Cba Playoffs

[mzracing76]

I think that this years Playoff Format is Trash. Anyone else think that way also?

What they should have done...

EASTERN CONFERENCE........................................ WESTERN CONFERENCE


RD 1: DIVISIONAL SERIES, Best of Three

Rockford vs Albany................Format: 1-2..................Sioux Falls vs Idaho


RD 2: CONFERENCE FINALS, Best of Five

Gary vs Rockford/Albany.........Format: 2-2-1......Yakima vs Sioux Falls/Idaho


RD 3: CBA FINALS, Best of Seven

Eastern Conference vs Western Conference, Format: 2-3-2


***Give the Conference Champion the First Round Bye***

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

I agree. This year's CBA playoff format is trash. However, I understand why the format was changed and why it was changed like this midway through the season. The CBA brass saw fan interest waning and needed a fast fix to re-generate interest (revenue?) for ALL the teams top to bottom. It's all about trying to keep the league viable. I'm all for the change if it helps teams survive financially, but as a fan I think the third place teams should have been left out of the playoffs.

Actually, the CBA may have met its goal with the new format. All eight teams had a legitimate shot at a playoff berth as soon as the new format was announced. Six out of eight teams were still in the hunt for better playoff seedings until the final game of the regular season.

mzracing76,
Your playoff format could have teams playing as many as fifteen games. That's a lot of post-season dates for minor league basketball (as I stated in another thread). Owners may have trouble securing that many additional arena dates. Considering the overhead, owners may NOT WANT so many additional dates...and let's not forget the players. Are they going to want to stick around for such a prolonged post-season?

[Chuck the Writer]

Let me give my take on the revamped CBA playoffs. I actually like them, and it's not because Albany's got a legitimate shot to make the championship final.

During last night's Albany-Idaho matchup, at the end of the third quarter with time running to 0:00, Idaho's Eric Chenowith heaved a desperation 3-point attempt that actually went in, tying the quarter - and gave Idaho and Albany EACH half a quarter point. During that fourth quarter, Albany head coach Micheal Ray Richardson went into an explosive tirade about letting that quarter point get away (it didn't help that James Thomas had a cold stretch of missed free throws), but everybody in the building was checking whoever they knew to find out what the quarter point total for the Gary-Sioux Falls game was. In that building, at that night, nobody gave a corn chip's chance about the NCAA tournament; everybody was concerned that that half-a-quarter point could be one half-a-quarter-point less that could keep the winner of the game out of the championship finals.

Before that game, Albany and Idaho each had 2.0 points with two games to play, for a possible 16.0. When Albany won the game, they finished with 7.5 points in a two-game span, with a possible 14.5 if they swept 7.0 against Yakama.

There are some people who groaned about the playoff modification, claiming that it was only done to give Albany a chance to make the playoffs. You know what - this is a league that has tried different playoff formats over the years, and this is just another experimental playoff system. If it works out, it will most likely be as an identifiable part of the CBA as the quarter-point. Not every CBA playoff experiment has worked - if anybody recalls the 1995 Dakota Capital Classic, where the 8, 9 and 10 seeds played two games just to make the regular playoffs (10 played 9, the winner played 8), let me know.

As of Sunday morning, here's the playoff point totals:

GARY - 2-0, 13 sp, in championship final
ALBANY - 1-1, 7.5 sp, plays Yakama
YAKAMA - 1-1, 7.0 sp, plays Albany
ROCKFORD - 1-1, 6.0 sp, plays Sioux Falls
SIOUX FALLS - 1-1, 5.0 sp, plays Rockford
IDAHO - 0-2, 3.5 sp, see you next year

So the playoff scenario now looks like this, as of Sunday morning:

SIOUX FALLS - must score at least 6.5 over Rockford, must hope Albany and Yakama play to a 4-3 game.
ROCKFORD - must score at least 6 points AND have Yakama beat Albany 4-3
YAKAMA - if Rockford wins 7-0, Yakama must beat Albany and score at least 6.5 quarter points in victory to clinch.
ALBANY - if Rockford wins 7-0, Albany must beat Yakama and score at least 6 quarter points in victory to clinch. Albany loses all tiebreakers.

It's a good thing the NCAA doesn't use this "quarter point" thing in its tournament, or the NCAA bracket would look like a DNA helix.

