it doesn't go all the way and say the regular season is everything.  There's an ebb and flow to a season, there are injuries, there is growth.  So if a team gets much better throughout the season, I want them to have a chance at the end through a tournament (as an example, from posts I've seen on here, apparantly UCLA has improved a lot over the season).  I used to think our tournament format was stupid, but I've changed my opinion.  The format strikes a good balance.