i don't know. my dad used to bitch all the time before the pod system about either Duke or UNC playing in Charlotte or Raleigh....OR....back when the regionality actually mattered that they could nearly always either be considered *either* the South #1 or the East #1...depending. they certainly have benefitted. my #1 i'd say has been or potentially is/will be Kansas. OKC, KC, STL are always in the mix for sites....and they (KU) nearly always get one of those sites for ticket purposes. they two of them this year had they not lost to UNI (OKC, STL--with STL being the biggie as per getting to the Final Four). even Dallas to a degree. Texas and Oklahoma have also had some ridiculous "home" sites over the last 5-6 years (OKC, Dallas, San Antonio). ATM, had they prevailed in a close one against Purdue, they play in San Antonio in the sweet 16/8.Terry in Crapchester wrote:From an historical standpoint, the biggest advantage the selection committee has given to both Duke and North Carolina has been pod seeding. In most years, it seems that there's a pod site in North Carolina, and the pod format has allowed the selection committee to send both of them to North Carolina without placing them in the same regional. So in most years, both Duke and North Carolina have de facto home games in the first and second round.
Yes, other teams have benefitted from the pod format as well (notably, Syracuse does this year by playing its first and second round games in Buffalo, only 150 miles away, since prior to the pod format they would have had to play in either San Jose or Spokane in the first and second round this year). But nobody has benefitted, year in and year out, to the extent that Duke and North Carolina have.
Of course, this year is an exception to the rule. There are no pod sites in North Carolina (Duke still gets to go to the closest pod site to campus in Jacksonville), and North Carolina failed to take care of business in the regular season.
reason i suggest these teams/sites....is population density, distances between conference schools, and regional alumni bases. on the East coast....drive 300 miles and you are all over the place. 300 miles in Texas is all UT fans. or ATM fans. or OU fans. that's it.
this isn't very well said, kinda in a hurry to bail home early since it's Friday....but i hope my point is clear enough.
in year 1 of Self, KU is about a .500 team over their last 10 games (go look), and get a 5/6 seed but playing in KC and then STL. how would you like to be the higher seed playing KU in Kansas City? no great deal. they make the Sweet 16.
