While the bracket projections continue to come in and change by the hour, few have been asking what is truly better for Liberty as a whole: playing in the First Four, or going straight to the field of 64 teams as a 16 seed?  From a competitive standpoint the answer is obvious.  By going straight into the field as a 16 seed, a team skips the play-in round and has one less game to play towards a championship.  However, for a school like Liberty, much of the benefit of making the NCAA tournament comes in name recognition and publicity that a school simply cannot buy.  With that in mind, let’s explore the issue further.

Without a doubt, it would be considered more prestigious to make it straight into the field of 64.  Not only does it signify a higher status for your team, it means a high profile opponent in the first round of the tournament.  As millions of Americans are filling our their brackets next week, Liberty would be assured the eyes of those picking their 1 vs 16 match up.  Finally, it puts Liberty in the position to do something that has never been done: upset a number 1 seed in the first round of the NCAA tournament.  These are obviously good things for the school’s public profile, and can only help as Liberty continues to search for an FBS conference invitation. 

On the other hand, most 1 vs 16 match ups are played at non-traditional hours on the first two days of the tournament, filled with tons of other games.  Generally, the 1 vs 16 games are not as desirable for broadcast because they are usually not very competitive. This would yield less television viewership and less publicity.  The First Four play-in games take place earlier in the week, and have no competition in terms of other college basketball games.  For one night, the spotlight is truly on the match ups to get into the field of 64.  All of the television pre-production, all of the storylines, and all of the highlights will focus on Liberty vs School X, should LU be selected to play in the First Four. 

Additionally, the Flames would likely be paired in a very winnable game against another team that shares a lower-tier RPI rating.  This would leave Liberty in a solid position to make it to that field of 64 anyway, and have the selling point of having won an NCAA tournament game.  The downside, of course, is what happens if LU loses.  The Flames won’t be showing up on as many brackets to be filled out, and won’t be mentioned once the madness kicks off with 32 games in two days later that week. 

 At the moment, almost every projection has Liberty playing in the First Four in Dayton this coming week.  Some have the Flames facing off against Long Island, while others have LU taking on a relatively familiar opponent in Hampton University.  Regardless, a win in this round would mean tremendous media coverage and publicity for Liberty University.  Also, for those inclined to a storyline, it could also mean a pretty juicy match up with a guy who used to wear a Liberty jersey.

So Flames Nation, we want to know which way you would rather go.  Would you prefer the spotlight of the First Four?  Or would you rather jump ahead to the field of 64 knowing Liberty likely will get less time on the television screen?  Either way the Big South Championship has already been great for Liberty, and things should only get better over the next week.