The NCAA basketball tournament is weird. There are 2 so-called “play in games” for teams deemed not quite good enough for the field of 64. These teams must play a “play in” game in order to qualify for the field of 64. There are 4 play in games. In two of the games, the winners get a 16th seed and and doomed to play a no. 1 seed in the first rood. The other 2 play in game winners receive an 11th seed, and get to play a #6 seed. Why the discrepancy? What’s the logic? For the life of me I don’t understand why all the play in game winners dont have to play a No. 1 seed. Does anyone understand the rationale for this screwy system.?
My understanding is that when they were originally deciding how to add the play-in games, some wanted the eight lowest seeded teams to play each other, others wanted the eight lowest “at-large” bids to play each other, and they eventually decided on a compromise. The four 16th seeded teams in the play-in are the lowest seeded teams in the tournament, and the four 11th seeded teams in the play-in are the last “at-large” teams chosen.
“Congrats on winning your play in game and welcome to the NCAA tournament! Now be prepared to be wiped off the court.”
It made all the play in games uninteresting. Now only some of them are uninteresting.
There are eight teams that play in Dayton - the bottom four teams that did not win their conference tournaments, and the bottom four teams that did. The bottom four teams that won their conference tournaments are considered to be at the level of a 16 seed, which is why the winners of those games are put into #16 seeds. The four “at-large” teams are at the level of an 11 or 12 seed; the seed number they are given is usually the one where the lowest “at-large” team that is put directly into the round of 64 is placed, but it can be one spot lower.
Also note that the four “better” teams play each other in Dayton, rather than each one playing one of the four “worse” teams.
It’s a little hard to explain exactly why it is done this way, rather than having the bottom eight conference champions play in Dayton, with the four winners receiving the four #16 seeds.
Side note: some of us - myself included - do not call these “play-in games.” A “play-in game” is one where the loser is considered not to have been in the tournament at all, but all 68 teams are considered by the NCAA to be “in the tournament” (and, among other things, can put a “2019 NCAA Tournament” banner in its arena; note that if a team is later found to have used ineligible players in that tournament, any such banner for that tournament has to be taken down).
I think the losers of the play-in games should go to the NIT, which would truly make it a PLAY-IN game. I mean, would you rather have a shot at a decent run in the NIT, possibly even play on your home floor, or get bounced out of the NCAA tourney before it even really starts?