NCAA Basketball: No. 1 overall seed can choose first/second round NCAA Tournament location

The importance of a NCAA basketball teams’ resume becomes even more critical following Monday’s rule change.

Over the years, college basketball critics have mentioned that the NCAA’s regular season isn’t of great importance to teams ranked in the top-20 or high major programs like Duke, North Carolina and Kentucky.

Because of amount of teams that are featured in the NCAA Tournament bracket, these critics mention that top programs are simply playing for seeding, and are gearing up for the only thing that matters: the Big Dance.

While that is certainly debatable (they play for bragging rights in rivalry games, conference titles and the chance to have the highest number possible number next to their name), the NCAA is turning over another stone to make the sport even more competitive.

Starting in 2016-17, the number one overall seed in the NCAA Tournament can now choose their first and second round location from the eight assigned cities.

"“Preferences would be communicated by teams in contention for the overall No. 1 seed far in advance of Selection Sunday in a process to be determined,” the NCAA said in a statement."

Obviously, every season the assigned locations are different, but in 2017, Buffalo, Orlando, Sacramento, Greensboro, Salt Lake City, Indianapolis, Tulsa, and Milwaukee will be on the docket.

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This rule change now gives programs an incentive to boost their resume, as adding a home court advantage for the first two rounds will help them fend off a number 16 seed and more importantly, an always feisty eight or nine seed.

With the parity that has constantly taken over college basketball, there will be numerous teams in the mix for that number one overall seed when the conference tournaments roll around. That will only enhance the level of competition at those tournaments, and could even have an impact on how teams schedule in the non-conference portion of the calendar (giving fans more competitive games when football dominates the sports talk).

Duke has taken some heat for their non-conference slate in recent days, but would things be a little different if they knew about this rule before hand? Would they have scheduled another top team or two? Will playing Kansas, Rhode Island or Cincinnati, Florida and UNLV be good enough if they are in a head-to-head heat with Kentucky, Villanova or another top team in the nation?

Don’t get me wrong, we aren’t going to see teams drastically change their approach just to reel in two “home games” in the NCAA Tournament (especially with one coming against a 16 seed).

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However, in a sport that anything can happen and upsets are all too common, beefing up your resume for the right to play more games near your home isn’t exactly a bad thing.

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