- Mar 1, 2016
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PODCAST: previewing the Big 12 Championship
- Thread starter jcordova8
- Start date
Was hoping you guys would do something before the Big 12 Championship - good job!
I did like Chris being on the podcast and providing his point of view from someone who is just getting into the sport.
Would like to try to clarify the confusion around Harrington, Degen, seeds, and allocations:
In summary, Degen earned an allocation. Harrington didn't earn an allocation, but is seeded within the allocations of his weight class. Everyone else needs to steal a qualifying spot.
Somebody check my information to make sure I haven't misstated anything.
I did like Chris being on the podcast and providing his point of view from someone who is just getting into the sport.
Would like to try to clarify the confusion around Harrington, Degen, seeds, and allocations:
- Allocations are the spots reserved for qualifying for the NCAA Championship (e.g. if a weight class has 4 allocations, then 1st through 4th place at the Big 12 will automatically qualify for the NCAAs)
- Allocations are earned based on the accomplishments of the wrestlers within their weight class throughout the season. There are 3 items used to determine if a wrestler has earned an allocation for his weight class. If a wrestler has accomplished any 2 of the 3 items, his weight class will get an allocation at the conference tournament:
- D1 winning percentage >0.700
- RPI in the top 33
- Coaches' rank in the top 33
- Degen is the only Cyclone to have earned an allocation for his weight class. Therefore, if he wrestles to his capabilities, you would expect him to be able to finish high enough to qualify for the NCAAs.
- Harrington did not earned an allocation for his weight class (win pct was less than 0.700 and he wasn't top 33 in RPI or Coaches' rank). However, because he beat almost all the other conference heavyweights during the season (lost to OK St and he split with UNI) he has earned the #2 seed in the tournament. There are 3 allocations in the HWT class. So, if Harrington wrestles to his seed, he will "steal" one of the qualifying spots (since he didn't earn an allocation for his weight class.
- All the other wrestlers will also have to "steal" a qualifying spot in order to go to the NCAAs. Not impossible, but it basically working uphill, so to speak. Ian Parker is close in terms of seeding and allocations: he's a 4th seed and his class (141) has 3 allocations.
- Finally, the NCAA brings 33 wrestlers in each weight class to the national championship. Most weight classes have only 28 or 29 allocations given out. So, there is still room for "at-large" bids once the conference tournaments are finished. Therefore, if somebody like Degen gets upset in the conference tournament and doesn't get one of the qualifying spots, he still has a chance to make it to the NCAAs via the at-large selection. Those selections are determined by a committee with some predetermined criteria.
In summary, Degen earned an allocation. Harrington didn't earn an allocation, but is seeded within the allocations of his weight class. Everyone else needs to steal a qualifying spot.
Somebody check my information to make sure I haven't misstated anything.
That covers it. The qualifying legs do get a little more complex than just meeting them as far as earning allocations because they play with it a bit to get no more than 29 allocations per weight, but once you dive in to those details it gets even longer to explain and what you put gets you 95% of the way there.
The pre-seeds thing was weird because they are using the pre-seeds more or less as actual seeds and put out brackets based on them. And they didn't provide any kind of press release explaining what was going on. It took an assistant coach from NDSU noticing a UNI blogger and I tweeting about it to clarify anything. Having pre-seeds is pretty standard for any big tournament, but normally they are nothing more than something to drive discussion and coverage. The actual seeds normally don't come out until after the coaches have a seeding meeting.
Like 9-12 weren't actually seeded, they were just the random draws that guys got. Which isn't inherently confusing, that's what every tournament does for unseeded guys, but presenting them as if they were actual seeds made it confusing.
I'm still not totally sure how much will change at the coaches meeting tonight, but per that NDSU coach 90% or more of what's in the brackets that came out earlier in the week will remain the same.
Like 9-12 weren't actually seeded, they were just the random draws that guys got. Which isn't inherently confusing, that's what every tournament does for unseeded guys, but presenting them as if they were actual seeds made it confusing.
I'm still not totally sure how much will change at the coaches meeting tonight, but per that NDSU coach 90% or more of what's in the brackets that came out earlier in the week will remain the same.
Been enjoying the increased coverage of WR here. I myself have gotten back into it.
- Mar 1, 2016
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Thanks for the feedback!! I always love hearing it and knowing your thoughts.
Also thanks for that explanation! The seeding is definitely new to me and I kind of got the gist but definitely not enough to give an in-depth explanation so I’m learning that part.
Also thanks for that explanation! The seeding is definitely new to me and I kind of got the gist but definitely not enough to give an in-depth explanation so I’m learning that part.
