Re: PB10: Format information

• From: samer_ismail
• Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 12:14:30 -0800
• Message-ID: <000T6H816.001665RBB.12170551-quizbowl_at_...>

<<I would like to hear the rationale behind
this change. i.e. in what [way] does it improve upon
the sixteen-team single elimination system, in terms
of determining a winner?>>

First off,
let me state that I don't know if there is ANY
"ideal" way to run a tournament with >32 teams. So,
IMO, the goal is finding the system with which one is
most comfortable. 

There were two basic reasons
for implementing this change:

(1) I wanted a
system that produced more matches between the top teams,
without reducing the number of preliminary rounds each
team plays. (In particular, I wanted to avoid a system
whereby a team might only play one or two schools in the
top half of the field.)

(2) PADT wanted a
system that did not eliminate teams in the first round
of the playoffs, after last year, where only one #1
seed escaped an upset in the octofinals (and that by
only 35 points).

Of the numerous systems
suggested (which ranged from eight brackets of eight
proceeding to a massive double-elim,to a seven-round playoff
RR among the top TWO teams in each bracket), this
seemed the best way to accomplish the above goals
without creating logistical nightmares, either in terms
of length or complexity.

Samer T.
Ismail
Tournament Director, Penn Bowl 10