USQ Update
Gameplay Information for 2017 South Regional Championship
The gameplay format, pools, and bracket structure for the 2017 South Regional Championship are announced below.
The pools for the 2017 USQ South Regional Championship are as follows (listed in alphabetical order):
Pool A: Flying Panthers Quidditch Club, Gainesville Siege, Quidditch at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, The Southern Storm, University of South Florida Quidditch
Pool B: Carolina Heat Quidditch Club, Florida State University, University of Miami, University of Southern Mississippi
Pool C: College of Charleston, Florida’s Finest, inTENNsity, Nearly Headless Knights
The gameplay schedule can be found here, while information on the regional championship can be found here.
The format
On Sunday, the top four teams in each pool make the 12-team bracket. Five teams will qualify for nationals, and there will be two ways to qualify: 1) Reach the Championship Match, 2) Teams who lose in either the Round of 8 or the Semifinals will be placed into Consolation Rounds, needing up to three additional victories to attain a nationals berth.
After pool play, teams earning a 1-4 seed can qualify for nationals with either of the following win-loss patterns: W-W, or W-L-W, or W-L-L-W, or L-W-W-W, or L-W-W-L-W. Teams seeded 5-12 after pool play must win one additional game ahead of following either of the previously listed patterns.
As it was last season, teams will be seeded into the bracket with consideration to their placement in pool play. The four teams who finish first in their pool will be compared against each other according to our tiebreakers (as listed below) for the top 3 spots in the bracket. The teams who place second in their pools will be compared against each other for spots 4-6, etc.
The process
The original ranked list was divided into five pots by seed, and each pool had one team randomly drawn from each pot. The rankings were based on the USQ standings, per the rankings algorithm described here. The pots that teams were drawn from are as follows:
Pot 1: Florida’s Finest, Gainesville Siege, University of Miami
Pot 2: Carolina Heat Quidditch Club, inTENNsity, The Southern Storm
Pot 3: Florida State University, Flying Panthers Quidditch Club, College of Charleston
Pot 4: University of Southern Mississippi, Nearly Headless Knights, University of South Florida Quidditch
Pot 5: Quidditch at the University of Tennessee Knoxville
