The unknown is the virus.
If a team has a positive for a player that player, I assume
has to be isolated and contact tracing done.
A team could have a number of players out while games
are being played.
I don't know what the A10 plans are but we could play Dayton who
has a player test positive plus a couple other players who were
in contact and don't play and the Dukes win.
Of course the same is true for the Dukes.
The predictions and analysis in some way are meaningless.

townsonkid wrote:

IDK, top 4 is going to require a great season IMO.  Can we do it, yes!  But there are a lot of teams bringing back a lot of players.   Should be a high quality year in the A10.

It's a shame that there may not be any ooc games for the league to prove it's worth. Bad breaks for the A10. First, we have a legit Final Four caliber team, and the tourney gets cancelled. Now the league is loaded, with as many as 6 NCAA caliber teams, and we're going to lose our chance to show how good we are. It's important because the better the league looks, the easier it is to attract the 3 star and better talent we need to become a truly respected program.
 

Ironduke81 wrote:

Duq81 you nailed it. Since due to COVID this is an odd season if one at all don’t you think the mid majors & lower conferences should be lobbying the NCAA tourney committee to expand the field with byes to the higher seeds. This would be fair but the power 5 goes not give a shi% abound doing the right thing. However. Extra games equals more TV money to the NCAA. Just a thought but I so agree with you...Can I say my friend😂

Cancel the NIT this year, and have 96 teams in the NCAA. Give a bye to the top 32 teams. Choose the top 64 to include all auto bids. The weakest auto bid (MEAC, NEC etc.) would be the 64th seed. 65-96 are all at large. There would be 32 games, split between Tuesday, and Wednesday, to cut the field to 64 for the regular Thursday/Friday games. No Dayton this year. You're not going to try to find neutral sites for all of those Tuesday/Wednesday games, 33-64 will host. This will reduce cost, and travel for these extra games. Some will cry about having to go on the road against some crap team from the MEAC, or NEC, but those will be the bubble teams, that would have been headed to the NIT in a normal year. Hey, if you're the Dukes, Bona, or Pitt, (or a similar bubble type team) and are a 67, 68, 69 type seed, and you can't beat a team from a crap conference on the road, GO HOME, SIT DOWN, AND SHUT THE HELL UP! If you're a team that wasn't even on the bubble, be glad for your unearned good fortune, and go make the most of it! Would be a nice rare chance for some low majors to get a big boy at home.

VBC wrote:

duq81 wrote:

Cancel the NIT this year, and have 96 teams in the NCAA. Give a bye to the top 32 teams. Choose the top 64 to include all auto bids. The weakest auto bid (MEAC, NEC etc.) would be the 64th seed. 65-96 are all at large. There would be 32 games, split between Tuesday, and Wednesday, to cut the field to 64 for the regular Thursday/Friday games. No Dayton this year. You're not going to try to find neutral sites for all of those Tuesday/Wednesday games, 33-64 will host. This will reduce cost, and travel for these extra games. Some will cry about having to go on the road against some crap team from the MEAC, or NEC, but those will be the bubble teams, that would have been headed to the NIT in a normal year. Hey, if you're the Dukes, Bona, or Pitt, (or a similar bubble type team) and are a 67, 68, 69 type seed, and you can't beat a team from a crap conference on the road, GO HOME, SIT DOWN, AND SHUT THE HELL UP! If you're a team that wasn't even on the bubble, be glad for your unearned good fortune, and go make the most of it! Would be a nice rare chance for some low majors to get a big boy at home.

I like this idea.
Duq81 apply President NCAA you are good my friend.
 

luckymcd wrote:

duq81 wrote:

Cancel the NIT this year, and have 96 teams in the NCAA. Give a bye to the top 32 teams. Choose the top 64 to include all auto bids. The weakest auto bid (MEAC, NEC etc.) would be the 64th seed. 65-96 are all at large. There would be 32 games, split between Tuesday, and Wednesday, to cut the field to 64 for the regular Thursday/Friday games. No Dayton this year. You're not going to try to find neutral sites for all of those Tuesday/Wednesday games, 33-64 will host. This will reduce cost, and travel for these extra games. Some will cry about having to go on the road against some crap team from the MEAC, or NEC, but those will be the bubble teams, that would have been headed to the NIT in a normal year.

I don't know if this is your idea, or one you saw somewhere I don't frequent, but it's a great one. Count me among those on board with it too. With fewer games it will be harder to know who's worthy of the bids, especially if non-conference games are eliminated. Normally the cry would be that in a year we should be playing less games we are playing more. Eliminating the NIT cancels that concern out though.

The only tweak I'd make would be the host of the games. With concern over the pandemic still very likely to be present, there needs to be some sort of central host. Obviously you can't put 96 teams in one city. I don't think having 32 sites works either though, especially since some of those hosts would inevitably be low revenue sites with the accompanying low quality infrastructure. Possibly the NCAA could throw a bone to the cities that missed out on hosting last year and have 16 first round sites instead of the usual 8.

I'm assuming a vaccine would be well distributed by this time. If Covid is still an issue, everything I posted is out the window.