Sfi west baloney 15 team format (again)

Rant.

Why is USAU’s default format for 15 teams to give the 1 seed a bye in to quarters, while all 14 other teams have to play a prequarter matchup? The alternative would be crossovers for game 3 Saturday instead of giving pool A winner a bye and forcing 2/15, 3/14, and 4/13 to play. Nobody wants to see those games, the people want pool winners to play crossovers.

How is it a worthwhile game to have a team that won both its first two games (pool winners) play against a slapdick team that lost both of its games (pool losers)?

Fairness effects: the winner of pool A only has to play 2 games Saturday (and if it’s the 1 seed the best seed they could match up with in those games is the 6 seed) and only play 4 games in order to reach the final if they get that far, whereas any other team they would meet in the final would be in their 6th game.

Reference to men’s/mixed sfi west last year - the pool A winners and 1 seeds (furious George/Lotus) only played the 6 seeds to earn a prequarter bye and didn’t have to play a 6pm Saturday prequarter. The 6 pool winner vs pool loser prequarters? 13-4, 13-6, 15-6, 13-1, 13-2, 13-5. Those 6 games were just a waste of time.

In mens all pool winners eventually earned semifinals, and one team clearly had more rest than the other 3 who didn’t finish the slapdick prequarter rounds until 8pm and had to return at 6am Sunday. Guess who won the final - perhaps the team that played one less game in the heat, soaked in the pool, had a full dinner, and got to bed early before 7 am rounds. Maybe furious was the better team, but the format gave them an immense advantage regardless.

Rant over, usau please give the people better matchups and value fairness for the semis and finals.