Why 3 games in 3 days works.

The 2005-2006 season has just ended and the 60, 61, 62 or 63 teams have been selected for the field. I'll use the theoretical Midwest Region as an example, although I think similar scenarios would play out elsewhere; probably not in the West though. North Park and Wheaton make it from the CCIW while Beloit and Carroll make it out of the MWC. All other teams in those conferences were declared ineligible for awarding non-athletic athletic scholarships per the new NCAA rule. Although Wheaton would have likely made it anyway. Transylvania gets the Heartland, Edgewood from the LMC, Aurora from the NIIC (Pool B) and Washington U. gets the UAA birth and stays in region. If I missed a conference this is all in fun anyway.

Now The Roop acts as tournament director and seeds the region as economically as possible. North Park hosts as it is the most centrally located, that way only Washington U. and Transy will need hotel rooms Wednesday night. Beloit and Edgewood might need rooms, but only if they won on Thursday, everyone else is within an easy commute. Since I don't want to spend more money than I have to on housing Washington will play Transy in the opening round and Edgewood will face Beloit. That way 2 of the 4 teams that may need hotels will be eliminated. These will be the Thursday afternoon games so the losers will be home by normal bedtime. Thursday evening will feature Carroll vs. North Park and Wheaton vs. Aurora. None of those teams will even miss a class.

1st round: Washington over Transylvania, North Park over Carroll, Aurora over Wheaton and Edgewood over Beloit. So far I've only spent money on 10 rooms for one night. I'm just guessing that 5 rooms is sufficient for a team. As an NCAAA official I am secretly upset that Transy lost because they are the closest team to Salem in this region, it would have been cheaper for me if they advanced to the Elite 8.

2nd round: Washington downs North Park, woops, the host is gone and Edgewood sends Aurora home. Since Edgewood inherited Transylvanias rooms at the hotel I have now only spent money on 10 rooms for two nights.

Championship game: With the host and all other immediately local teams ousted, nobody will want to see this game so it will be a 1:00PM start on Saturday. That way I don't have to spend anymore of the NCAAs money on housing. Edgewood wins, they are going to Salem for what would be the Elite 8. Housing cost for the regional is 10 rooms for 3 nights. Which would be what ? $1,500 maybe.

Since none of the teams had to be flown here the only other expenses are a few bucks a team for gas money and a little per diem. Tournament t-shirts and pizza after each game for the players, etc. Two nights the arena was packed so the 150 in the stands for the championship game didn't really hurt. We took in $15,750 (3150 attendance x $5 a person) for the 3 day regional and our expenses were only about $4000. So we made $11,750 for this event which should more than cover flying Edgewood to the finals. More importantly only 8 class days would need to be missed for an average of one day per team. Washington would miss 3, Transylvania 2 (they travel the farthest but would be home in time Thursday evening to easily make class on Friday) Edgewood 2 and Beloit 1.

Winning teams were determined by a coin toss. For entertainment purposes only in other words.