2025 B1G Tournament
- Thread starter Mavric
- Start date
admo
New member
Ok so if I got this right, it's 3 teams in a Pool with double-loss elimination, and at least 2 of the 3 teams will be eliminated before Saturday. The single team that was not eliminated, will play Saturday for the semi-final against another Pool winner. And the winner of that game will play Sunday in the Final. Seemed confusing at first lol.
commando
New member
commando
New member
Instead of a traditional double- or single-elimination bracket, the Big Ten Tournament begins with four pools of three teams. Those three teams play the rest of their pool, with the pool winner advancing to the semifinals. From there, the tournament plays out in a classic single-elimination fashion. As for ties, as in if all teams go 1-1 in pool play, that goes to the highest seed. This makes it imperative for the seeds 5-12 to not drop a game and leave it up to the tiebreakers.
https://www.si.com/college/nebraska/baseball/explaining-the-big-ten-new-baseball-tournament-format-omaha-nebraska-iowa-oregon
https://www.si.com/college/nebraska/baseball/explaining-the-big-ten-new-baseball-tournament-format-omaha-nebraska-iowa-oregon
Agree. I don't like that highest seed in pods win tiebreaker. And single elimination is pretty rough in a baseball tourney.
Eh ... it's not my favorite but I think it's the best option for the conference as a whole. It gets more teams in the tournament but still limits the games so pitching staffs aren't totally burned out.
On one hand I don't like have to use the tie-breaker but on the other hand, they earned it in the regular season.
Lorewarn
Active member
I think it's biggest flaw is that it can fairly easily result in some actually literally meaningless games in a postseason tournament.
If we lose to MSU we still have to play a pointless game against Oregon even though it can't do anything for us. If we lose to MSU and Oregon beats MSU, then Nebraska and Oregon still have to play on Friday even though the game is literally pointless for both teams as Oregon will still advance no matter what and we can't.
I don't think I've ever seen a postseason format that leads to easy scenarios with games being played with zero implications. That's bananas.
admo
New member
Top 4 teams in each pod can advance with just one win (oregon, ucla, iowa, usc) and they only play 2 games.
That's their reward for being the best in conference. The idea is to have them play in the Semi's - if they are as good as they should be. And then represent the B1G in the playoffs.
With this format, I think it gives opportunity for more teams to participate. But keep in mind, the B1G isn't trying to reward the 9-12 teams for playing meh.
Just got remember that Some teams get hot at the end of the year. And it doesn't matter where they are ranked or who they need to beat to win it all.
In fact, we just did that very recently
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That's a fair criticism. But it does limit the number of games teams have to play. College pitching staffs aren't that deep. So even though the games are meaningful, you are left trying to band aid a couple games together with pitchers either you wouldn't normally pitch or pitching way longer than you want them to. So it's not necessarily a great representation of the actual team. To say nothing of the crazy schedule that has ensued the last several years because of how many games they are trying to squeeze in at all hours of the day and night.
I do agree that if they were going to go this route, they should have tried to schedule it so that teams aren't eliminated after the first game.
And, now that I think about it, the games are not necessarily meaningless. Having one team eliminated is not the same thing as having the game be meaningless. Teams playing games after they have been eliminated from competition happens every year in every sport.
Lorewarn
Active member
Not in the postseason, as far as I can tell.
I understand why they did it, they want as many eyeballs as possible and more games + more teams = more viewership, but it feels lame as hell. Hopefully we win and don't have to worry about it.
I'm sure more games and more TV revenue is part of it. But it's also tough to know where to draw the line if it were fewer teams. This year, five teams would have been a clean break. But that doesn't make for much of a tournament, unless you do a round robin, which doesn't identify a championship game. After that, the next six teams are all between 16-14 and 14-16. Pretty hard to really say which teams are more deserving.
What format would you suggest?
admo
New member
I would have the B1G tourney in Omaha with just four teams. The top 4 play a format like the NCAA Regional with double elim. The winner is Conference Champ.
And most years the top 4 are the best teams anyway and 3 will likely make a Regional. Most years all 4 teams will. And that's what you want (B1G).
However, I would also have another tourney played elsewhere. Like Maryland's new park, or Lincoln (it's probably the nicest).
This tournament is the Console Tourney. (for Consolation of course).
8 teams (ranked 5-12) with single elim. Four teams will play one game and go home. Two teams will play two games and go home. The final two teams will end up playing 3 games including the Tourney championship.
Why have a separate tourney for consolation?
IMHO is when teams finish 9th - 12th (and sometimes 8th too), your ball club didn't have a great year and is basically a ".500" team, for whatever reasons (injuries, hitting, pitching, defense, etc). They should just be happy to play more baseball - but against teams they are more even with.
And it could also be it's possible that the winner might have a shot to play in a Regional.
For example, take Michigan. They are 7th in conf at 16-14 record. However, they are 33-22 overall. If they win the Console Tourney (that's 3 games) they finish 36-22 (with 19 conf wins). That ought to be enough to make a Regional.
However, take Nebraska. They are 8th at 15-15. But 28-27 overall If NU wins the Console they would be 31-27. That may or may not be enough to make Regional.
So my suggestion would be an "A Tourney" and "B Tourney". If that's even allowed.
And most years the top 4 are the best teams anyway and 3 will likely make a Regional. Most years all 4 teams will. And that's what you want (B1G).
However, I would also have another tourney played elsewhere. Like Maryland's new park, or Lincoln (it's probably the nicest).
This tournament is the Console Tourney. (for Consolation of course).
8 teams (ranked 5-12) with single elim. Four teams will play one game and go home. Two teams will play two games and go home. The final two teams will end up playing 3 games including the Tourney championship.
Why have a separate tourney for consolation?
IMHO is when teams finish 9th - 12th (and sometimes 8th too), your ball club didn't have a great year and is basically a ".500" team, for whatever reasons (injuries, hitting, pitching, defense, etc). They should just be happy to play more baseball - but against teams they are more even with.
And it could also be it's possible that the winner might have a shot to play in a Regional.
For example, take Michigan. They are 7th in conf at 16-14 record. However, they are 33-22 overall. If they win the Console Tourney (that's 3 games) they finish 36-22 (with 19 conf wins). That ought to be enough to make a Regional.
However, take Nebraska. They are 8th at 15-15. But 28-27 overall If NU wins the Console they would be 31-27. That may or may not be enough to make Regional.
So my suggestion would be an "A Tourney" and "B Tourney". If that's even allowed.