Pitarresi: Don't win your conference tourney

I was listening to Virginia Tech basketball coach Seth Greenburg coach today on FSN’s weekend radio show with Sean Farnam.

 

They’re at the Final Four and had some good discussions about the teams and basketball in general.

 

Greenburg made a point that really struck me: None of the Final Four teams – North Carolina, Villanova, Connecticut and Michigan State – won its conference tournament.

 

Is that just happenstance, or does it mean something? You’ll never figure that out, but there is a theory that winning your league tournament doesn’t help you all that much in the national tournament and can hurt you.

 

Greenburg theorized that teams that go through three or four or even five games in conference tournaments get worn out. Teams that bow out relatively early, provided they are guaranteed a spot in the NCAA tourney, get a rest and a jump on focusing on the task ahead.

 

I think there is something to that. Consider Syracuse University’s experience. The Orange have won the Big East tourney five times. In 1981 they didn’t even make the NCAA tourney. In 1988 they won one game. In 1992 they won one game. In 2005 and 2006 they were knocked out in the first round. This year, after a heroic run in the Big East tournament, they lost in the final to Louisville. They won the first two games in the NCAA tourney, then were blown out by Oklahoma. Louisville, for it’s part, lost its regional final to Michigan State.

 

We might never know if staying too long in your conference tourney is a curse, and you can't play to lose, but it is an intriguing thought.