RebKell's Junkie Boards

[bryan_february_]

I'm still mad about the '16 postseason when Catch was eliminated after a single game, especially considering how the year before her team was down in the semi-finals and conference finals but came back to win those series.

The players deserve better than this!

And fans too, especially this year. We're being robbed of great basketball.

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Indiana Fever

[Bob Lamm]

[WNBA 09]

Its the pros. Win or go home leave the excuses for the regular season.

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3-Time WNBA Champion-3-Time National Champion-4-Time Olympic Champion....And Yes DT "We Got Confeti" lol

[Luuuc]

I think there is some upside with them. Survival being on the line adds to the appeal for me.
Until fans start showing up to these early round playoff games I think it is the right call to stick with single games.

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Thanks for calling. I wait all night for calls like these.

[pilight]

Better to cut the playoffs to six teams and go best of three in the first round. Exciting as it is to see whether the Aces or Wings can back into the #8 seed, it would be so much better with teams 4-7 separated by one game with a week to go and one of them won't get in. We'd have a whole last week of playoff intensity games.

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I'm a lonely frog
I ain't got a home

[calbearman76]

I disagree. First there are 12 teams. If you want to make a real change how about restricting the playoffs to just the top 2 or at most the top 4 teams. If a team finishes 5th they don't really even deserve 1 playoff game. But even if you are going to have a playoff system that includes 8 teams how do you suggest fitting in 2 of 3 series for the first two rounds. Shorten the regular season to 28 games? Use 2 of 3 series for the whole playoffs and go back to 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, etc. The playoff system has been created because of limitations placed on the League by outside forces.


If you want a system that determines the best team, do away with the playoffs completely. Get rid of 1 team, extend the season to 40 games and play 4 games against every other team. Best record is champion. Of course then you wouldn't have the relatively higher ratings that the playoffs bring.

[Richyyy]

I think I've found that the type of season we've had affects how I feel about them. This year, with how even the playoff teams are, I'd love to see the ebb and flow of series even in the starting rounds. In previous years, when it really felt like we were just deciding which lambs got to be slaughtered, one-game deciders felt fine.

Although I haven't changed from my opinion that it's unfair on the #3 and #4 seeds to potentially have their seasons ended in one game. Those teams have been too successful and worked too hard to be put in that position (hence my preference for a (sort of) double-elimination system).

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Independent WNBA coverage: http://www.wnbalien.com/

[sigur3]

Don't hate the player, hate the scheduling.

I'm fine with it.

[FrozenLVFan]

Teams with under .500 records shouldn't be in the playoffs, period. Give the top 3 teams a bye, and let the remaining >.500 teams have single elimination playoffs for the 4th spot. Then play best of 3 in the semis, and best of 5 in the finals.

[myrtle]

I'm fine with it as is. But then I'm a general fan rather than a fan of a particular team. If it were my team who got eliminated after having a substantially better record than the team that eliminates them...I just might feel different.

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For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it.
If only we’re brave enough to be it.
- Amanda Gorman

[J-Spoon]

I don't like the single elimination games, but yeah I'm a Liberty fan and two seasons in a row we got 3rd best record only to get knocked out by a lower seed in 40 minutes so maybe that has colored my opinion.

I like the 6 teams top two get bys best 2 out of 3 for 3 to 6 best 3 out of 5 for semis and finals

I would also be OK with top 8 best 2 out of 3 until the finals which are 3 out of five. This way no bys which I think can actually hurt a team as thier opponents come in warmer and off victories while the by teams wait. 1 should be able to beat 8 and 2 should be able to beat 7 pretty easily, as stated earlier win or go home no excuse losing to lower seeds.

[Happycappie25]

this...more than half the league making the playoffs is an anomaly that really hurts things, got more teams trying to get out of that 5th draft pick than into that first playoff spot...6 teams, 3-5-5 is fair

[mercfan3]

[toad455]

There's also the TV deal with ESPN. Under this current format, all games get aired on the ESPN networks. They switch it to the classic first round, best-of-3, #1 vs. #8 and some games will be forced onto NBATV.

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LET'S GO LIBERTY!!!!!!

Twitter: @TBRBWAY

[pilight]

[Richyyy]

[Luuuc]

[SportsGuru]

The WNBA could do like the Arena Football League, the WNBA could have a 2 Game Home & Home Playoff Series and if the 2 teams win one each it will be decided on total point of each team 2 games.

[toad455]

[Richyyy]

And speaking from a continent where two-legged aggregate-score matchups in basketball are occasionally still a thing, I hate them. There's nothing quite like being at a basketball game that ends with the scores level, and everyone looking around at each other wondering whether they're supposed to play overtime or not.

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Independent WNBA coverage: http://www.wnbalien.com/

[SportsGuru]

[Randy]

We discuss this every year and I think most people say the same things as in the past, so I will too.

My proposal is a one weekend long tournament for the top 8 teams- single game elimination. It would follow the same format as we have now (1 and 2 get double byes, 3 and 4 single).

TBH - I'd be happy if there were no post season but more regular season games. Make the team that win the most games the champ and give them a parade and a trophy.

I have no problem at all with the current single elimination games. If the games for the non-contenders were actually drawing some fans it might be different. Having a playoff game in a nearly empty arena takes a lot of the excitement out of the game.

[ClayK]

Really, what we're talking about is the overall structure of the WNBA playoffs ... and there are two aspects: One that makes sensse, and one that reflects reality.

What makes sense: Four of the 12 teams make the playoffs. The first round is best of five, the second is best of seven. (If you want to have something for the other eight, have a single-elimination eight-team bracket with the winner getting the first overall pick in the draft and the runner-up the second.)

Reality: Many home playoff games generate income, and any playoff game is a selling point for sponsors and fans, so putting eight teams in the playoffs makes financial sense.

The schedule restraints don't allow playoff series if eight teams make it, so there have to be some cuts. Conceivably you could reduce the finals to three games, and expand the others, but the five-game finals are better for ticket sales and TV, I think.

ESPN is not interested in showing WNBA playoff games when it could be showing college football, so there's a limitation there as well, plus with the NBA season starting in mid-October, NBA-TV will be focusing on the upcoming NBA season, where the ratings are.

I don't mind the seventh and eighth place teams playing a single elimination game, and really, the fifth and sixth don't bother me that much. But it would be nice if the third and fourth place teams got a three-game series, so if you eliminate seven and eight, and have six play three (best-of-three) and five play four, you stay within most of the above parameters and have a better system.

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Oṃ Tāre Tuttāre Ture Svāhā

[Richyyy]

[jap]