NCAA Tournament 2025

[camosfan]

A regular season game does not have to have a winner in a 16-game season, there are tie breakers, you are advocating bringing other sports rule into a unique game that predates all the sports you mentioned, and happens to be the most watched game in the world!

[Hopkins92]

Counterpoint, camo, is that COLLEGE soccer is different than what is watched all over the world in a few fundamental ways.

We've talked about the subbing.

And there is the weird way the clock is managed in college soccer.

I don't think tweaking the NPI formula (again, not a thing anywhere else in the world) would be such a radical move, for example.

I don't think taking players off is a great idea, because at 10v10 I think the difference is marginal and at 8v8, now you are asking guys to cover a TON more turf and we come back to player safety/attrition.

[camosfan]

I will acknowledge that the college game is a bit different at the moment, but they are slowly changing the rules to conform to international standards, I will say 5 years from now the timekeeping will change for example, the number of subs will be the hardest rule to change.

[Kuiper]

So a team like Haverford ended up 10-0-9 (lost last game on PK to the Muhls in the CC tournament) did not have a chance to win (or lose) almost half of their season and on top do not qual for the NCAA tourn. Spent the whole season unblemished, but end up 81st on the NPI.

FYI, field hockey (that is truly a dangerous sport, really), volleyball (best of 5 with extra points when tied at the end of each set), basketball, lacrosse (to the death), hockey!!!!, wrestling, football!!!!!!!!! etc, etc all go extra time/points in their games/matches to determine winners. Oh, yeah, baseball and softball play extra innings. Don't many of them have buses, planes, trains, boats, scooters, alpacas to catch??? Are soccer players just too dainty???

As to out west, they come a day early and they can have the game at 1 or 2 in the afternoon which most likely will leave enough time make an 8pm flight.

Some will say that these sports don't tie enough in reg. time. Oh, no, no, no, basketball, football and lacrosse maybe not, but goals are HUGE in fh and hockey.

Hockey and football CTE alert, but not enough injuries, future death, to not figure out a way to settle things. I would also argue that football, lacrosse, hockey, and, maybe, field hockey have equal or more injuries when compared to soccer. 

Yeah, I know it is the int'l way. Hah, we only play in the US.

If you are not bringing back extra time, make wins 4 pts and ramp up NPI for wins. Or maybe make ties .5 and continue wins 3 points. That'll make risk adverse coaches and players work harder in the 90 min. imo.

In baseball, they start with a man on second. Maybe in soccer have overtime with 10 v 10 in the first overtime and then 8 v 8 in the second?? That will cut down on over a bit??

After finishing 2-11-5 in 2024, I'm guessing Haverford's coach was overjoyed to go without a loss in 2025 and just make it to the Centennial conference tournament.  Weak teams and middling teams trying to stay above water end up playing for ties.  And once teams start playing for a tie, it kind of spreads through the conference since a point keeps you in the race. That's probably why Dickinson finished with 7 ties.  Conference teams that knew they couldn't hang with Dickinson's forwards played conservatively to avoid conceding and Dickinson had trouble beating a low block.  Muhlenberg, which seemed to stop scoring halfway through the season, also finished 8-3-9 in the Centennial, Swarthmore finished 5-6-6, and Washington College was 6-7-5.  Same issue in the NCAC, where Kenyon went 7-4-7, Ohio Wesleyan went 7-5-6, and Wittenberg went 7-4-7.  Similar story in the NEWMAC.  Coast Guard ended up 7-6-7, WPI was 8-7-5, Emerson was 6-8-5, and Salve Regina was 6-4-6 

As to why coaches in soccer decided to eliminate it because of travel issues and in other sports they did not, you would have to ask the coaches.  I don't know much about college field hockey (completely non-existent out west) and hockey (non-existent out here beyond the mountain time zone other than Alaska and Arizona State), but I think they are 60 rather than 90 minute run times, although I could be wrong. 

Regardless, my guess is something will be done at some point to increase the advantage of a win, whether adjusting the NPI formula or points.  Having said that, Williams was 10-2-11 in 2022, pre-NPI but post-repeal of OT, and no one made a move to limit ties even though Williams rode those ties all the way to the NCAA finals.  So, maybe it's here to stay.

[SierraFD3soccer]

I don't know much about college field hockey (completely non-existent out west) and hockey (non-existent out here beyond the mountain time zone other than Alaska and Arizona State), but I think they are 60 rather than 90 minute run times, although I could be wrong.

Yes 60 min (lacrosse and football too), but a lot of stopping and starting so most likely close to or over 90 min.