I see that they awarded out to 8th place at the Pac 10 tournament. Why? It was an 8 man bracket. Did all the coaches want to insure their kids got at least 3 matches in???? It's an NCAA Division 1 conference championship, not a high school JV tournament.
Bob, I thought you were smarter than that. Because of the variable allocations for placement in the NCAA tournament, it may be critical to go down to the full 8 places regardless of how many teams are there. They aren't going to change the structure of the tournament at the last minute when the allocations are announced the week of the tournament. In the Big 10, those 8 places are completely relevant since there are up to 8 places earning automatic berths to the national championships. It may seem weird (the correct spelling of that word by the way), but it isn't really if you understand the logistics.
I admit that I don't understand all of the logistics for how the NCAA allocates all the slots to the Championship Tournament in Omaha. But, I still have questions and it sounds like you know the system better. So here goes:
1. The Pac 10 has a specified number of automatic allocations per weight based on RPI. That came to a total of 33 slots. Do they have the potential for more than 33 slots based on what happens in other conferences/qualifiers?
2. If there are additional slots possible, how are they allocated or determined? Back when I was in college, the NCAA gave a certain number of allocations to each conference. Then, the conference had automatic qualifiying for specified placewinners. Then, beyond that, were wild card slots. So, for example, EIWA had 34 slots. The top 3 finishers in each weight qualified for the NCAAs out of each 16 man bracket. That left 4 wild card slots that the coaches then voted on to award to whoever they wanted. Those wild cards sometimes went to wrestlers who placed lower than 4th, even though the 4th place winner didn't get a wild card. How does that work nowadays?
3. Pac 10 had 5 automatic slots in 3 weight classes, and 4 automatics for 1 weight class. Do they really need to worry about 7th and 8th places in every weight class? Is there actually any possibility that they would need to go that far down the list in weight classes where they only get 3 or less automatic slots?
Any insight you can offer would be appreciated.
Re: I have questions
Posted by infomatic on 2/27/2010, 11:02 pm, in reply to "I have questions"
BTB,
I will answer your questions as best I can. I would actually like to type out more instead of referencing the NCAA, but I am struggling with a 102 degree fever and not as motivated to be as verbose as I would normally be.
1) Yes, but not automatic bids after the 2nd RPI ranking. They may end up with more slots from the final Win% and RPI calculations on March 8th. Final allotments will be announced on March 10th.
2) There is no longer a "Wild Card" or at-large selection process. Instead the final 30 or so slot allotments are determined using a fairly complex methodology. Instead of typing it all out, I will refer you to page 16 of the following linked PDF file - http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/champ_handbooks/wrestling/2010/10_1_wrestling.pdf
3. The automatic allocated slots were not formally announced until Thursday, February 25th. The PAC-10 has to structure the tournament in a way that could accommodate any placing from 1st thru 8th. I don't think it would be reasonable for the tournament committee to change the logistics of the tournament (bracket structure, podium positions, etc.) less than 24 hours before the tournament was about to begin. And obviously they are not going to pick and choose between the weight classes in how many places should be awarded. It seems strange when there are only 8 teams to be awarding to 8th, but again, before the announcement came out on the 25th, places up to 8th in some weight classes could have received automatic tournament births. The Big 10, Big 12 and EIWA all turned out to have automatic allocations down to 6th, 7th, or 8th place. Had the calculations gone a little differently, the PAC 10 could have had a similar result.
I hope this answers your questions. If you want to know anything else let me know.
Thanks
Posted by By the Book on 2/27/2010, 11:09 pm, in reply to "Re: I have questions"
I appreciate the response. This helps me understand it better. Now, get yourself healthy!
It's a bit more convoluted ...
Posted by Jhall on 2/28/2010, 5:12 am, in reply to "Thanks"
Then it used to be ... That's for sure.
I understand the RPI method, and the PAC-10 did get their fair share of slots this year. I think 141 had 5? YET, one of the larger weights had only 1 spot .. Which I have a bit of a hard time with.
I'm so used to regular allocations where the top 4 go .. or top 5 .. or whatever metric they use.
To see a kid wrestle his ass off, and to end up second in the PAC 10, and NOT qualify for the NCAA's has to be tough for the wrestler and his parents, and fans.
And try explaining to a novice D1 fan why/how this works is tough.