Friday, March 2, 2007

Don't Sell Those Thursday Tournament Tickets Just Yet...


Duke, State and Wake fans have long since realized that their teams will be a part of the Thursday festivities at the ACC Tournament. After dropping 2 straight road games, Carolina fans are now in danger of making an earlier than expected trip to Tampa next week. A Maryland win at home against State on Saturday, coupled with a Carolina loss to Duke in Chapel Hill on Sunday means serious trouble for those Tarheel fans hoping to make a few bucks off of their Thursday tickets.

Now for the scenarios...

If Carolina and Maryland tie for 4th place, the Terps get the 4th seed in the tournament based on Maryland's 89-87 win in the teams' lone meeting last Sunday.

Here is real the real fun begins. Assuming Carolina and Maryland finish at 10-6, Va Tech loses to Clemson and Boston College beats Ga Tech, there will be a 3-way tie for 3rd place between Carolina, Maryland and Va Tech. According to the ACC Basketball Tournament Seeding Procedures the teams will be seeded according to the combined record of conference games between the tied teams. Since Carolina is 0-3 against these teams they would be seeded 5th. Maryland would receive the 4th seed based on their 1-1 record, and Va Tech would be seeded 3rd based on their 3-0 record against these teams.

If Boston College loses to Ga Tech, there will be a 4-way tie for 2nd. Again, this will not be good news for the Heels who were 1-3 against the potentially tied teams. Maryland at 1-2 would be seeded 4th. Boston College at 2-2 would receive the 3rd seed, and Va Tech at 4-1 would be the 2nd seed.

There is a slight ray of hope for Carolina if Boston College loses and Va Tech wins. This would mean a 3-way tie for 3rd between Boston College, Carolina and Maryland. Since these teams finished 1-1 against one another, each tied team's record will be compared to the team occupying the highest position in the final regular-season standings, continuing down through the standings until one team gains an advantage by a higher winning percentage. If Virginia is the top seed, Maryland would be the 5th seed since they were swept by the 'Hoos. Carolina would be the 3rd seed based on their win against Boston College. If Virginia and Va Tech tie for 1st place, Maryland would be seeded 5th place based on their 0-3 record against the Virginia teams. Boston College would be the 3rd seed based on their 2-1 record against the the 'Hoos and Hokies. The Heels would be the 4th seed since they were 1-2 against these teams.

Confused yet? Here is the bottom line... The Heels either need to pull for another NC State miracle on Saturday, cheer for the Hokies and Yellow Jackets on Sunday or take care of business against Duke.

6 comments:

Ken White said...

Love the headline. I think I have a head-ache now. Are these seeding procedures new? Once upon a time, if you tied, didn't they flip a coin?

Ken White said...

FYI, I'm slowly getting a little more active promoting things. Sent this one to Dave Glenn and also posted it on a few message boards.

Anonymous said...

Interesting. But learn the use of its and their. You butchered it in this article.

Ken White said...

That's splitting some hairs. Technically though, I guess he's right. Where the subject was "fans" or multiple teams, their is right.
But in a case like
"Carolina would be the 3rd seed based on their win against Boston College" while it seems like "carolina" means a group of players and is plural, it is probably singular and their should be its.

Got to have a thick skin to publish ;)

Anonymous said...

They used to use a coin toss, but I think this confusing mess has been in place for a while.

I checked with the English teacher (my wife) she said the its\their could go either way. In my thinking I was referring to Carolina as a group. At least I didn't use there ;)

Ken White said...

They're over there with their ...