AZDoc said:
grizzlyjournal said:
I believe this tourney has a pre-determined number of guaranteed games for each team, so each school knows how many games are on its schedule.
So that's the loophole...they can play over if they
advance then.
[NO] I knew there was a loophole, but honestly didn't remember what it was and was too lazy to look it up. Thanks a lot.
Actually, according to the Legends site and the Wikipedia item, it's a bit more complicated. Here's a good introduction to next year's teams:
http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/030617aab.html
Legends said:
... Montana (Head Coach: Travis DeCuire, Big Sky Conference) – Montana alum Travis DeCuire has done something no coach in school history has done – lead the Griz to back-to-back 20-win seasons in his first two years at the helm of the program…this year Montana is 16-15 with a roster that features 11 underclassmen and no seniors in the starting rotation…the Griz are led by the sophomore backcourt of Ahmaad Rorie and Michael Oquine…Montana has been to 10 NCAA Tournaments…this will be the Griz’ first appearance in the Legends Classic.
...
The format is more than a little weird.
The host teams
always move on to the matchups in New York. Of course, from the looks of the scheduled matchups, they always get to feast on two mid- or lower-level opponents on their home floors. I suppose that sets some kind of seeding for the semi-finals. Then each host is guaranteed two games in New York ... a semifinal and then the championship or a consolation game.
The web site does not say what happens if a "cupcake" (so-called) happens to upset a host team, but I see no provision for them to go off to New York. Each non-host team plays two host teams in the first rounds ... so Eastern Washington played at Texas and then at Northwestern in 2016. Then the four non-host teams go off to some sub-region while the four host teams head for New York. Last year, EWU was the site of the sub-region with EWU playing Bryant and Seattle playing UL-Monroe in their semifinals. Looking at the EWU schedule (posted at ESPN), I see they beat Bryant and then Seattle in double-OT.