Wednesday, September 9, 2020

The ACC wants to have everyone make the NCAA Basketball Tournament

I'm not necessarily against this idea -- but I will support it only if it's done through a series of District, Regional, and National Tournaments that tracks the KHSAA Sweet 16.


  1. UK would be in a region that covers the states of Kentucky and Tennessee. There would be four districts. One district would feature Louisville, Western, Murray, Austin Peay, and UT-Martin. Another would feature Kentucky, Morehead, Eastern, and Northern Kentucky. Another would feature Memphis, Vandy, Belmont, Lipscomb, and Tennessee State. And the other would feature Tennessee, ETSU, MTSU, UT-Chattanooga, and Tennessee Tech.

  2. Each district would make its own decision about where the tournament is played.

  3. The regional tournament would circulate back and forth between Kentucky and Tennessee. In odd years, the tournament would be held at either Rupp Arena or the Yum Center. In even years, the tournament would be held in Memphis, Nashville, or Knoxville.

  4. The finalists in each district tournament would advance to regionals. The winner of the regional tournament would be in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

  5. There's no seeding in the district tournaments; you have to play who you draw. So if Vandy draws Memphis in the first round of the district tournament, for one of those teams that will be the last game of the year.

  6. Based on how Ken Pom had everyone ranked, here's how the 2020 regional would have set up:

    District Champs:
    (9) Louisville
    (29) Kentucky
    (59) Memphis
    (56) ETSU

    District Runners-Up
    Murray St. (136)
    No. Kentucky (144)
    Belmont (109)
    Tennessee (68)

  7. Now you want to keep your district winners from the same state separated until you reach the final, so the regional draw would look like this:

    Louisville v. Tennessee
    Memphis v. No. Kentucky
    Kentucky v. Belmont
    ETSU v. Murray St.