Impacts on the Tournament

Here are a couple seemingly minor things that will have an impact on this year's tournament.

Officiating:
There was an article this week on ESPN.com about the decline in the level of officiating this year, citing blown calls late in close games. While officiating in a late game situation always has the potential to influence a game, what I am referring to is how the entire game is officiated. A game that is called tightly will favor a quick finesse team. Whereas, a game that is allowed to be physical will favor bigger, physical teams. Also, see if the game is called differently in the second half than it was in the first half. Teams are not the only ones that make adjustments at halftime. Officials will get together, and discuss things they need to do. A team will have a better chance to succeed if they are able to quickly adjust to the way the game is being called. Going along with officiating, is does a key player get into foul trouble quickly? Is the team able overcome the loss of a key player?

Style of Play:
Every team has a style that they would like to play. If you get two teams with the same style, then it is just a matter of who is better. But often in the tournament, this is not the case. One team is often able to dictate the style or the tempo of the game, forcing the other team to match them. If a team is unable to match, then often they lose. Usually, this is how upsets occur. The underdogs are able to dictate the speed of the game, usually by slowing the game down, and the favorites try to speed up the game, only to make too many mistakes.

Coming 3/20: Reactions to Day 1 of the first round.