Vicky wrote:
"In a case where everyone knows what's going on beforehand, everyone
knows that in order to end up in the top bracket, you have to finish
up top two in your bracket."
One problem about the top two though that always bothers me is that
you run the risk of eliminating a team with just one loss, should a
circle of death occur at the top. I remember a Penn State tournament
one year (fall of 1998?), where Maryland finished in a circle of
death at one loss with Penn and Swarthmore, and Swarthmore got left
out of the final on total points.
Fortunately, NAQT plays off all ties (and ACF did with a 6-4
tiebreaker between Vanderbilt and Harvard this weekend, though if I
was Michigan B and didn't have to leave early, I may have said
something about that). But IMHO a team should never be eliminated
from winning a tournament with a single loss based on paper
tiebreakers. That's why I think playoff brackets should always have
at least the top three from preliminary brackets.
-Adam