2020-21 OVC Men’s & Women’s Basketball
Tournament Access and Tiebreaker Policy
Games Played
• In the event a full 20-game Conference schedule is played by the top eight (8) teams in the Conference standings, awarding a regular season champion, seeding for the tournament and the tournament format shall revert back to the original format.
Conference Tournament Qualification & Regular Season Championship
• A team must complete a minimum of 10 Conference games (50 percent of the original schedule of 20 games) to be eligible for the regular season championship and Conference tournament.
• The regular season champion shall be determined by the team with the best winning percentage among the teams who have met the 10-game minimum requirement.
• Co-champions shall be declared in the event two or more teams tie for first place in winning percentage at the conclusion of the regular season schedules.
• Teams shall be seeded 1-8 according to their Conference winning percentage for the Conference tournament.
NCAA Tournament Qualification
• If the Conference tournament cannot be played, the top seed entering the tournament, who has met the Conference and NCAA minimum number of games played requirement, will receive the Conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
• If the Conference tournament is started, but cannot be completed, the highest remaining seed (closer to the #1 seed) after a complete round has been played shall be selected as the Conference’s automatic qualifier.
Tiebreaker
• Tiebreaker procedures shall be used only to determine seeds for the conference tournament. Regular season standings shall stand. The tiebreaker procedures for seeding the Ohio Valley Conference Basketball Tournament will utilize the following factors, in order, until all ties are broken.
Tiebreaker Principles
• If any game is cancelled due to COVID-19 related matters, the game will be registered as a “no contest.”
• Ties involving teams higher in the standings are always broken before ties involving teams lower in the standings.
• If a tie between three or more teams in the standings is reduced to a tie between two teams, the two-team tiebreaker formula will then be utilized.
• Higher winning percentages shall prevail in tiebreaker situations, even if the number of games played against a team or group is unequal (i.e., 2-0 is better than 3-1; 1-0 is the same as 2-0; 2-1 is the same as 4-2; 1-0 is better than 1-1; 0-1 is the same as 0-3). If the winning percentage of the tied teams is the same against a team, or a group of tied teams, the process shall continue down through the standings until one team gains an advantage.
If two teams are tied in the standings
1. Records in head-to-head competition are compared with the higher seed going to the team that has the higher winning percentage against the other;
2. In the event step 1 does not resolve the tie (i.e., if the two teams split during the regular season), then the winning percentage for the tied teams against the highest seeded common opponent shall be compared. The team with the higher winning percentage shall gain the higher seed. The process continues through the No. 12 team, if necessary.
3. When arriving at tied teams, each team’s winning percentage against the collective tied teams as a group (prior to their own tie-breaking procedures) shall be used rather than the performance against the individual tied teams.
4. In the event this process does not resolve the ties, a coin toss will be the final alternative.
If three or more teams are tied in the standings
1. Composite records between tying teams will be evaluated to determine if one team has a higher winning percentage against the other tying institutions (in which case that team would receive the higher seed) and/or one team has the lowest winning percentage among the tied teams (in which case that team will receive the lowest seed), and /or two teams have the same composite record (in which case the two-team tiebreaker scenario shall be utilized);
2. In the event this process does not resolve the multiple ties or reduce the multiple ties to one tie, then a comparison of records of the tied institutions against the highest seeded common opponent will occur. The team among the tying institutions with the higher winning percentage against that seed will receive the higher seed. The process continues through the No. 12 team, if necessary.
3. When arriving at tied teams, each team’s winning percentage against the collective tied teams as a group (prior to their own tie-breaking procedures) shall be used, rather than the performance against the individual tied teams.
4. In the event this process does not resolve the ties, a coin toss will be the final alternative.