[Joe Johnson]

There were things I liked about this year's tournament structure and things I did not like.

What do you think of the following concept:

1. Go back to 2 on 2 (2 team alliances, even in Elimination Rounds)
2. No seeding match on Sat. morning
3. Draft on Friday Night select Nteams/2 alliances
4. Automatic Draft Process (teams have 30 minutes to enter their pick order of teams below them and which teams they will accept or reject a pick from for teams above them, computer does the pairing) but Pairs are anounced in serial fashion to keep the drama of the draft process
5. If Nteams = odd, last alliance is made up of Unpaired Team and highest seed team eliminated from the tournament when Unpaired Team plays its match in Round 1 (the last match of Round 1)
6. Nteam/2 alliances have a "standard" elimination tournament (best 2 of 3 advance)
7. Highest Seeded Team eliminated in Round N-1 available for Breakdown Backup in Round N
8. No Breakdown Backup in Round 1

What I like:

• Kind of goes back to Friday seeding, Saturday Elimination Tourney format from the old days of FIRST (then U.S. FIRST).
• Everyone plays matches that matter on Saturday
• Everyone has a chance to win on Saturday (Cinderella Stories allowed)
• Everyone gets drafted -- nobody goes home saying I didn't get drafted!
• 2 on 2 - less confunding of data, less confusing to watch
• Everyone on an Alliance plays every match in the Elimination Rounds

What I don't like:

• fewer winners (2 Champions not 3)
• first round will have a lot of blowouts (like the NCAA ???)
• GP needed to keep from abusing the Breakdown Backup rule

Feel free to comment and/or propose your own trounament format that fixes some things and breaks others.

Joe J.