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Missouri Valley Conference is proposing to change the Arch Madness format

Y

yoda

Well-known member
Reports say the tournament format and matchups will change if this proposal is adopted (per March to the Arch Podcast)

Only the top TEN teams make the tournament. The 11th place team gets left out.

Then the top two teams get 1st round AND 2nd round byes, while the 3-seed thru 10-seed play round 1, presumable on Thursday,
(with seed 3 vs 10, 4 vs 9, 5 vs 8, and 6 vs 7.)

Then the four winning teams in round 1 match up in round-2 so that only two teams are left of the eight that started in round 1.
Those two team then face the #1 & #2 seeds who got the two-round byes.

There's also a proposal to host BOTH Men's and Women's teams in St. Louis on the same weekend.

This whole scheme needs to be called "THE BELMONT RULE", since they're the ones who embarrassed the whole conference when,
as the #1 seed facing the lowest seed- they rolled over and got annihilated by 21 points in their opening game of the 2026 MVC Tourney....
losing to a team that then got absolutely blown away like dust by 21 points again, in their next game.



 
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Unfortunately this penalizes the 3rd and 4th place teams in the favor of the 1st and 2nd place teams. While that kind of sucks, I get why the format is desired in the state of the sport today. They want to make sure the best overall (Typically the regular season champ), has the best shot of getting the auto-bid and gets to the NCAA tournament. It makes sense from that stand point, and incentives winning the MVC, or at least placing top 2. I think overall it is probably a slightly healthier tournament format given the modern state of the sport.
 
Stryker said:
Unfortunately this penalizes the 3rd and 4th place teams in the favor of the 1st and 2nd place teams. While that kind of sucks, I get why the format is desired in the state of the sport today. They want to make sure the best overall (Typically the regular season champ), has the best shot of getting the auto-bid and gets to the NCAA tournament. It makes sense from that stand point, and incentives winning the MVC, or at least placing top 2. I think overall it is probably a slightly healthier tournament format given the modern state of the sport.
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yeah -
Bradley has finished 1st or 2nd in the MVC THREE out of the past 4 years - and of course did not get this handy little perk...
only when it hurts Belmont this year and Indiana State in 2024, then the league scrambles for a fix....
 
This kind of format will hurt attendance. Usually the fans from the top teams buy the most tickets. But if they are not going to play in the first 2 rounds, they will likely not buy full session tickets, and will wait until the weekend to see their teams play.
Why mess with a tournament that has been successful, outdraws every other mid-major tournament, and is the envy of other mid-major conferences.
 
Oh lord I hate this and think it will really hurt attendance. The last place team and those battling with it will not sell many (or any) all session tickets. They usually don’t sell many, but they are not coming at all if their team is not even in St Louis. This year the teams playing on Thursday had a better shot at getting to the finals (obviously UNI did and won)-they had to play 4 games in 4 days to win. For everyone except the first and second place team you would have to win 4 games to win it all but 1 & 2 only have to play 2 games. Will the other 8 teams sell many tickets since the advantage given to 1 & 2 is so great ? I would also point out we were very close to having 4 teams tie for second place this year. If that happened with this proposed structure-losing out in a tie breaker for second place would destroy your chances of winning. I get a tie breaker can give you an advantage but a two game advantage ? Sorry I have grave concerns.
 
Yes, you are right. Fans of the number 1 and 2 teams will not show up until Saturday. The tournament will make less money, and this will not be beneficial to the hotels and restaurants in St Louis.
 
It is always about money. Conventions, meetings, Cardinal's baseball, Blues hockey bring significant revenue to the city. Our Civic Center in Peoria is partially financed with significant money from Peoria restaurants, bars and hotels. Out of town fans tend to spend more than local fans.
 
Potentially could hurt the 1 and 2 teams as some of the conferences have seen over the last couple of years of trying to protect top seeds. The lower seeds get more comfortable on the court and gain confidence each round.
 
Yes, yes and yes...
we all agree, we see why the league is considering this - because they don't want their 17-3 League Champions
who are getting votes in the Top 25 losing in their first game....
STILL, this is just a proposal being discussed, it is not yet enacted...so we will have to wait & see.

I would think a better setup would be to allow the 1st place team to face the LAST PLACE team in their initial game.
That would pretty much guarantee the top seed gets a cushy, easy warmup game - instead of having to sit out
the first round, then face a considerably better team that's already got a win under their belt.
Then give that team & and 2nd place team a full day off and come back Saturday for the semi's after the remaining
7 (or 8 if the MVC adds a 12th team) team have played down to just 2 left.
 
