Conference tournament upsets are exposing a flawed March Madness auto-bid system

While some of the NCAA men’s basketball conference tournaments have already tipped off, starting last week, the power conference tournaments got underway starting Monday. With it brings on the hype of March Madness; big upsets, lopsided wins and surprise teams looking for final resume boosters to get into the NCAA Tournament. But not all upsets are created equal. 

Sure the lore of March Madness rests in the tales of the upsets that take place with teams getting wins they have no business getting. Upsets this time of the year though truly hit home in the NCAA Tournament, not the conference tournaments. Since the mid-major conference tournaments have tipped off, several No. 1 seeds have been knocked out and thus, won’t get to the NCAA Tournament. 

That kind of defeats the purpose of getting the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. Imagine winning your conference’s regular season title just to lose in a game you shouldn’t have been playing in and not get to the NCAA Tournament? It’s the biggest flaw of March Madness’s auto-bid system. 

Why regular season conference play means nothing for March Madness

It should mean something to get the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. With the current construct of the NCAA Tournament, just getting a couple byes in the conference tournament just isn’t worth it, if it means you might miss the NCAA Tournament as a whole. Obviously this doesn’t apply to the power conferences as much. 

But like Myron Medcalf, who is a reporter for ESPN said, not letting the regular season conference champions automatically advance to the title game hinders teams that have a good season. Look at Miami (OH) for example. They completed a 31-0 regular season, but still need a conference tournament title to get into the NCAA Tournament, all because their NET ranking isn’t high enough to get an at-large bid. 

In what world does it make sense that a team that didn’t lose a single game in the regular season doesn’t make the NCAA Tournament? More than that, how much sense does it make that a team that went undefeated in the regular season still has to prove they deserve a spot in the NCAA Tournament by winning a conference title. 

Not only does the conference tournament screw over teams that battled all season to get the No. 1 seed, but it punishes the mid-major teams that just don’t have the conference play resume to get an at-large bid. If only there were a solution to solve this. 

Regular season conference champions should get an automatic bid into NCAA Tournament

If Power 4 teams can lose in the second round of their respective conference tournaments and still get an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament, why can’t regular season conference champions get an automatic bid? It would solve this issue, make the regular season matter and make the conference tournament that much more exciting. It’s not a bulletproof solution, but it’s one better than simply expanding the tournament field – for what it’s worth, 68 teams is the perfect amount. 

Yes, you’d eliminate more at-large bids to Power 4 conferences, but you’d also get more of the true March Madness. Now teams like Miami (OH) feel rewarded for having an undefeated season. In actuality, we don’t see anything different in the conference tournaments that boost resumes. 

The conference tournament is really for bubble teams and then the top teams looking to boost their resumes for one of the top seeds. Other than that, the rest of the field is pretty much set from the regular season results. With this strategy, you’d also value the conference tournaments too. 

Now a team that goes on a tournament run as a lower seed proves they can play in the NCAA Tournament. They don’t need to beat the best team in the conference to do that. By beating two or three of the top four teams in the conference proves that already. Again this isn’t the best solution, but it would certainly make for more madness in the NCAA Tournament. 

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