Kentucky Royals AAU

[Basement Barbers]

Bracket play matchups usually determined before tournament even starts.

 

So pool play games are meaningless? I could understand if there was tv scheduling, but there is not. Why wouldn't teams send in the 'b' team kids for pool play and then send in the real deal on bracket play? .... and why are the facilities charging an arm and a leg for meaningless games? lol. Sounds like paying full price for a Bengals scrimmage.

[camelman]

So pool play games are meaningless? I could understand if there was tv scheduling, but there is not. Why wouldn't teams send in the 'b' team kids for pool play and then send in the real deal on bracket play? .... and why are the facilities charging an arm and a leg for meaningless games? lol. Sounds like paying full price for a Bengals scrimmage.

 

Not sure you understand how it works with most tourneys. If pool has 3 teams, a lot of times the team that finishes first moves into a bracket with all of other teams that finished first in a pool. That might be called the Gold Bracket. Then, teams that finished second in a pool move into a Silver Bracket, third place teams a Bronze bracket, etc.

 

I guess you could "sandbag" during pool play, lose all games, then get yourself into the bronze bracket and then try and conquer the world from there. LOL

[Basement Barbers]

Not sure you understand how it works with most tourneys. If pool has 3 teams, a lot of times the team that finishes first moves into a bracket with all of other teams that finished first in a pool. That might be called the Gold Bracket. Then, teams that finished second in a pool move into a Silver Bracket, third place teams a Bronze bracket, etc.

 

I guess you could "sandbag" during pool play, lose all games, then get yourself into the bronze bracket and then try and conquer the world from there. LOL

I did misunderstand. So when you say bracket is drawn prior to pool play, it's pool a winner v pool d winner. They do not draw individual teams prior to pool play. Sorry.

[Pete Mitchell]

Help me out... Why would Indy Heat, 3-0 in pool play, be playing KY Royals, also 3-0 in pool play, in the first round? Looks like Royals even played a 'play in' game. Very odd.

 

It was very odd. 88 teams in the tournament, split up into 4 team pools. Ordinarily, that would mean the 22 pool winning teams advance to the top bracket (i.e. in this case platinum). In this tournament, though, the top two pools were loaded with EYBL and EYBL level teams and the platinum bracket was a "modified" top level bracket that allowed for teams that did not win the A and B brackets to still play for the top championship. My guess is that EYBL teams like Indy Heat and All Ohio Red want to be sure they will play each other in pool play but they still want to be eligible to win the whole thing, and the tournament directors accommodate them (no coincidence that the teams that finished 2nd and 3rd in pool A wound up in the championship game of the platinum bracket).

 

Indy Heat, a top EYBL organization, won the toughest pool (A), going 3-0, including a 21 point win over the team that eventually won the whole thing. What probably did Indy Heat in was that the Royals game was a war, and was a single possession game until the last minute, and Indy Heat had to go back to back right after that game and lost the next to Chicago Select. The irony there is that when the Royals were played Indy Heat, it was their 4th game of the day and they were going back to back after dismantling a Chicago Lockdown team that easily won its pool also.

 

At the end of the day, this is a top tier tournament that draws many of the best national level teams, and they accommodate them, even though it is a little unfair to some other teams not in the "super" pools. That being said, though, the Kentucky Royals accommodated themselves quite well and, with a lineup that includes at least (2) D1 kids (Pfriem and Allen) and maybe more, showed they compete at the very top level.

[Pete Mitchell]

Help me out... Why would Indy Heat, 3-0 in pool play, be playing KY Royals, also 3-0 in pool play, in the first round? Looks like Royals even played a 'play in' game. Very odd.

 

It was very odd. 88 teams in the tournament, split up into 4 team pools. Ordinarily, that would mean the 22 pool winning teams advance to the top bracket (i.e. in this case platinum). In this tournament, though, the top two pools were loaded with EYBL and EYBL level teams and the platinum bracket was a "modified" top level bracket that allowed for teams that did not win the A and B brackets to still play for the top championship. My guess is that EYBL teams like Indy Heat and All Ohio Red want to be sure they will play each other in pool play but they still want to be eligible to win the whole thing, and the tournament directors accommodate them (no coincidence that the teams that finished 2nd and 3rd in pool A wound up in the championship game of the platinum bracket).

 

Indy Heat, a top EYBL organization, won the toughest pool (A), going 3-0, including a 21 point win over the team that eventually won the whole thing. What probably did Indy Heat in was that their Royals game was a war, and was a single possession game until the last minute, and Indy Heat had to go back to back right after that game and lost the next one to Chicago Select. The irony there is that when the Royals played Indy Heat, it was the Royals 4th game of the day and they were going back to back after dismantling a Chicago Lockdown team that had easily won its pool also.

 

At the end of the day, this is a top tier tournament that draws many of the best national level teams, and they accommodate them, even though it is a little unfair to some other teams not in the "super" pools. That being said, though, the Kentucky Royals accorded themselves quite well and, with a lineup that includes at least (2) D1 kids (Pfriem and Allen) and maybe more, showed they compete at the very top level.