Top NCAA tournament seeds can request early-round sites in 2017
MSU AD Hollis is the chair of the selection committee for next season
March Madness might have gotten just a little bit saner, thanks to the work of some college basketball coaches.
Teams vying for the No. 1 overall seed in next year’s NCAA Division I tournament will get to submit their preferences for geographical sites for the first- and second-round games far in advance of Selection Sunday, the NCAA announced Monday. The choices are not guaranteed.
The eight host cities for the first two rounds in 2017 are Buffalo, N.Y.; Greensboro, N.C.; Indianapolis; Milwaukee; Orlando; Sacramento, Calif.; Salt Lake City and Tulsa, Okla.
The change came from a series of recommendations by a National Association of Basketball Coaches ad hoc group that was formed last month. The NABC group aimed to offer perspective to the NCAA basketball selection committee on matters of selection, seeding and bracketing.
Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis, who is the chair of the NCAA selection committee, did not return messages.
The committee also said it would work with the NABC group to study a potentially more effective composite ranking system that would not be implemented before the 2017-18 season.
The committee reaffirmed it would give equal weight to regular-season and conference tournament results and agreed with the NABC group’s recommendation that quality wins, overall and nonconference strength of schedule, and road-neutral wins were primary criteria in selecting and seeding the tournament field.
Contact Carlos Monarrez: cmonarrez@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@cmonarrez.