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

Albany may be on the road to the championship finals, but that road doesn't come through Yakama. Yakama is too polished and talented. Gary won 6-1 vs. Yakama, but the game was a lot closer than the quarter point score indicates. It could have easily gone the other way except for the rabid Gary fans supporting the Steelheads. Fans I haven't seen since the 2004 playoffs. What's up with that anyway?

...and what's up with Sioux Falls? I got to last night's game early enough for shoot-around. At least three Sky Force players were listening to their iPods while warming-up. What could be so important to listen to during an away playoff game? Meditation mood music? If it was mood music, then it worked because the entire team seemed laid-back and stress free. They should have faxed-in their performance and saved the travel expense.

[panchess]

I actually thought the change was designed to help the western teams like Dakota more than the Patroons, who were no lock to make it in when it was announced.

One flaw of this format: Gary-Idaho is meaningless tonight. That shouldn't happen in a playoff format.

On the other hand, Yakama-Albany is a "winner gets in" game. That should be a great one.

[Chuck the Writer]

On the other hand, Yakama-Albany is a "winner gets in" game. That should be a great one.

Sort of. Since Sioux Falls beat Rockford 7-0 last night, any one of three different teams can find themselves playing against Gary in the championships.

For Sioux Falls to get in:

Albany would have to beat Yakama 4.5-2.5 or 4-3
Yakama would have to beat Albany 4.5-2.5 or 4-3

For Albany to get in:

Albany would have to beat Yakama 5-2 or better

For Yakama to get in:

Yakama would have to beat Albany 5-2 or better

As of this afternoon, Sioux Falls has 12 playoff standings points, Albany has 7.5 and Yakama has 7. Albany would have to score half a standings point more than Sioux Falls, because Sioux Falls holds the tiebreaker. If Yakama and Sioux Falls tie, Yakama would advance because the Sun Kings hold THAT tiebreaker.

Got it? Great. There's a test tomorrow.

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

I'll take Gary in three games for the CBA championship...and that's not just homer talk. The Steelheads' home court advantage should be the deciding factor.

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

Oh never mind. It will be Gary in TWO!

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

The following is an excerpt from the Post-Tribune article, Gary has Sold 3000 Tickets, but that's well Short of a Sellout:

Team owner Jewell Harris Sr. expects a crowd of at least 3,000 on Sunday, with possibly upward of 4,000 in the 6,000-seat arena.

If so, that would be a huge bump compared with the 1,571.5 the Steelheads averaged in 24 regular-season home games, seventh in the eight-team CBA (the league-wide average was 2,426.5). But team officials also are quick to point out the uptick in attendance toward the end of the season, including 3,796 for the regular-season finale, 2,135 for the first playoff game and 2,954 for the second playoff game, the most recent home game.

The team’s relatively limited sales staff has been working the phones since the middle of the week, calling area hospitals, steel mills, schools and churches. Commit to just one day, which could be the final day of the season, instead of having to choose from 24 regular-season home games, the sales pitch goes.

Harris Jr. spent part of Wednesday meeting with officials from the city-owned Genesis Center, and one result was city employees getting a discount on lower-level seats for Sunday’s game.

“People think we don’t do things, but we do,” Harris Jr. said. “We actually do a lot of things, but sometimes people aren’t into things like you think they should be.”

Not that tickets are astronomically priced to begin with. Prices range from $5 for upper level seats — matching the cheapest ticket in the league — to $10 and $12 for lower level, to $25 for courtside, to $45 for Nicholson (front row) seats. The prices, set by each team and not by the league, for the playoffs are the same as they were for the regular season.

Nonetheless, for whatever the assorted reasons/perceptions — people simply don’t go to Gary, downtown is not safe, the product isn’t great — people have not flocked to Steelheads games.

“What is the definite reason? Probably a little bit of everything,” Harris Jr. said.

“People said if you won a little bit more, we’d come. Now we have the best team in the league. No excuses. We have the best coach; the best team; cold, cheap beer — there’s nothing else you could ask for. What else could a sports fan ask for?”

..........................................

The last paragraph was a homage to Ken, Steelheads Fan. Thanks Jewell. What else could we ask for? How about another regional television contract?