Playoff question

[Griz2k]

I thought I remembered at one time that there was talk of getting rid of "regional matchups" in the playoffs. Does anyone know if that ever came about?

 

[SACCAT66]

I thought I remembered at one time that there was talk of getting rid of "regional matchups" in the playoffs. Does anyone know if that ever came about?

There was a lot of talk about it, but because of travel costs, it will never end. Second round will always set up to be the closest to whomever is the favorite playing whomever should win the first round.

 

[HookedonGriz]

There’s actually a chance, because of that, the Griz and Cats could meet again in the playoffs shortly after Brawl of the Wild.

 

[Mtgrizpolson]

Almost happened a few years ago...if the kittens would have won in the first round, they would have come to Missoula. Only time I can remember in my life really pulling for them. But alas, it was not to be.

 

[EverettGriz]

I believe the rules the committee operates under state they are not required to adhere to regionalization. But they do. Always. Because there’s no money at this level.

 

[Griz2k]

Interesting. I saw in the latest "bracketology" that should msu win their first round game, they'd go to Weber and the winner of that game could play Sac St.

 

[IdaGriz01]

I believe the rules the committee operates under state they are not required to adhere to regionalization. But they do. Always. Because there’s no money at this level.

Just did a bit of research and discovered something very interesting in an article from 2016 (when the NCAA supposedly "eliminated" regionalization). It was from a James Madison blog, but there's no reason to suppose that his information was wrong.
https://jmusportsblog.com/?p=8591

Here's the key quote:

The gripes are legit. Well intentioned as it might have been, regionalization was a bit of a bummer. Well now it’s going away. Sort of. The NCAA Division 1 Football Oversight Committee voted to eliminate regionalization starting in this years’ playoffs. But there’s a catch. The change will only go into effect if four teams from a single conference make the 24 team playoff. The change still needs to be passed by the NCAA Division 1 Council at its meeting in October, but signs indicate it will.

So far as I can tell, that was indeed the rule change that passed. If that "catch" is still in place, that goes a long way to explain why we almost never see anything but regionalized matchups. Reading other, more recent articles about the pairings makes it pretty clear that 400 miles is still the "magic number." Once the eight seeds are assigned, the committee is required to look for an opponent within that distance. That works fine (I guess) on the East Coast, perhaps okay in the Midwest, but is a joke out here.

 

[GRIZFAN20]

Almost happened a few years ago...if the kittens would have won in the first round, they would have come to Missoula. Only time I can remember in my life really pulling for them. But alas, it was not to be.

Are you thinking of 2011 when the Cats played Sam Houston in the quarterfinals & a win by them would have set up Cat/Griz 2.0 in Missoula to go to the title game? That would have been an epic matchup, although it would have been "erased" from the record books years later due to sanctions anyways....

 

[mtgrizfankb]

Ncaa has it laid out online. No conference teams that played each other In the regular season can play in the first round. All 16 non seeds are paired based upon regionalization. No team can travel more than 400 miles via ground transport.

 

[Mtgrizpolson]

Almost happened a few years ago...if the kittens would have won in the first round, they would have come to Missoula. Only time I can remember in my life really pulling for them. But alas, it was not to be.

Are you thinking of 2011 when the Cats played Sam Houston in the quarterfinals & a win by them would have set up Cat/Griz 2.0 in Missoula to go to the title game? That would have been an epic matchup, although it would have been "erased" from the record books years later due to sanctions anyways....

That’s the one. Would have been amazing.