There will be an eight-team seeded championship the week/weekend prior to the NCAA championship. The conference champion shall be determined by the winner of the championship game.
Seeding for the Championship tournament will be determined by conference standings using best conference records and/or tie-breakers below. The format of the championship will be an eight team single-elimination playoff (No. 1 seed hosts No. 8 seed, No. 2 seed hosts No. 7 seed, No. 3 seed hosts No. 6 seed and No. 4 hosts No. 5 on Saturday prior to Championship week) followed by semifinals on the Wednesday of Championship week (Semifinal 1 is Winner of 1/8 vs. Winner of 4/5 at higher seed and Semifinal 2 is Winner of 2/7 vs. Winner of 3/6 at higher seed). The Championship will take place on the Saturday of Championship week with the winner of Semifinal 1 facing the winner of Semifinal 2 at the site of the highest remaining seed.
* Note that the Empire 8 will not re-seed after the opening round
In case of a tie for any finish in the regular season standings, the following tie-breaking procedure shall be followed in order to seed teams (in the instance of a three or more way tie, once one team is advanced by a tie-breaker, the remaining teams will begin the tie-breaker process anew starting with the first criteria):
- Head-to-head record
- Best record vs. subsequent finishers in descending order beginning with the 1st place team
- Road record vs. conference opponents
- NCAA NPI Ranking
- Coin flip (to be conducted by the league office)
EXAMPLES
a. Two Team Tie
i.Results of head-to-head competition during the regular season.
ii. Each team’s record vs. the team occupying the highest position in the final regular season standings (or in the case of a tie for the championship, the next highest seeded position in the regular season standings), continuing on down until one team gains an advantage.
When arriving at another pair of tied teams while comparing records, use each team’s record against the collective tied teams as a group (prior to the groups own tie-breaking procedures), rather than the performance against the individual tied teams. When comparing records against a single team or group of teams, the higher winning percentage shall prevail, even if the number of games played against the team or group of teams are unequal (i.e., 2-0 is better than 3-1); in the case of tied percentages vs. the team or group of 1.000 or .000, the following shall apply: 2-0 is better than 1-0; 0-1 is better than 0-2.
- Multiple Team Ties
i. Overall head to head record against teams in the tie. Any team that can be seeded after head to head is applied will be seeded. For example: Team A is 4-0,Team B is 1-3,and Team C is 1-3. Team A will be advanced. Team B and C, who are still tied, will revert to original tiebreakers for a 2 team tie.
ii. If there is still a tie involving more than 2 teams. For example: Team A is 2-2, Team B is 2-2, Team C is 2-2. Each team’s head to head record will be compared in descending order starting with the highest seeded team. If there is a tie in question at one of seeded spots below the tie, the overall record against the tied teams will be used.
iii. In the event of a multiple team tie, where the records are not even, but a single team cannot be placed, the teams that are tied within the pod will be slotted into another pod slotted in the position that they were in. The tiebreakers will be determined as previous set for the number of teams involved.
For example, Team A is 4-2, Team B is 4-2, Team C is 2-4 and Team D is 2-4. Team A and B will now revert to the tiebreakers for a 2-team tie to claim the 1st and 2nd seed in that pod. If Team A was 2-0 vs Team B, Team A would receive the highest seed amongst the tie, Team B the 2nd highest seed in that pod. Team C and D would then go to head to head to claim the 3rd and 4th seed in the pod. If the tie could still not be broken, then the head of head records of the each team shall be compared to the highest seeded team continuing in descending order until the tie is broken.
iv. If a multiple team tie can’t be determined after head to head and record against opponents in descending order. Overall Conference road record will be used as the next tie breaker.