NCAA Could regionals be completely retooled to a tournament-style?

[Regionals]

Given my handle is "Regionals," yes, I have lots of thoughts about regionals every year. This subject about NCAA gymnastics adopting any semblance of a March Madness tournament style- meaning 1-on-1 matchups- has come up here and there. The general reason against seems to be that gymnastics is much harder on the body than basketball, so you want to reward the top teams by having them compete less vs. the lower ranked teams in order to make National Championships.

I do think if regionals could span across more than a week, it could be possible to have 1-on-1 matchups for multiple rounds. Here's my idea for a tournament feel to regionals:

Keep 4 regional sites, but now have 12 teams at each site instead of 9. So, a total of 48 teams make regionals. The regional lasts from Friday through the following Saturday to allow for days of rest in between rounds.

Every team at each regional is seeded. Seeds 1-4 still follow the general principals in terms of which teams are linked together, while seeds 5-12 will be selected by the committee, following a ranked list of priorities.

Round 1 throughout the first Friday: 1 vs. 12, 5 vs. 8, 6 vs. 7

Round 1 throughout the first Saturday: 2 vs. 11, 3 vs. 10, 4 vs. 9

Round 2 throughout the following Wednesday: 1/12 winner vs. 6/7 winner, 2/11 winner vs. 5/8 winner, 3/10 winner vs. 4/9 winner to get down to 3 teams

Round 3 on the following Saturday: A tri-meet where the top 2 teams advance at the end

Just a rough example- the bolded team wins:

Round 1 Friday: LSU1 vs. Texas Women’s12, Nebraska5 vs. Maryland8, Arizona6 vs. Penn State7

Round 1 Saturday: Michigan State2 vs. Pittsburgh11, Kentucky3 vs. Towson10, Arkansas4 vs. West Virginia9

Round 2 Wednesday: LSU1 vs. Arizona6, Michigan State2 vs. Maryland8, Kentucky3 vs. Arkansas4

Round 3 Saturday: LSU, Michigan State, Kentucky tri-meet

LSU and Michigan State would still move on in this example.

The principle shift is that to make the National Championship semi-finals, you actually have to compete more, as the losing teams in each round stop moving forward.

 

[Regionals]

If keeping the principle that the top seeded teams should compete less, there's an even much more straightforward shift to a tournament style. And it wouldn't even need more days.

Keep 9 teams at each regional. The difference is they are all seeded.

Round 1 Wednesday: Play-in

Round 2 Thursday: 1 vs. play-in winner, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6, 4 vs. 5

Round 3 Saturday: 1/p winner vs. 4/5 winner, 2/7 winner vs. 3/6 winner

Example:

Round 1 Wednesday: Maryland8 vs. West Virginia9

Round 2 Thursday: LSU1 vs. Maryland8, Michigan State2 vs. Penn State7, Kentucky3 vs. Ohio State6, Arkansas4 vs. Michigan5

Round 3 Saturday: LSU1 vs. Arkansas4, Michigan State2 vs. Kentucky3

LSU and Michigan State move on.

 

[irichluck21]

I was thinking of something similar.

Perhaps top 8 seeds get a bye. The rest of the seeds go head to head in a dual meet elimination bracket.

It would also extend the number of teams to regionals from 36 to 40, which would be nice to add 4 more teams to the post-season tournament, this year it wold have allowed Towson, Washington, Iowa State, and Illinois State/CMU to compete.

There is also the possibility of having a play in meet as well, with teams 40-48 going head to head in dual meets before the tournament begins (and mimics basketball).

So then Illinois State/CMU, George Washington, Pitt, and Kent State would join.
40 vs 45, 41 vs 46, 42 vs 47, 44 vs 48.
If that makes sense.

Dual meets can be held at the higher NQS school as host.

Once it gets to 16 teams, have four national quarter finals, with teams seeded based off NQS, the top two teams from each quarter final go to the national semi finals, again seeded by NQS. The top 2 from each semi final go to the finals.

 

[blueghost]

This subject about NCAA gymnastics adopting any semblance of a March Madness tournament style- meaning 1-on-1 matchups- has come up here and there. The general reason against seems to be that gymnastics is much harder on the body than basketball, so you want to reward the top teams by having them compete less vs. the lower ranked teams in order to make National Championships.

This is all very interesting. What is the thought process behind this being a benefit... that it is a more similar format like basketball?