Thursday Bracketology

College basketball celebrates the fruit of its Selection Sunday, beginning today. The tournament is my most favorite Thursday of the year, although if we are drawn into the Thursday round of Sectional, that would be a close second. I love the intrigue that the brackets give, the hope of seeing a name you love on the final line, indicating them as champions. So, in honor of the NCAA Tournament, Selection Sunday, and the upcoming tourney weekend, I'm offering an inside view today of the Sectional selection process.

First of all, the site of the selection has changed in my years of coaching. When the Sectional was hosted at NorthWood, we would meet in a classroom at NorthWood High School. We would all slide into student desks and it felt really odd. I would pull out my roster and feel like I should be prepared to take notes. But there was really only one thing to write down, the outcome of the brackets. It was a strange and uncomfortable feeling, as I was nervous, inexperienced and I didn't know the other coaches all that well.

Now, I'm more relaxed, and the tournament selection site has changed. We now meet in a back conference room at Goshen High School, and that feels like a more appropriate place. All important decisions are made around conference tables right? In a dimly lit back room? Well, that's the way I imagine it.

The first part of the process is formalities, we have to make sure everybody's Sectional roster is right. The roster you submit is the roster you must play, unless an injury occurs, so it is essential to have everything figured out. This can be nerve-wracking of course. Last year, I had a bit of a dilemma. To beat Jimtown in the Sectional, we needed to have a strong singles lineup, because we had to win #2 singles to take the match. To beat Fairfield, we needed to have a strong doubles showing, because we probably needed to take both doubles matches to give ourselves the best shot. So I toyed around with different ideas to strengthen our doubles, moving Ben or Seth down to play at one of the doubles positions, hoping the other would win #1 singles... I probably wrote down 8 or 9 different lineups without even talking to any of the players. Then I decided that our best bet was to stick with what we had and hope that Jimtown and Fairfield drew each other in the first round. But in confirming your lineup, it feels like a big decision, and so you want to make sure you've examined every possibility.

And of course, you get to see the other lineups that the coaches are playing. Usually, these are fairly predictable, the lineups that they've been playing all year long. Sometimes, however, there are small changes. One year, Jimtown had suspended their #3 singles player, and it gave a glimmer of hope to us when we drew them. In fact, we ended up defeating them at that position, but couldn't pull together 2 other wins. I've often wanted to write a new name down at #1 singles, like Pete Sampras Jr. and tell all the other coaches that we just had a new transfer, just to see the reaction.

After lineups are exchanged and confirmed, the draw proceeds. The bracket is like the one above, and each team has a little ball with a number on it assigned to them. We are always #1, because they number the balls and the teams alphabetically. They put all the numbered balls into a little blue bottle, shake it up, and pour one number out into the hosting AD's hand. Whatever number it is goes on the top line of the bracket, and we proceed from top to bottom. First two teams out go against each other on Saturday morning, next two on Thursday night, and the last team waits to take on the winner of the Thursday round.

This is a nerve-wracking time, you know? I'll admit, when I'm sitting there, there are teams that I want to play and teams that I don't want to play. Last year, I was hoping to not have to play Fairfield in the first round. I was hoping for a draw that let us advance to the Sectional Final, so that even if we lost, we'd have a little taste of what playing for the title is like. In my early years of coaching, I always wanted to avoid the best teams early, because I didn't want to get blown away to end the season. But all you can do is bite your fingernails and pray. And even then it doesn't always come out like you want.

But, of course, you cannot react when your name and opponent are announced. I wanted to grimace last year when I saw us and then Fairfield. But instead, I just nodded my head like "yep, we're going to take them down." It is difficult to not let your emotions show, like in a class where you are getting a new seating chart and you seated next to the stinky kid who has Team Sports first period and never showers. You are trying to be nice.

The other funny thing is how my brain starts working on strategy right away. As soon as the AD says "line one Bethany, and they will be taking on... Fairfield," my mind starts going, "okay, now we really got to get Seth to attack Wyatt and get to the net. We can probably count on Ben defeated Malachi again, I don't know what Blake will be able to do at #3. Can #1 doubles play out of their minds and win? We should probably throw lots of different looks at them..." And on and on. Immediately, and then for the rest of the week, I think and think and think and torture myself.

The other thing about "Selection Monday"? I get to come tell all of you the results of the process after you've made your Night Out videos. Then, we get to be excited and nervous together.

You know the other thing we could be this year, other than excited and nervous? We can be confident. Confidence is simply knowing that we've worked as hard as we could throughout the season, and now we get to show that. I think that will happen too. It usually has before.