Local Organizing Committee Gathers for Beyond Barriers - Bracketology 101

By Joey Johnston

The NCAA Women’s Final Four is coming to Tampa Bay. Accordingly, just before the 68-team field was selected on March 16 (Selection Sunday), the Tampa Bay Local Organizing Committee hosted the next installment of their Beyond Barriers — Bracketology 101 with the TBLOC Advisory Board and local supporters.

They gathered at the Epicurean Culinary Kitchen to watch the Selection Show on ESPN and celebrate the Road to Tampa Bay. The most joyful moment occurred when several USF staffers, led by Deputy Athletic Director Kris Pierce, reacted with glee as the Bulls pulled a No. 12 seed as the automatic qualifier from the American Athletic Conference.

And along the way, the group got some inside information on how the brackets are put together from Lisa Peterson, University of Oregon deputy athletic director and chief operating officer, who spoke with authority. She’s the former chair of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Committee, the group charged with selecting the field.

Disagreements?

Controversy?

Yes, Peterson experienced all of that — and more — during her committee tenure. But she remains impressed with the committee’s hard-working integrity and dedication to selecting the best possible field.

“There’s a lot that goes into this,’’ Peterson said. “And similar to everyone (on the LOC Advisory Board), this is added on to people’s jobs. This is not their day job. It’s in addition to everything they do on their campuses.

“On Sunday, April 6, there will be a national champion crowned here in Tampa Bay. That really is the best part. It’s the culmination of a lot of years of hard work for these young women to get here. It’s also the culmination (of season-long work by the selection committee).’’

The Peterson highlights:

* Each selection committee member serves a five-year term. It’s a committee of 12 (the chair plus 11 members).

* Each of the members will each be assigned a few of the 31 Division I women’s basketball conferences to monitor throughout the season. They become a liaison with those conferences, which they follow avidly. As a committee member, Peterson said she watched about 100 games per month.

* There are 31 automatic bids for the conference champions, so the selection committee’s main charge is to select the 37 at-large teams. It usually requires eight or nine committee votes to automatically be placed in the at-large pool, but four votes gets a team into the discussion.

* When the at-large teams are selected, the committee methodically seeds the teams, voting line-by-line (all the No. 1 seeds, followed by all the No. 2 seeds, etc.). Committee members always vote in a pool of eight teams to determine each line. The four top vote-getting teams are then ranked (so there’s a top-ranked No. 1, a second-ranked No. 1, etc.). Then four more teams are brought in for voting on the next line. “It’s very, very precise,’’ Peterson said.

* To break ties, committee members might ask preferences from the conference liaison or refer to voting from regional coaching committees.

* There may be adjustments to avoid regular-season rematches and same-conference early round games. The first 16-seeded teams are critical because those are the ones who host early round games at campus sites. “That’s where you feel the most pressure, determining the teams that can host, if they have that ability,’’ Peterson said.

* Splitting hairs? Yes, it can seem like that at times. “It gets difficult when you have teams that look a lot alike, so you’re trying to find anything to separate them,’’ Peterson said. She always emphasized the strength of a team’s non-conference schedule. “I think that matters,’’ she said. “You really get to see how good you are and it sets you up for conference play.’’

* Committee members are prohibited for voting on their schools (or conferences if the committee member is on a conference staff). In fact, they must leave the hotel ballroom in Indianapolis, where the voting takes place. It’s all done via secret computer ballots.

* There are a list of quantifiable criteria that must be followed to determine tournament-worthy teams. But the selection process also allows for “observable components,’’ such as the affect of injuries, the “eye-test,’’ how a team plays down the stretch, style of play and matchups. “There are 12 different perspectives (for each committee member) and that’s what makes the committee great,’’ Peterson said.

* Geography matters. The committee tries to avoid teams traveling from coast to coast or spanning multiple time zones.

“It’s a very thorough process,’’ Peterson said. “It’s an honor to serve on the committee and everyone feels the responsibility to have the best teams represented.’’