"We consulted with experts within the coaching and analytics fields who looked at historical data, based on winning percentages by game location, to come up with these dividing lines within each of the columns," Mark Hollis, Michigan State's athletic director, and the outgoing committee chair, said. "The emphasis of performing well on the road is important, as was the need for teams not to be penalized as much for road losses. Beating elite competition, regardless of the game location, will still be rewarded, but the committee wanted the team sheets to reflect that a road game against a team ranked 60th is mathematically more difficult and of higher quality than a home game versus a team ranked 35th. We feel this change accomplishes that."
It's a huge step for mid-majors, schools forced to play more road games than the majority of teams from conferences that annually land four or more tournament bids.
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