D-I Men’s Basketball Manager Rankings | D-I Men’s Basketball Manager Resumes | Manager Games Postseason Tournament to Debut in March
Manager Games Bracketology #3 (2/29) | Manager Games Bracketology #2 (2/22) | Manager Games Bracketology #1 (2/15)
After first debuting KPI Rankings for Manager Games in early January, @B1GManagerHoops and KPI Sports have teamed together to establish the first-ever Manager Games Postseason Tournament.
Teams must play at least four Manager Games to be selected into the tournament field. The top 64 teams by KPI to have played the minimum of four Manager Games by Saturday, March 5 will qualify for the Manager Games Postseason Tournament. The teams will be bracketed into four regions of 16 teams each using KPI Rankings to determine a 1-64 seed list. NCAA Tournament bracketing principles will be used with one exception: conference matchups and geographical rematches will be encouraged to increase the chances of playing. Teams will be able to move up or down one seed line in the interest of geography. A mock bracket through games of February 14 is posted as part of Manager Games Bracketology. The Manager Games Postseason Tournament bracket will be announced the evening of Sunday, March 6.
To advance through the bracket, teams have two options. Option 1 is to play the game. With geography part of the bracketing process and conference tournaments taking place much of the week of March 7, the hope is several games can take place. Option 2 is determining the winner 50% by expected score of the game at a neutral site (by KPI) and 50% by fan vote. This allows for a team’s performance to be quantified as well as for managers to help generate fan votes for their school and managers.
As an example, the expected score of Bowling Green vs. Georgia Tech is Georgia Tech 97, Bowling Green 90. Georgia Tech would have 51.87% of the expected score, and BGSU would have 48.12%. When adding the fan vote, the team with the most combined percentage points will win. The expected score (based on 100 total points) will be posted with the matchup when fan voting begins. As of February 14, the team expected to win the Manager Game has won 82% of the time.
All results of regular season games will be official at 11:59 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 5. It is the responsibility of each team to check for any errors in reported results. Any games played as a series rather than one game will count as a score of 10 points for each win in that series (i.e. a 4-2 series win will result in a 40-20 recorded final score if total points are unavailable).
- Round of 64 Voting begins with the release of the bracket on Sunday, March 6. Voting ends Tuesday, March 8 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
- Round of 32 Voting begins Wednesday, March 9. Voting ends Thursday, March 10 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
- Round of 16 Voting begins Friday, March 11. Voting ends Friday, March 11 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
- Round of 8 Voting begins Saturday, March 12. Voting ends Sunday, March 13 (Selection Sunday).
The four regional champions will be announced the evening of Selection Sunday.
Options are being explored to have the last four remaining teams play for the Manager Games Championship at the NCAA Final Four in Houston. Funding to get the four finalists to Texas is being sought in hopes of making a future announcement. Progress has been made, but further assistance is needed. If funding and/or facilities prove impossible this year, the same process used in the first four rounds will be used to determine a champion. The help and insight provided by several groups already has been very much appreciated.
As of February 14, 124 schools from 24 conferences have participated in more than 200 Manager Games across the country. 49 schools are already eligible for selection into the Postseason Tournament by having played four games, while 41 more schools have played in two or more games to date.