(01-01-2017 02:51 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(01-01-2017 02:00 PM)Fanof49ASU Wrote:  

(01-01-2017 01:03 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(01-01-2017 11:02 AM)Fanof49ASU Wrote:  I like playoffs. That's the only real way to determine a champion.

Statistically, better teams don't fare that well in playoffs.

In the NFL teams with a bye lose to a team that didn't have a bye in the conference championship more often than they win. Wildcards who didn't even win a weak division have won at least one conference championship in nearly a fourth of all seasons.

Having the best record in baseball at the end of the regular season statistically gives you a whopping 26% chance of being World Series champion and a 43% chance of even making the World Series. After 162 games there is still a luck element to winning three playoff series.

Teams winning the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament are about as likely to have failed to have won their conference in regular season as they are to have won it.

Winning the Sun Belt regular season is certainly no predictor of winning the conference tournament.

Playoffs give AN answer, but they aren't very good at crowning the team that played the best over the season.

Better team winning or not, playoffs are the fairest way of determining a champion. Period.

1984-85 basketball season.
St. John's won the Big East regular season title. They defeated Villanova home and away and in the Big East tournament.

'Nova finished six games out of first in the Big East.

Georgetown split with St. John's and Syracuse, their only regular season losses. They like St. John's swept Villanova in the regular season. In the Big East final Georgetown defeated St. John's.

The field had expanded to 64. So Villanova managed to make the field.

Come NCAA Tournament:
Third round Villanova defeats Maryland by three, Maryland had beaten Villanova by three in the regular season.

Final Four, 'Nova faces Memphis and wins (no complaint there) on the other side Georgetown faces St. John's. Villanova was 0-5 vs the teams in the other semi-final. Georgetown wins making their record vs. St. John's 3-1 for the year.

NCAA championship 'Nova defeats Georgetown to make their record vs Georgetown 1-2 on the season.

A playoff injects randomness. Villanova per the NCAA tournament was the best team in the nation but they were third best in the Big East in regular season. Third or fourth in the Big East tournament. They had to beat two teams in the Dance they had a combined 0-3 record against.

Fairness left the equation when Villanova got the chance to play for the NCAA title.

Isn't that what playoffs are about? That just represents a microcosm of athletics in general. It's why they play the games. How is it not fair? They earned the spot based on the NCAA committee, just like every team that doesn't get an auto-bid. They had a higher seed and a tougher road than their conference mates yet they persevered and won when it mattered most. It's why games aren't played on paper and why we deserve a shot at an expanded playoff.