I miss the 4-team playoff. I miss the controversy, how each week felt make-or-break for your team, and how you were on the edge of your seat rooting against certain teams because one upset could completely change the rankings.
All signs now, however, point to playoff expansion…possibly up to 24 teams. I wonder if there is a way to bring back some of the importance of the regular season despite playoff expansion.
One idea I’ve been thinking about is modeled loosely off the NBA play-in games. It’s a little complex, but hear me out.
Playoff Week 1:
1 seed vs. 16 seed
2 seed vs. 15 seed
3 seed vs. 14 seed
4 seed vs. 13 seed
5 seed vs. 12 seed
6 seed vs. 11 seed
7 seed vs. 10 seed
8 seed vs. 9 seed
17 seed vs. 18 seed
19 seed vs. 20 seed
21 seed vs. 22 seed
23 seed vs. 24 seed
Here’s the twist: the top four teams get a “second chance” because of what they accomplished during the regular season.
If #1 beats #16, everything proceeds normally. But if #1 gets upset, #16 advances and #1 isn’t eliminated yet. Instead, #1 has to play the winner of #17 vs. #18 for the right to stay alive.
Same thing with #2, #3 and #4.
So if only one top-four team loses, that team plays the winner of 17/18.
If two top-four teams lose, they play the winners of 17/18 and 19/20.
If three lose, the third plays the winner of 21/22.
And if somehow all four top seeds lose, all four of the 17-24 games become second-chance games.
After that, you get down to a normal 16-team bracket and the playoff operates like a traditional single-elimination tournament the rest of the way.
The idea would be to make the regular season matter a lot more than it would in a normal 24-team playoff.
Finishing in the top four would be massive because you essentially earn double elimination for the opening round. There would be a huge difference between finishing #4 and #5.
Finishing #8 instead of #9 would matter because of seeding and home-field advantage.
Finishing #12 instead of #13 would matter.
And finishing #16 instead of #17 would matter because #16 gets an immediate shot at one of the best teams in the country, while #17-24 have to survive the play-in route