Playing in Denver could prove costly

DENVER – Six years ago, the NCAA decided to change the way it assigned regions and Tournament… DENVER – Six years ago, the NCAA decided to change the way it assigned regions and Tournament sites to Tournament teams.

Prior to the change, there were eight sites for the first and second rounds of the Tournament, and your team played wherever it was assigned, regardless of distance from your home campus.

The top eight teams in the Tournament basically had the only shot at playing close to home. Each site would host four games, all from one half of a regional bracket, and each site always featured a No. 1 or No. 2 seed.

In other words, say Florida was a No. 1 seed and played its first- and second-round games in Miami, Fla. Using the old format, the No. 4 seed in Florida’s half of the bracket – we’ll say it’s Washington – would have to play its first- and second-round games in Miami, too.

When the changes came, everything became a little easier for the top 16 teams in the Tournament – at least in theory. The changes were supposed to keep the Washingtons of the world, if they were a 4 seed or higher, on their end of the country.

The NCAA introduced four-team brackets called “Pods.” Instead of forcing the seven lower-seeded teams to follow a No. 1 or No. 2 seed to a site regardless of where the lower seeds came from – i.e. fourth-seeded Marquette playing in Providence, R.I., in 1996 because top-seeded Massachusetts got to play close to home – the bracket is broken into 16 four-team sections.

Use this year’s bracket as an example. In the East Region, North Carolina will play its first- and second-round games in Raleigh, N.C. Only Mt. St. Mary’s, Indiana and Arkansas are forced to travel to Raleigh to play.

Meanwhile, fourth-seeded Washington State, which prior to 2001 would have had to play in Raleigh as well, will play its games here in Denver, dragging along Notre Dame, George Mason and Winthrop.

It’s a fairer way of rewarding the top 16 teams in the field – the No. 1 through 4 seeds in each region. They can play closer to home, and a home-court advantage is created.

Two fewer upsets a year have occurred since the change.

But sometimes the NCAA makes strange decisions with its Pod system. Pitt is playing here in Denver, some 1,500 miles from its Oakland campus. Connecticut is playing its first- and second-round games in Tampa, Fla., despite sites in Washington, D.C., and Raleigh.

Sure, Pitt and Connecticut are probably the 15th- and 16th-ranked teams in the bracket, meaning they are the final two 4 seeds, but this is still a little strange.

The Pod system is supposed to help the top teams in the bracket by placing their first- and second-round sites closer to their homes. Somehow Pitt traveling this distance and playing at a higher altitude – it’s no accident that Denver is the Mile High City – is fairer to the Panthers.

Some reward for winning the nation’s clear-and-away best conference. Alas, as Pitt coach Jamie Dixon will say 10 times before the weekend’s end, Pitt will play the games on its schedule and deal with it.

Let’s just hope they win them.

Let’s get to the rapid fire:

– I finally figured out how to spell unfunny, Roc: S-N-L.

– For spring break, I ventured on up to New York City for the Big East tournament. I compiled a short list of highlights from the trip. Highlight No. 1: New York Post headlines. One of the days after New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned from his post amid a prostitution-ring scandal, the Post’s headline read, in its classic bold-faced caps, “Going Out with a Bang.”

– TRIVIA: I’ll give you a hearty pat on the back, Roc, if you can tell me how many No. 16 seeds have won in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

– Stewart Mandel, a writer for Sports Illustrated, told me he planned on including Pitt football in his preseason Top 25. A little premature, Stew, don’t ya think?

– If it’s any consolation to the previous point, Pitt football coach Dave Wannstedt, at a New York City bar celebrating Pitt’s win against Louisville last week, told a rabid Panthers fan, “I think we’ll be pretty good this year.” I know, it sounded funny when I heard it, too.

– Highlight No. 2 from New York City: On Friday night, our cab hit 60 miles per hour on Seventh Avenue. While we made it to our destination in remarkable time, I may have developed a heart problem as a result.

– Tell you what, I’ll let you in on a secret or two. I don’t trust Stanford, Duke, Wisconsin or Washington State. Have them losing by the Sweet 16. I have UCLA winning it all, beating North Carolina in the final. Georgetown and Texas are in my Final Four.

– Highlight No. 3 from New York City: A rowdy New Yorker, with his smothering, gawd-awful accent, made his presence felt at Madison Square Garden on Championship Saturday.

– As a timeout ended and the Georgetown cheerleaders overstayed their welcome on the court, he yelled, “Get off the floor!” Welcome to New York, ladies.

– TRIVIA ANSWER: No 16th-seeded team has ever defeated a top seed in the NCAA Tournament, Roc. It was a trick question.

– Parting thought: I couldn’t be happier that “The Office” will return to the airwaves soon. Best news of an otherwise dreary winter.