OK I've updated this from last year.
Let's take a quick look at the SEC basketball conference and how they have performed in the NCAA Tournament over the past 11 years.
Conference WPct F4s BidAvg % F4
SEC 63.2% 8 4.5 16%
ACC 63.0% 5 5.3 9%
Big 10 60.5% 10 6.0 15%
Big East 58.8% 9 7.7 11%
Pac 12 58.1% 3 4.5 6%
Big 12 55.4% 2 5.7 3%
for 2014 I combined the American and the Big East
So which conference has on average over the last 11 years the least bids a season, the SEC. Which conference has the highest winning percentage, the SEC. The SEC has had a 16% success rate of getting their teams into the final four, the highest rate.
This is supposed to be a big year for the Big 12. It will be interesting to see if they can actually perform up to everyone's expectations. History would tell us that they will not.
Maybe those other conferences don't rip off their own so frequently.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think that's a problem. Here's how the SEC does in home court advantage:
ReplyDelete2016: Home teams winning 71.4 percent of the time (leads all conferences)
2015: 53.2 percent (28th) (5 teams get bids)
2014: 69.8 percent (2d) (3 teams get bids)
2013: 69.8 percent (4th) (3 teams get bids)
2012: 69.8 percent (2d) (4 teams get bids)
2011: 59.4 percent (19th) (5 teams get bids)
As you can see, when the SEC officials call it straight, as they did in 2011 and 2015, the SEC had five teams get bids. In the other years, where the SEC officials called everything in favor of the home team (2012, 2013, 2014), the SEC had fewer bids.
This makes sense. When you call everything in favor of the home team, it means that almost every team in the conference will end up with some terrible road losses. (Look at UK's losses at UT and Auburn this year, for example.) Those bad losses will usually end up keeping one or two teams from making the tournament.
Exactly.
ReplyDeleteRight. And that sort of thing goes on all the time -- but only in basketball season. You just don't see this sort of officiating in the other SEC sports.
ReplyDelete