Boeheim: wait not worth it
To bye, or not to bye. That is the question.
As the Big East Conference begins its 31st annual tournament today at Madison Square Garden, there is not much doubt that any of a dozen teams could be standing with the Dave Gavitt Championship Trophy on Saturday night.
A non-top seed winning the tournament has become commonplace over the last several years. The only No. 1 seed to capture the crown since 2003 was Georgetown in 2007.
Syracuse, you remember, won as a No. 9 seed in 2006, becoming the first team to win four straight tournament games. SU also won as a No. 3 seed the previous year, 2005.
Last year, the conference tournament was opened up to all 16 teams for the first time. The top four finishers were awarded a double bye, while teams 5-9 drew a first-round bye.
The merits of earning two extra days off have been debated since the inception of the 16-team tournament. Some coaches like the rest, allowing any minor bumps and bruises to heel, and thrive on the extra practice time.
Others hate the idea of watching other teams play one or two games while theirs is just sitting around watching.
Put Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim in the "I don't like the double-bye" corner.
"I think it's awful," said Boeheim, whose club earned the top seed this season and will not play until noon Thursday. "Conventional wisdom says the double-bye teams should fare better, but two of the four lost last year. If that doesn't say something, I don't know what does."
In the 2009 tourney, No. 2 Pittsburgh and No. 3 Connecticut were upset victims and fourth-seeded Villanova eked out a one-point win over Marquette. Connecticut fell in the six-overtime game to SU.
The 16 head coaches put their heads together at a meeting last spring and unanimously drafted a new format that was proposed to athletic directors. It called for every team to play in eight first-round games before the usual Thursday quarterfinals.
The top four would face seeds 13-16 on Tuesday with winners getting Wednesday off. The middle eight teams would play Wednesday.
For any team to win the title, it would have to win four games, not three.
That proposal was voted down, according to Big East associate commissioner John Paquette. "The feeling was this was going to be only the second year of the 16-team format, and it's too soon to decide to make a change,'' Paquette said.
"Its a huge advantage to be playing instead of waiting," said Boeheim, who has taken 14 teams to the title game and won five times. "We won two or three times in a row by playing that first game and then going against the top seed. You play a game, you get used to the tournament. The top seeds are sitting around until Thursday and look what happened to them."
Boeheim said the teams that have to win five games "are not going to make it. But if you play four, those teams have an advantage of playing, getting loose and having a game under their belt."
Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon is also in favor of eliminating the double-bye.
"All of us have played a lot of games in a short period, be it in a preseason tournament, during our regular season or in New York," Dixon said. "Last year, my kids kept telling me they hated not being out on the court and having to sit and watch the other teams find their rhythm."
Villanova coach Jay Wright said that whether you want to play right away or have two byes depends on how the team was playing at the end of the regular season.
"If you're playing really well, you want to get right back on the court," he said. "If you're struggling, like we have the past couple weeks, you want a little more time to work on things that have been hurting you."
This season, Syracuse could actually use the extra rest. Leading scorer Wes Johnson is still nursing a sore hand, while top reserve Kris Joseph's knee is sore after banging it against St. John's.
Still, Boeheim said the coaches proposal is "better for the league."
Paquette said it may be reconsidered in the offseason.
