BYU Basketball: Cougars need to find a Multi-Team Event for 2018-19

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26 Nov 1997: Forward Michael Dickerson of the Arizona Wildcats sits on the court during a game against the Duke Blue Devils at the Maui Invitational at the Lahaina Civic Center in Maui, Hawaii. Duke won the game 95-87. Mandatory Credit: Todd Warshaw /A /

What is an MTE

A Multi-Team Event is a tournament showcase that features multiple teams playing multiple games. In order to be effective and draw teams, an MTE needs to be given exempt status by the NCAA.

Exempt status means that all games that are a part of the event count as only one game toward the maximum number of games a team may play in a season.

According to section 17.3.5.1 of the NCAA Division 1 Handbook, a team has two choices.

First, they can schedule 29 regular-season games without an MTE, in any mixture of non-conference and conference contests.

Second, they can schedule 27 regular-season games and one MTE. With the MTE, they can up that maximum number of games to 31.

Those two extra games, especially against one or two high-RPI teams, can be the difference between the NCAA Tournament and the NIT for a team on the bubble.

So how does an MTE give a team up to four extra games?

First, most exempt events have either 4 or 8 headlining teams. These teams will meet at one location and play in either a tournament or in round-robin format over two or three days.

There’s two or three extra games right there.

Plus, the event organizers got smart and added undercard games to the event. Rather than taking place at a central location, the headlining teams will host one or two teams under the umbrella of the event. Those games usually bring the event’s total to four games per team, giving them that magical maximum of 31.

All of this took effect in the 2006-07 season, and BYU has played in an MTE in every season since then.

The new format killed the old Cougar Classic. The four-team event that BYU used to hold yearly would feature four teams playing in a two-day, two-game tournament. But with the new rules, an event that only gives teams two games doesn’t boost the schedule above the 29-game max.

Suddenly, the Cougars couldn’t get teams to come, and the Cougar Classic faded away.

Instead, BYU started playing in different events on a yearly basis, and it’s worked pretty well.

They’ve got to find a home for 2018-19, though, and fortunately there are still ways the Cougars can play in an MTE.

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