A seed is a preliminary ranking given to a contestant or team in a sport or other competition for the purposes of the draw. Players/teams are “placed” into the bracket such that the best do not clash until later in the tournament, often based on regular season performance.
- The word was initially used in tennis and is derived from the concept of building out a tournament ladder by placing slips of paper with the names of players the way seeds or seedlings are organized in a garden: smaller plants in front, larger plants in the back.
- Sometimes, the remaining participants in a single-elimination tournament will be “re-seeded” so that the highest remaining seed will face the lowest remaining seed in the following round, etc.
This may be performed after each round, or at specified intervals.
Why do they get the name seeds?
How did the term’seed’ get associated with sports? When employed in rankings and event placement, the seeding system originated in tennis. According to one account, the rankings are derived from the word ‘conceded,’ as in, the team/player is conceded or presumed to be the greatest.
- Casual usage led to the term ‘ceded,’ which in turn led to the term’seed.’ According to reports, seeding in tournaments is analogous to planting something in a precise area in horticulture.
- In sports competitions, organizers do not want the greatest players/teams to be eliminated in the early stages, thus they “seed” the best players/teams over the many legs to prevent this from occurring.
How did the term’seed’ get associated with sports?
A ticket from the 1988 tournament hosted in Kansas City, Missouri, with the seeding and bracket. From 1 to 68, the selection committee ranks the whole field of 68 teams to determine the real seed. The committee then splits the teams into four zones and assigns them a seed between 1 and 16.
Seed line refers to the four seeds that are same in all places (i.e. the No.6 seed line). The First Four consists of eight doubled-up teams. Two of the partnered teams fight for No.16 seeds, while the other two are the last at-large teams issued invitations to the tournament and compete for a seed line ranging from No.11 to No.14, which fluctuates from year to year dependent on the real seeding of the teams overall.
To save travel time, teams are situated in the nearest geographical region. However, clubs are transferred to other zones to provide competitive balance and avoid early-round rematches with regular-season opponents. The top four overall seeds are the No.1 seeds in their respective regions.
- The regions are matched such that if all No.1 seeds reached the Final Four, the No.1 seed would face the No.4 seed and the No.2 seed would face the No.3 seed.
- The No.2 teams are ideally positioned so that the No.5 true seed does not face the No.1 true seed.
- By aggregating the genuine seed values and comparing them across areas, the committee assures competitive balance among the top four seeds in each region.
If there is a significant deviation from the true seed distribution, teams will be moved between regions to achieve parity. If two to four teams from a conference are among the top four seeds, they will be assigned to separate regions. Teams from the same conference are positioned to avoid a repeat before the regional finals if they have met three or more times during the regular season, the regional semifinals if they have met twice, and the second round if they have met just once.
- In addition, the committee is urged to avoid regular season and previous year’s tournament rematches in the First Four.
- Lastly, the committee will seek to prevent a team from being moved out of their favored geographical region an excessive number of times depending on their performance in the previous two tournaments.
In order to adhere to these norms and preferences, the committee may adjust a team’s predicted seed line. Thus, the 40th-ranked team, which was initially planned to receive the No.10 seed in a given area, may be pushed up to the No.9 seed or down to the No.11 seed.
Why are ranks in sports called seeds?
A seed is a preliminary ranking given to a contestant or team in a sport or other competition for the purposes of the draw. Players/teams are “placed” into the bracket such that the best do not clash until later in the tournament, often based on regular season performance.
The word was initially used in tennis and is derived from the concept of building out a tournament ladder by placing slips of paper with the names of players the way seeds or seedlings are organized in a garden: smaller plants in front, larger plants in the back. Sometimes, the remaining participants in a single-elimination tournament will be “re-seeded” so that the highest remaining seed will face the lowest remaining seed in the following round, etc.
This may be performed after each round, or at specified intervals.
