24 Teams, 24 Games, 6 Days. This will be something new in Hutchinson. So, how will the first tournament play out?
16 of the 24 teams will be the 16 District Champions. Just like in past years, the winners punch their ticket to come to Hutch. The remaining 8 are chosen.
4 At-Large teams will be chosen by a committee. According to the new guidelines, “The national poll will not be used solely to select at-large teams, but will be used as a guideline.” Now, I believe the guidelines are as follows:
- Overall Body of Work
- Record against Division I opponents for season
- Record against Division I Top 25 teams for the season
- Overall record vs. Division II, Division III, JV Teams and Club Teams for season
- Overall Record
- On the road
- At a neutral site
- At Home
- Strength of conference
- Overall conference record
- *Status in Division I Poll at the end of the year:
- Highest ranking Division I team that didn’t win district
- Overall Record in last 5 games
- Overall Record vs. ranked opponents in last 5 games
- Overall Record in last 10 games
- Overall Record vs. ranked opponents in last 10 games
- *District tournament finish
- When was their loss
- Quarter-finals
- Semi-Finals
- Championship Game
* Will only be used for final internal poll consideration
Someone please correct me if I’m wrong on the above guidelines.
4 Zone Qualifiers will be selected by their districts. This year it is Zone B, which is Districts 2, 7, 10, and 14.
In addition, the tournament will be seeded, with the top 8 seeds getting a bye. These 8 will all be District Champions (Which I like, because they earned it), and the remaining 16 will be the remaining champions, at large teams, and zone qualifiers. These seeds will be chosen by committee, and as before, “The national poll will not be used solely to select at-large teams, but will be used as a guideline.”
It will be interesting to see how this tournament fills out. I would imagine we will see more familiar faces, but also a chance to get a few new ones, too.