams will be unrepresented.
 
-- Greg
 
 
 
 
 
 
--
 
*********************************************
*   Greg R. Berge
*   Kathleen A. Workman
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