The 2012 NWCA/Cliff Keen Division I National Duals, known as Mat Mayhem, took place at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Okla. (Photo/Austin Bernard)Here's my suggestion for what we can do in this regard, in what would (in my opinion) be a much better plan, that builds up fan interest (all dates are 2016):
Schedule
Friday-Sunday, Feb. 5-7
Dual Meet Conference Tournaments (presumably)
Monday, Feb. 8
Dual Meet Selection Monday
Friday, Feb. 12
NCAA Dual Meet First Round, at home sites
Sunday, Feb. 14
NCAA Dual Meet Second Round, at home sites
Saturday, Feb. 20
NCAA Dual Meet Quarterfinal, at home sites
Friday-Saturday, Feb. 26-27
NCAA Dual Meet Final Four, at neutral site
Wednesday, March 2
Individual Conference Allocations announced
Friday-Sunday, March 4-6
Individual Conference Tournaments
Wednesday, March 9
Individual Selection Wednesday
Thursday-Saturday, March 17-19
NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships
While this might be a short-term cash drain, I think this would drum up attendance and fan interest throughout the championships in a way no proposal I have yet seen would. I also think this would, over the long term, be most beneficial to both our sport and the NCAA financially.
Concerns
Meet contraction: While most teams use their full 16-date allotment, those that have attended National Duals in recent years have not. I would greatly prefer going to 12 dates, with the current two two-day tournament exemption, and also having single home-and-away duals on a given date count as a half-date, to encourage more of them. (This would obviously require companion legislation, as would my next point.)
Gap between dual meet conference tournaments and individual conference tournaments for non-qualifiers: I suspect that his could be filled in by exempting one open tournament per team that took place during this period.
Student-athlete welfare: Having all of these competitions might be a concern, with this much time spent away from campus. That being said, it's early enough in the semester where that probably wouldn't be a problem at most schools, and further, you're talking about single duals, with all three being on weekends, and two of the three being on a holiday weekend. However, all of this time cutting weight may take its toll on the student-athlete.
Short-term budgetary impact: Yes, there probably would be one. That being said, I feel like this is the best way to grow the sport in the long term. Also, drawing 3,000 to a single two-hour dual meet held at a campus site would be much easier than drawing that number to a six-hour multi-dual event.
What it would look like ...
Based on last year's dual results ranking and conference alignment as of Feb. 11, 2013, but dates used are 2016, the first year this could possibly take effect:
Round 1: Friday, February 12, 2016
Old Dominion (CAA champion) at Navy
Bloomsburg (EWL champion) at Illinois
Chattanooga (SoCon champion) at Virginia
Boise State (Pac-12 champion) at Iowa State
Wyoming (WWC champion) at Oregon State
Rutgers at Purdue
Edinboro at Cornell (EIWA champion)
Penn at Nebraska
Round 2: Sunday, February 14, 2016
Penn-Nebraska winner at No. 1 Oklahoma State
Chattanooga-Virginia winner at Ohio State
Wyoming-Oregon State winner at No. 4 Minnesota
Rutgers-Purdue winner at Central Michigan (MAC champion)
Boise State-Iowa State winner at No. 2 Iowa (Big Ten champion)
Bloomsburg-Illinois winner at Missouri
Edinboro-Cornell winner at No. 3 Penn State
Old Dominion/Navy winner at Virginia Tech (ACC champion)
Quarterfinals: Saturday, February 20, 2016
Sites to be determined on Sunday night, national seeds to host if they advance, if not higher seed remaining hosts, if neither team is seeded NCAA chooses):
Oklahoma State winner vs. Ohio State winner
Minnesota winner vs. Central Michigan winner
Iowa winner vs. Missouri winner
Penn State winner vs. Virginia Tech winner
Semifinals: Friday, Feb. 26
Finals, Saturday, Feb. 27
Wednesday, March 2
Individual Conference Allocations announced
Friday-Sunday, March 4-6
Individual Conference Tournaments
Wednesday, March 9
Individual Selection Wednesday
Thursday-Saturday, March 17-19
NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships
Team scoring would be based on a combined scoring from the dual championships and the tournament championships (as discussed at the NCAA Convention in August).
Teams 17-24: 12.5 points for NCAA tournament
Teams 9-16: 26 points for NCAA tournament (13.5 advancement for those wrestling a first-round dual)
Advancement to quarterfinals: +9 (35 total)
Advancement to semifinals: +6 (41 total)
Advancement to finals: +4 (45 total)
Dual-phase champions: +5 (50 total)
Seeding for the team tournament would have the top four be seeded on a national basis, 5-8 banded together and assigned to quarterfinal sites for ease of geography, 9-24 banded together and assigned to first and second round sites for ease of geography. While the first round would have five flights (only Old Dominion, Chattanooga, and Edinboro would be able to drive), the second round would only have one flight to be taken on that Saturday between the first and second rounds (Oregon State-Wyoming winner to Minneapolis).
Britt Malinsky can be reached at setonhallpirate1@aol.com.
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