The enterprise center cares about the hotels and restaurants of St Louis. Fewer hotel and restaurants $ means either we charge you more to rent the event or we decide we don’t care if you continue to come to St Louis.
 
I would like to know how much each school receives from the MVC post season conference tournament compared to a first round win in the NCAA tournament. I believe the balance of revenue from ticket sales, after paying Enterprise Center rent, each school's travel expenses and other tournament operating costs is distributed among schools. For a first round NCAA tournament game, the conference's share is around $2 million and that is divided among conference schools. That comes to around $181,000 per school. Having a first or second place team in the NCAA tournament has to increase the chances of winning a first round game. Advancing to the second round ensures more conference and member school revenue. I don't think the conference or member schools would support a change in the conference tournament format if it costs schools revenue. A change in format might not drastically effect attendance negatively.
 
I’d be stunned if this format change did not dramatically reduce attendance and a significantly lower attendance makes the event much less interesting to the City of St Louis.
 
This format really blows.
Still no guarantee for the 1 or 2 seeds to win Arch Madness. I think you should reward the Top 3 OR 4 teams, and it's already a disadvantage for the 3-seed to play so late on Day 2 and then return to the court early the next day!

Take out the 11th team if you want, but THE CURRENT FORMAT IS ALMOST IDEAL IMO - it makes for a great final 2 weeks of the reg. season to fight for the Top 4 spots to get that bye!!!

It makes for a great weekend of Arch Madness with LOTS OF GAMES and anyone can win! Will make it very very hard for any team other than the 1st 2 seeds to win it b/c that's 4 games compared to just 2! That's huge.

And what accomplishment is it really to say you are Arch Madness champs if you only have to play 2 games!
I'm thinking this proposal is to get the best teams from the regular season in the Big Dance so that they don't get embarrassed like UNI was last season as the 6-seed.
 
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I will add - there is much more to the season than making the Big Dance. Maybe not in our eyes 2 seasons ago, when every BU fan was saying "Big Dance or Bust!"
But the landscape of college hoops has changed even since then.

As we know, the NCAA tourney has replaced its magic with cha-ching (fewer upsets, no cinderellas, Big Boy blowouts) the past few seasons, and the committee is at its highest level of anti-Mid major I've seen.

If a Valley team gets in - GREAT! But we have to start seeing other goals as big accomplishments going fw - Winning Valley reg. season, Winning NIT games, and of course, Winning Arch Madness. If you do 2 of these, it's an INCREDIBLE season, and can still be GREAT with just 1 with some other bonuses, like dominating at Carver, sweeping the Birds (and Drake), watching the team gel as the season goes.

It's been a long time since we've accomplished 2 of these, and that would be fantastic to experience, as I don't believe I ever have in my 32 yrs as a Bradley fan. But we gotta learn to ENJOY the ride! I know it's a taller task now that we can't grow to love players for several years like before...but, We've been blessed with some fantastic seasons in the Wardle era.
 
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BUBraves2006 said:
This one sure caught me off guard - I tried to delve into a lot of it. There's really a lot of layers to it. And I didn't see this post until late last night so pardon if I messed anything up as I was writing this until 2 AM to make sure I had something out to start the day.

https://bubraves2006.substack.com/p/mvc-tournament-format-could-be-changing
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I enjoyed your thoughts. The women could also play out in St Charles on Thursday. Then 2 mens and 2 women's games all downtown on Friday and Saturday. Men in the afternoon and ladies at night.
Personally, I would rather keep it like it is.
 
yoda said:
Yes, yes and yes...
we all agree, we see why the league is considering this - because they don't want their 17-3 League Champions
who are getting votes in the Top 25 losing in their first game....
STILL, this is just a proposal being discussed, it is not yet enacted...so we will have to wait & see.

I would think a better setup would be to allow the 1st place team to face the LAST PLACE team in their initial game.
That would pretty much guarantee the top seed gets a cushy, easy warmup game - instead of having to sit out
the first round, then face a considerably better team that's already got a win under their belt.
Then give that team & and 2nd place team a full day off and come back Saturday for the semi's after the remaining
7 (or 8 if the MVC adds a 12th team) team have played down to just 2 left.
Click to expand...
Like this?...still has issues...no 11th place team...seeds 9 and 10 have big reward if they win.

Would you consider reseeding for Saturday to ensure #1 seed plays highest remaining seed?

Lots of issues still...but I am in favor of doing something that helps the higher seeds get to the Big Dance....MVC only gets 1 shot anymore, need to make the most of it.

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Why ruin something that has worked for decades. Attendance will go down for all the reasons stated above. You have to wonder who came up with this dumb a-- idea?
 
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